Site Seeing
Hotels open their virtual doors for business.
No longer content to let their parent companies represent
them on the Internet, many individual hotels are starting to create
customized Web sites. Corporate travelers will
probably be among the biggest beneficiaries of this cyberspace
boom. Enhanced "designer" sites like the one posted by
the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina offer details that a
hotel chain's main site can't.
For example, the Sheraton San Diego Web site (http://www.sheraton.com/SanDiegoMarina)
includes information about accommodations, meetings, local dining
and entertainment. It also lets visitors make reservations
online.
Pegasus Systems Inc., an electronic hotel reservation company in
Dallas estimates there are hundreds of individual U.S. hotel sites,
and it projects double-digit growth for the next year. Business
travelers can get a close-up view of hotels through these designer
sites, plus check everything from reservations to account balances
on frequent-guest programs.
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Christopher Elliott is a writer in Los Angeles and a
columnist for "ABC News Online."
Contact Sources
Hotel Vintage Park in Seattle, 1100 Fifth Ave.,
Seattle, WA 98101
Novotel New York Hotel, 226 W. 52nd St., New York, NY
10019-5804, (212) 315-0100
Pegasus Inc., (214) 528-5656, http://www.travelweb.com
Personal Growth Productions Inc., (888)
MARS-VENUS
US Airways, http://www.usairways.com
VTS Travel Enterprises Inc., http://www.vtstravel.com