Instant Software, Inc. (ISI) and ResortQuest Delaware jointly announce a new booking record for vacation rentals, despite the economy and decline in travel. ResortQuest acknowledges one of the key attributes to this increase is its use of Instant Software’s ISILink, the Vacation Rental Industry’s largest distribution system for suppliers and distributors of online vacation rentals.
By mid-day August 6, ResortQuest Delaware announced that it set a new record for the number of online bookings and guest stays. While only 218 days into the year, more reservations were made online than the total number of online reservations recorded in 2008. In addition, online bookings made in July 2009, by number and volume, were up approximately 45% over July 2008.
“To achieve success in online distribution and bookings, three things are key,” explains Cheryl Spezia, ResortQuest’s Corporate Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “The ability of ISILink for direct and immediate availability, an effective website, and optimization [of the website] are all critical to the success of our online marketing efforts.”
“Our accomplishments online in the last few years, and especially now in this economy, combined with our dedication to customer service, bodes extremely well for our continued success in this market,” says marketing manager of ResortQuest Delaware, Tim Fisher. “We can not lose sight that each one of these online bookings is a family placing their trust in us to deliver a truly memorable vacation.”
Overall, ResortQuest has experienced a dramatic increase in online bookings since using ISILink at a majority of their destinations. “I believe that when a buyer can easily view and reserve a specific home or condominium on a website, it only increases their confidence in booking a vacation rental online.” Spezia says.
“Instant Software is proud of its relationship with ResortQuest. This proves that increased reservations can be accomplished with the right technology,” explains Dave Hopcroft, Instant Software’s CEO.
ISILink is a data hub that consolidates, normalizes, and interprets data from suppliers’ reservations systems and enables seamless real-time automated bookings between the different parties’ systems. Distributors connect to ISILink and automatically pull information such as property descriptions, availability, prices, and guest reviews to market to potential travelers. When a traveler books a vacation property, the reservation information is sent back through ISILink to the property manager’s reservation system and automatically confirms the booking in real-time.