The New Orbitz

By E-Travel ⋅ November 7, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Orbitz has a brand new look!
Sometime in August Chrissy and I received an invitation from Orbitz to be apart of their ‘Blogger Day’ I may have the wrong name) at the headquarters in Chicago to talk about new, great and exciting changes they would be rolling out in the near future, dynamics of the company, and how intensely they attempt to satisfy the consumer. It was an honor to be selected and invited!
Being the slaves that we are to the corporate world (ha ha!) we totally missed the e-mail and instead of being in person, participated via conference call and web video – it was still cool!

**On to business**





















In mid-October the team at Orbitz launched the latest series of site improvements for the Orbitz (www.orbitz.com) and ebookers (www.ebookers.com) brands. The site improvements, which include a new easy breezy look, asavvy new hotel features, and upgraded technology, provide customers with a faster, easier way to search and book on their sites. The site enhancements also enable Orbitz Worldwide to deliver innovations more rapidly to customers around the globe.

Orbitz.com updates include:
· Wider screen resolution, simplified navigation and more user-friendly homepage display. In my opinion the new homepage looks great! Before it was cluttered with lots of info. There was too much to see, so I personally would go right to search engine and miss out on sweet deals posted in other places.

· Landing page improvements: New hotel landing pages makes it easier for users coming from search engines to find relevant hotel results. This new model has an entirely new hotel section. Its hot – let’s you know all the things you usually have to search several sites to find, like what the neighborhood surrounding the hotel looks like, which is cool because that is ALWAYS a crap shoot when you’re travelling to unfamiliar areas.

· And of course, they are continuing to focus on bettering the technology that makes booking experiences for hotels, flights and vacation packages that much better.

E-Bookers, which correct me if I’m wrong, is a travel engine (owned by Orbitz) but for international travel. Updates to ebookers.com include:

· Sliders and filters: Travellers can condense or expand hotel search results quickly by moving slider bars at the top of the page or refining search criteria, such as hotel star ratings, amenities and customer rankings.

· Improved hotel mapping: Search and browse for hotels using interactive maps. The maps enable shoppers to zoom in on a particular area and see hotel prices and details.

· Saved hotels: Save preferred hotels to a wish list. This time-saving function lets customers easily access their saved hotels the next time they return. Which is very helpful for people like me who can’t remember the name of the one nice affordable boutique hotel in Rome that I stayed at that “one time”. (And I’ve only been there once, but my original thought was to say “boutique hotel on South Beach” but this is site is for international travel…see where I’m going…it didn’t fit.)

· Recent hotel searches: No need to re-enter all the parameters for a hotel search each time a customer returns to the site. This new feature provides one-click access to fresh hotel pricing and availability for previous searches.

· Amenities search: Search for hotels based on amenities, such as free breakfast, business centers, swimming pools and babysitting. Searching by amenities allows customers to retrieve the most relevant hotel options quickly.

I didn’t know this, but Orbitz’s owns many brands that I’m sure you, my fellow JetSetters, have used before including: Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), CheapTickets (www.cheaptickets.com), ebookers (www.ebookers.com), HotelClub (www.hotelclub.com), RatesToGo (www.ratestogo.com), the Away Network (www.away.com), and corporate travel brand Orbitz for Business (www.orbitzforbusiness.com).

So check out the new easy breezy Orbitz!

Are you travelling anywhere soon? Have any good Orbitz stories or comments? Let us hear about it!