New tool enables instant accommodations booking for groups at 6,500 hotels through Alliance Reservation Network’s Group Productivity Solution

ORLANDO, Fla. (Jan. 28, 2021) – Alliance Reservations Network (ARN), a leading private-label travel technology company, today announced a new direct booking solution that makes managing group travel faster, easier and more efficient for both hotels and event planners.

The technology, named GPS Link, connects ARN’s Group Productivity Solution (GPS) booking platform with a hotel chain’s central reservation systems, enabling a direct connection with a hotel’s property management system for instant reservations and confirmations.

GPS Link premiers today with an integration with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The connection allows instant room bookings for group travel at 6,500 hotels across North America. 

“GPS Link saves event planners time and effort by streamlining the reservation process between third-party housing companies and hotels,” said Mike Mason, general manager, ARN.  “Using this solution, planners will spend less time on the back and forth of making reservations. They’ll find seamless efficiency when booking accommodations for event attendees, amateur sports teams and fan groups.

“We’re delighted to bring our breakthrough direct-connection technology to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts,” Mason continued. “Planners will enjoy instant booking now at many of the world’s best-known hotel brands.”

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts counts among its family of brands La Quinta by Wyndham, Days Inn by Wyndham, Super 8 by Wyndham, Ramada by Wyndham and Baymont by Wyndham, among others.  

Simple Path

GPS Link cuts out hours of work for planners and hotels by automating room list management via real-time sharing of reservations and confirmation numbers between the hotel property management system and GPS booking site.

Event attendees also enjoy an enhanced user experience. GPS Link reduces human error by eliminating the need for manual data entry and updates at the hotel level. The solution’s automated confirmations help ensure smooth hotel check-ins.

GPS Link is a new solution within the innovative, proprietary GPS event lodging management platform. Unlike other solutions, GPS manages the entire event housing lifecycle, from hotel sourcing, contracting and reservations to room block management, invoicing and reporting. 

Using GPS, planners search ad-free, filterable displays for more than 600,000 hotels and resorts worldwide and quickly send RFPs through the system. The platform expedites reconciliation, invoicing and reporting as well, freeing up time for planners to move on to their next events.

The GPS booking site is branded for each event. Attendees have a seamless user experience when booking rooms within their event’s group block. GPS improves efficiency for hotels, too. They don’t have to input reservations or make updates manually. The platform does the heavy lifting for them.

Amateur Sports Segment among the First to Bounce Back

GPS posted double-digit annual growth from 2017 – 2019, with sporting events as a major contributor to growth.

“For many hotel brands coping with decreased reservation volume during the pandemic, the sports segment performed better than expected this past summer and fall,” said Mason. 

“GPS event attendees were among the first to start traveling again,” Mason continued. “Our solution is the group housing platform of choice for many of the country’s largest amateur sporting events. Fans and families were eager to travel and cheer on their favorite youth and amateur teams, and GPS facilitated their travel booking.” 

ARN is a part of Panorama, the world’s largest membership travel and vacation exchange network, as part of Wyndham Destinations (NYSE: WYND). Wyndham Hotels & Resorts spun off from Wyndham Destinations in 2018, and the two companies operate as independent entities.

About Group Productivity Solution

Group Productivity Solution (GPS) is an end-to-end event lodging management platform for events. It features an easy-to-use interface for sourcing and contracting large group blocks; an integrated hotel booking engine that enables event attendees to reserve rooms; and robust capabilities for room block management, reconciliation, invoicing and reporting. For more information, click here.

About Alliance Reservations Network

Since 1995, Alliance Reservations Network has created cutting-edge private-label travel booking engine technology services fulfilling billions of dollars in travel revenue from travelers around the world. As part of the Panorama family of travel brands at Wyndham Destinations (NYSE:WYND), ARN is one of the first travel booking engine platform providers on the Internet, powering thousands of affiliate travel sites and delivering proprietary software to service individual leisure, corporate, association, and group and event clients across the globe. Learn more at alliancereservations.com. Find ARN on Social Media: Twitter: @AllResNetFacebook: @AllianceReservationsNetworkInstagram: @allresnetLinkedIn: Alliance Reservations NetworkOnline Resources: Alliance Reservations Network.

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