 22 January 2004
Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) And Skyauction.Com Team Up To Enhance Membership Value With Online Promotional Support
 SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - In January 2004, the membership value of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) is enhanced through a new agreement with online travel auction marketplace, Skyauction.com. Through the new partnership, CHA members may exchange room nights as fulfillment for their membership fees in CHA. The new membership program offers marketing support to a participating Caribbean hotel, through added visibility online at no additional cost.
"This is particularly beneficial to the smaller independent Caribbean properties, which find it increasingly difficult to compete in the current climate of international travel," said CHA President Simón Suárez. "Membership in CHA already provided them with the tools to improve their hotel product. The partnership with Skyauction.com enhances the value of their membership with an additional tool for marketing through the internet."
For a hotel interested in this program, Skyauction.com researches the auction value of the hotel's rooms, using such tools as the hotel's website, Expedia, Travelocity, and Skyauction.com's own experience of five years in the industry, to determine the number of room-nights that would be needed to fulfill the hotel's membership dues with CHA. The hotel would then sign a Skyauction.com agreement for the required number of nights.
"We are excited to be working with CHA and their member hotels", said Michael N. Hering, President and CEO of SkyAuction.com. "We hope to help the organization and its members to expand their marketing reach by working diligently to create a successful way to give any hotel who wants to participate in CHA programs the ability to do so".
For more information, contact Isaac Zapata (telephone: 787-725-9139, e-mail: izapata@caribbeanhotels.org).
About the Caribbean Hotel Association - www.caribbeanhotels.org - The Caribbean Hotel Association is dedicated to excellence in hospitality, leadership in marketing, and sustainable growth in tourism, to the benefit of its membership and that of the wider Caribbean community. The members of CHA represent the entire spectrum of hospitality industry's private sector, from over 1,100 member hotels in 35 national hotel associations, to allied members including airline executives, tour operators, travel agents, trade and consumer press, hotel and restaurant suppliers, and others.
About SkyAuction.com - www.skyauction.com - SkyAuction.com was founded in February of 1999 by travel industry veterans who sought a new way to distribute travel products and services that would be of value to suppliers and consumers alike. Concentrating on the huge base of unused inventory that exists in the travel marketplace, SkyAuction.com has worked to create an alternate distribution method that complements the existing mainstream distribution of a supplier's product line and does not dilute or cannibalize pre-existing business. By using a $1 minimum bid, no reserve absolute auction model, SkyAuction.com found they could create demand and shield suppliers from dilution at the same time. The process ensures the opaqueness of pricing and the bidding process creates an exciting environment and an incremental demand for specific products offered.
Lorraine Ortiz-Valcarcel
Phone: 787-725-9139
Fax: 787-725-9108
Email: lortiz@caribbeanhotels.org
 Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA)
www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com
2655 Le Jeune Road, Suite 910
USA
- Coral Gables, FL 33134
Phone: 305-443-3040
Fax: 305-443-3005
Email: marketing@caribbeanhotelandtourism.com
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