SAN FRANCISCO, JOIE DE VIVRE HOSPITALITY known for its creative collection of lifestyle businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, today launched www.jdvhospitality.com, the company's new website and the world's first personality-based hotel matchmaking service.

Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JDV) is the first hotel company to offer this level of customization online, creating a web experience as uniquely memorable as an actual hotel stay. Historically, online hotel shopping has been molded after the other two leading travel categories: airlines and car rental, which as commodities are well-suited to the current template-based model of spec/price-driven websites. Conversely, choosing a hotel is largely influenced by a third and heretofore neglected factor-personal taste. In launching Yvette, the Hotel Matchmaker(TM), JDV is the first company to recognize this and create an alternative to the generic hotel selection process.

Yvette is designed with smart functionality to anticipate individual tastes and preferences. While other travel sites use only ratings, photos and price, The Hotel Matchmaker, functions more like a personalized matchmaking service by guiding users through a short set of five questions:

  • What kind of people do you most connect with?
  • What word best describes your outside interests?
  • What kind of environment best suits you?
  • What word best describes how other people see you?
  • What kind of people do you most admire?

The answers are used to partner each guest with five JDV hotels, six unique activities and two in-the-know local "guides" with astoundingly accurate results. The site also functions as a stand-alone reference tool with a wealth of information about off-the-beaten path activities like: Glide Memorial Church's Sunday morning gospel choir celebration; Karma Moffett's Tibetan Bell Ceremony and rock climbing at Mission Cliffs.

The need to innovate an online solution is a direct response to the remarkable growth rate of the Internet as the primary tool for making travel purchases:

  • Travel is now the largest e-commerce category
  • Two-thirds of Americans who travel use the Internet either for research or to book their travel, this number grows to 75% for frequent travelers (5 or more trips annually)
  • Between 1997 and 2002, the number of American travelers who used the Internet to book their reservations grew from 5.3 million to 39 million annually

This early adoption rate in the travel category has led to a number of larger, supermarket like sites (like Expedia and Hotels.com) monopolizing market-share quickly. A new primary distribution channel, paired with the depressed post-9/11 travel market has led to an "efficient market"-driving down hotel room rates, like a reverse auction. JDV is one of many hoteliers that responded by placing their hotel product on the shelves of these travel supermarkets at discounted prices, in order to fill empty rooms. CEO Chip Conley explains, "Our site reflects a huge paradigm shift. It is an enhanced boutique shopping experience. By differentiating our company from the Internet travel giants, we can offer our guests not only a valid Best Rate Guarantee, but also a more highly evolved, customized suite of services, presented on our own shelves."

Jim Gilmore, co-author, The Experience Economy says, "I long admired the way Joie de Vivre Hospitality has found inspiration for theming their individual venues using magazines. Their hotels are just delightful to experience. And now they've brought the same design brilliance to bear on their online experience. Do I like Yvette? You bet! The survey is enjoyable, the results educational – a real escape from the usual hotel fare."

To celebrate the launch of www.jdvhospitality.com, and highlight the customized destination content, guests booking online will receive a complimentary copy of Avant Guide's edgy San Francisco guidebook (which represents a $20 added value).