LAS VEGAS – At the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) 2011 Annual Convention this week in Las Vegas, AAHOA and InnLink announced their launch of an initiative to create a customized portal solution – similar to an online travel agency (OTA) – to facilitate online booking of rooms in almost 100,000 properties across the United States. This new online reservation system will include both AAHOA member and non-member properties and will be accessible to anyone with Internet access. Development and beta testing is underway and the portal is expected to go live later this year.

The portal is being designed with certain features to improve and expedite the guest booking experience including customizable property search criteria and a check-out “shopping cart” to allow the booking of multiple hotel stays under a single guest portfolio. The AAHOA portal is believed to be the first U.S.-based online distribution platform capable of utilizing this technology.

The portal will provide hoteliers with the ability to gain more control over the online reservation process that is currently governed in large part by existing OTAs. Hoteliers will be given access to more comprehensive customer data pre-stay, providing for preemptive customer communication and up-sell opportunities.

“Developing an online portal that would truly benefit the hoteliers was one of AAHOA’s top objectives for the past year,” stated ChandraKant “C.K.” Patel, Chairman of AAHOA. “With our members owning 40 percent of the hotels in the country, it is the vision of AAHOA to develop a portal that would allow us to control that inventory of rooms.”

Said Kris Intress, CEO and President of InnLink, “We are proud to have been selected by AAHOA for this initiative and are excited to introduce our unique portal solution to the U.S. market. Our portal product can help chains, CVBs and trade organizations book multi-property stays, enhance the hotel access to customer data and ultimately provide a better guest-booking experience.”

“We are creating a win-win situation – our members win with lower commission rates and better room inventory control while the traveling public wins with great rates from one of the country’s most extensive inventories of hotels,” said Fred Schwartz, President of AAHOA.

ABOUT AAHOA

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) is THE voice of owners in the hospitality industry. Founded in 1989, AAHOA is now one of the fastest-growing organizations in the industry, with more than 10,000 members owning more than 20,000 hotels that total $128 billion in property value. AAHOA members employ 578,600 full- and part-time workers with a $9.4 billion payroll. AAHOA Officers include Chairman ChandraKant “C.K.” Patel, CHO; Vice Chairman Hemant D. “Henry” Patel; Treasurer Alkesh R. “Al” Patel, CHO; Secretary Mehul B. “Mike” Patel, CHA; and President Fred Schwartz, each of whom works closely with a 34-member Board of Directors to provide direction for the association. AAHOA is dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of its members by inspiring excellence through programs and initiatives in advocacy, industry leadership, professional development, member benefits, and community involvement.