SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” is primed to help Facebook drive value from its recent Instagram acquisition
NEW YORK, NY –Appnostic, LLC, a global social media marketing and travel technology provider, announces SocialBooker™ “Plus-U”, an enhanced “fan-to-friend” strategy for the innovative SocialBooker™ hotel distribution application. SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” allows Facebook users to become travel consultants and receive commissions. The announcement was made today by Brian Dass, CEO and Founder of Appnostic, LLC, and comes ahead of the much anticipated Facebook Initial Public Offering set for May 2012.
SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” is primed to help Facebook drive value from its recent Instagram acquisition and future purchases in the social-mobile space. With online travel bookings projected to grow twice as fast as the total market, surpassing $313 billion by 2012 according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, social bookings for hotels are poised to be a multi-billion dollar marketplace.
Specifically optimized for Facebook’s social graph, SocialBooker™ is the first application on the Facebook platform empowering hotels to take full advantage of the F-Commerce boom. Additionally, it will introduce FB users to new entrepreneurial opportunities. “We are building the plumbing to pipe rates and inventory to travel enthusiasts who help their friends, colleagues and clients plan trips,” explains Dass. “Through FB, the SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” app allows hotels to work with consumers and the content they share as direct booking channels much like they work with online travel agencies today.”
Currently, SocialBooker™ offers hotels a completely integrated booking solution for the Fan Page, and the ability to create communities of loyal repeat guests. For the hotel industry, SocialBooker™ provides exposure, room nights and revenue from a network of over 910 million FB users and potential guests. To date, over 50 hotels worldwide have directly installed or are currently implementing SocialBooker™ onto their own Facebook page.
SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” will allow Facebook users booking travel for groups of friends to reap considerable rewards. The platform’s Social Distribution System™ (SDS) provides access to more than 25,000 hotels worldwide and operates on an advanced suite of analytics and reporting. Appnostic is now developing a qualification program for FB users who heavily influence travel planning decisions. Qualifying SocialBooker™ ‘travel consultants’ will be positioned as trusted influencers within their social groups. Working with hotel supplier partners, SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” will ultimately distribute 8 – 12% commissions on Appnostic negotiated rates when travel is booked through a consultant’s FB page. FB users can also share, plan and book their trips as a group based on similar interests, and enjoy exclusive offers targeted to FB friends and families.
Social networking is one of the most powerful forces driving travel planning today. A recent study from the Access America Vacation Confidence Index highlights that 60% of consumers report factoring other travelers' online reviews into their decision when booking a vacation. Among those travelers who share reviews of their travel experiences online (24% of respondents), social networking sites such as Facebook are most popular. The travel market research firm PhoCusWright reports that 38% of social network users in the U.S. share pictures and video of travel experiences. Twenty-six percent of U.S. travelers who plan trips at least once per year get advice from friends about where to go on vacations. The influence of the viral channel is even higher for international travelers where 4 out of 10 choose their destination based on friends’ & relatives' recommendations in 2011.
By connecting hotel revenue management with the travel 'interests,' 'likes,’ and even photos of Facebook friends, SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” will bring the booking experience into the persuasive interactions of FB users. “With new access to real-time API (Application Programming Interface) data now provided by top photo sharing programs like Instagram, we are on the brink of tying-in the distribution of rates and availability with the hotel and destination images guests share online,” says Dass.
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For interviews contact: Trica Jean-Baptiste, 212-600-2491 or trica@tricapr.com
About Appnostic, LLC
With headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Prague and London, Appnostic is a global social media developer and marketing company. The company’s SocialPromoter™ is an integrated Facebook engagement and Tab creation suite. TweetAgent™ serves as Appnostic’s content creation and consultation team dedicated to managing clients’ Twitter and Facebook presence. Appnostic’s ProjectInteractive™ provides a full range of interactive marketing services designed to extend clients’ marketing and social media commerce ROI. The ProjectInteractive™ division is best known for web design, SEO/SEM, Facebook/Google/LinkedIn advertising, Facebook Fan Page design and management, email marketing, mobile web and application development, and custom application development. For more information, visit the Appnostic web site at www.appnostic.com.
About SocialBooker™
SocialBooker™ is Appnostic’s specialized hotel reservations app that provides secure multi-currency in-Facebook transactions and ties into a property’s existing back-end reservations system. Through SocialBooker™ “Plus-U,” Facebook users will access hotels through trusted sources in their own social circles. The application heralds a new direction in online booking for hotels unable to reach these audiences on their own. SocialBooker™ “Plus-U” brings hotels the critical intelligence of knowing when and where to channel their specials, promotions and packages as conversations are occurring in real-time. For more information on SocialBooker™ or to schedule a demo visits us at www.appnostic.com/solutions/socialbooker/.