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By Steve Ranger, 14 December 2006 11:00

NEWS

Budget hotel giant Travelodge is planning a further upgrade to its website after shifting nearly four out of five bookings online over the last three years.

Travelodge launched its website in 2002 as an alternative to its telephone booking line. Similar to a budget airline, Travelodge uses a dynamic pricing model - the earlier a room is booked the cheaper it is.

The budget sector is the fastest growing part of the UK hotel business. Travelodge interactive manager Stephen Welham said encouraging customers to book online means costs and overheads can be minimised.

"Around 80 per cent of our rooms are now booked online compared to 17 per cent in 2003. Customers are increasingly booking online as they're familiar with the channel as a means to secure the best deals for all sorts of products, including hotels," he said.

"Less than one in five of our customers booked their rooms online in 2003 and since then, the website has grown into our largest sales channel - with ambitions for more growth," he said.

The website was built and is managed and developed by Sense Internet in Leeds.

"Employing third-party vendors, such as Sense Internet, is key for Travelodge as it allows us to source dedicated technological expertise for each area of IT infrastructure," Welham said.

"This approach ensures Travelodge is able to maximise the effectiveness of each channel, while remaining flexible and reducing the need for potentially unwieldy or expensive on-site infrastructure," he added.

Since the original website launch, additional projects have included a membership system, shopping basket for multiple room bookings and an infrastructure upgrade, as well as a ratefinder tool.

Welham said Travelodge plans to increase the personalisation available: "Future development will concentrate on improving the customer journey from the point that they book a stay. This will involve more personalised marketing and presentation in addition to delivering improvements in the way in which hotels rooms are sold, by focusing on customer preferences."