GoQuo powers new online accommodation portal for gay market

Newly launched accommodation website www.gayfriendlyrooms.com is targeting high value gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender (GLBT) market.

Published: 16 Jul 2007

Newly launched accommodation website www.gayfriendlyrooms.com is targeting high value gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender (GLBT) market.

The new site features a sophisticated hotel booking engine and related technology provided by online and dynamic packaging solutions specialist GoQuo.

GoQuo’s GQ Hotel online booking engine enables users to search for, select, book and pay for accommodation securely, quickly and in real-time. Accommodation inventory is supplied by GTA/ Octopus Travel, connected via XML.

Managing director David Salvidge said that while the initial focus is on the B2C web site, the trade will be an important sales channel in the future. A B2B service will be introduced in the next few months, giving agents a dedicated link so they can interrogate the accommodation database and make bookings.

As per the information available, the launch of Hove-based Gayfriendlyrooms.com follows four years of intensive market and industry research into accommodation providers who claim a gay-friendly policy. The site also has a strong social networking element: users can nominate, rate and describe additional gay-friendly providers. This ensures the site’s dynamic inventory database is constantly being expanded to offer greater scope and choice.

According to the company, this latest evolution of the founders’ original web site (www.gayhotelsguide.com) will enable visitors to find gay-friendly hotels and other accommodation providers throughout the world. Many of the locations have been vetted for their gay-friendliness, and compliant providers are identified by a specific gay-friendly logo. The ratio of gay-friendly accommodation providers varies from country to country and from city to city, but in the site’s main database, over a third of all listed GDS properties have gay-friendly credentials.

“As far as I am aware, we are the only booking facility in the world to filter search results and highlight our vetted selection. Other online databases can only offer up their entire inventory, and claim all accommodation providers are gay-friendly. That’s not possible because we know that some service providers claim to be gay-friendly, yet aren’t in reality,” said Salvidge.

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