Boost Web presence for free

By now, we are aware that reading online reviews is an important part of booking a hotel stay. Both positive and negative comments can have an impact on a potential guest. One company has taken this concept a step further and provided an opportunity to not only read about the hotel, but to view all it has to offer before even stepping foot in the lobby.
TVtrip allows travelers to watch a video of what a hotel looks like, inside and out, before booking.
"It's certainly a big step in the way that people are shopping for hotels," said Steve Stollerman, VP, North America.
In the same respect that TVtrip can benefit the traveler, it can also help hoteliers boost their online presence for free by allowing a professional photographer to shoot video of the property and post it online.
Founders of TVtrip come from the Internet travel industry, many from Expedia, and they were able to identify a missing niche. While there is an increasing amount of user-generated hotel footage on the Web, Stollerman said TVtrip provides professionally edited, consistent content.
"We shoot the video in a very unbiased and transparent way," he said.
Hoteliers do have veto rights if they don't like the video results. In many cases, TVtrip will return to the property and re-shoot.
TVtrip works with freelance cameramen all over the world. Since leaving their beta site in 2007, they have gathered and uploaded video from nearly 2,000 hotels, mostly in Europe. Now they are actively shooting in Asia and U.S. and will launch a Chinese version of their website soon. Nearly 200 U.S. hotels have been filmed and plans for 1,500 more are in the works.
"There are hotels all over the world that we would love to get to," Stollerman said. "Hoteliers love the fact that we film their site for free, especially in this economy. That's not an offer that's going to last forever."
TVtrip operates on an affiliation business model. This allows them to shoot and produce video at no cost to the hotelier. Instead, they generate revenue by charging commission if a guest books a room through a third-party or brand booking engine after being referred from TVtrip.com. They also host advertising on the site.
If you are interested in partnering with TVtrip to have your hotel filmed and hosted on TVtrip.com, fill out this form or e-mail Steve Stollerman at steve@tvtrip.com.