fbpx

Detailed TripProximity product guide for the John Gore Organization

HOW TO NAVIGATE THIS CUSTOM GUIDE

This custom guide to the TripProximity tool is designed for the John Gore Organization executives to evaluate the product and our company for integration into various digital properties and platforms, including Broadway.com, Broadway Across America and Broadway Box.  If you want just the 40k ft view of the features/benefits, click HERE.

If you want to take a deeper dive, simply click on the header on the left navigation and then click on each section to learn about the topic covered.  When you are finished reading a section, click on it to collapse it and go on to the next item.

What is the Smart Trip Tool and why would the John Gore Organization integrate it into its branded sites?

We believe that the moment when someone decides to attend an event is the optimal time for them to plan how they will get there.

If an event ends late at night and/or alcohol is served at the venue, even a local resident may choose to get a hotel room.  At Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, they calculate that 17% of event goers (whether sports or concerts) need or want a hotel room.  This number goes way up for wildly popular performances that sell out, like Hamilton, as people will travel anywhere just to get a chance to see it.

Integration into an events system captures the highest possible intent for travel.

By integrating into the event page, prior to committing to buy the ticket the individual can search in a separate window to see if rooms are available.  Or if they are local and don’t need a room, they can simply use the map and driving directions.

Marketing messages used in email or social media campaigns for an event, such as Make it a Weekend or Make it a Date Night, can increase the likelihood of a hotel stay.

 .      

To add Smart Trip Planning to your Event Landing Pages

BEST PRACTICE:  We typically experience 4.6% conversion on placement of the hotel booking tool above the fold.  This could be done by putting the widget to the right of the event information where you currently have the Google Map.  The tool is container responsive and would fit into the right rail column.

NEXT BEST:  If you place the tool below the fold and use the map view, based on our experience to date with event sites, you can expect approximately 2.6% conversion.

We recommend adding a variable header, such as Make it a Weekend (if the event is on Thurs, Fri or Sat) or “Make it a Date Night” or simply “Do you need or want a hotel room?”

The instructions for installing this tool can be found in the Event Widget section.

To plan travel to any event venue

For your landing pages for venues, the Smart Trip tool can be added to any of those landing pages to allow anyone traveling to an event at that venue to find a hotel nearby.  This can be useful when someone already has a ticket to an event, but still needs to find a hotel nearby.

The instructions to load the dynamic venue widget to your venue landing pages can be found in the VENUE WIDGET section below.

To be installed on your corporate website as a VISIT US page

The John Gore Organization can add the Smart Trip tool to your corporate website as a VISIT US page, for not only your NYC area headquarters, but for every one of your locations.  This will allow anyone that is traveling to your offices, whether driving or flying to get driving directions and book a hotel nearby.

The instructions for adding this static widget to your corporate site can be found in the VENUE WIDGET section below.

If its a good idea, why wouldn't we do it ourselves

Providing these systems is our core business and it is a full time effort to stay on top of it.  We have a team of 12 today that are dedicated to client management and development, as well as assisting you with marketing and merchandising our capabilities.

Standard travel booking systems are not engineered to automatically find hotels nearby venues and events.  They operate on a city center and airport centric back end.

TripProximity was engineered around events and venues and was built to be dynamically integrated in the same day as the decision is made.   We provide not only technology, but we provide ongoing marketing support from your Account Director and we do a minimum of three major product releases a year, with weekly sprints to add incremental capabilities.

The online systems’ affiliate networks are the red-headed stepchildren of the parent companies and their tech resources are about the same as what is available with Solutionz Innovations.  They also do not have the resources necessary to act as your proactive marketing partner.  Their systems require programming to their API and integration can take weeks and even months to go live.  Even minor changes to images and logos or navigation on the booking system requires a programming sprint which is generally a 3 week cycle.  They do not have self-service portals that allow you to fully maintain your own environments.

We are always seeking to make travel to a place or an event smarter and easier.  That is our commitment to you.

The Smart Trip Tool Components

The Smart Trip Tool includes the following features.

I'm Staying

Hotel Booking Nearby the Venue or Event

This element of the Smart Trip tool gives the event attendee the ability to book a hotel in a single click, since the widget is pre-populated with the event venue info and the event date.  Hotel bookings are guaranteed to be the lowest published rate online. Solutionz provides a 110% best rate promise and will refund 110% of the difference for someone who finds a hotel room available cheaper on another site.

Address lookup

If the user wishes to travel to a different destination, they can type in their destination using the pencil.

I'm Driving

Driving Directions and Optional Car Rental

In the US, 89% of all travel is by car.  Driving directions are useful to all event attendees that are not personally familiar with the event venue.  This tab also provides smart car rental.

 

Smarter Driving Directions

TripProximity now handles multi-day trip planning by allowing the user to define the number of hours per day that they would like to drive.  This then calculates the actual driving time, versus the driving straight through method that Google, Mapquest and others use.

Smarter Car Rental

TripProximity now allows the user to specify whether they want to drive or fly to their destination, which changes where you would pick up your car rental.

You can add an additional revenue stream by asking for a car rental company to sponsor this capability.  We can default to that car rental company.  The user may override the default at transaction time and see all car rentals, or we could link directly to the car company’s system.

I'm Flying

Optionally offer Air Tickets

TripProximity provides the ability to buy airline tickets worldwide.

Social Sharing

Once the Smart Trip Tool is displayed, the user can choose to share the widget with friends/family.  The widget can be linked back to the ticket purchase page.

This feature can be disabled.

 

Royalty and Giving

Royalties

We earn revenues from travel bookings made on our client systems.  The highest revenues come from hotels, then car rental.  Air tickets produce a nominal fee.  We are paid post-checkout, generally within 30 days for completed bookings.

In 4Q18 we are adding another booking source to augment our longstanding relationship with Priceline Partner Network and Booking.com.  That will add not only 200 new inventory sources for lodging (including non-standard apartments, home rentals), cruise and attractions, but also the ability to serve very deeply discounted products to closed user groups behind a login (e.g. your eCLUB subscribers).

Solutionz will share 10% of our revenues with the John Gore Organization for any activities on any of your online brands and even through rooms booked when someone calls your ticketing call center.  Should the monthly bookings exceed 250, we will move you to our highest earning threshold of 20%.

Giving Back

We will donate a minimum of 10% of our revenues to your charity of choice annually, giving the funds in your name.

If you want to operate the smart trip planning program out of your Foundation as TravelingToGive, we will donate 25% to your Foundation.

Terms

We believe that we need to earn your business every day and we are committed to your satisfaction.

You will have an Account Director that will navigate our organization to respond promptly to any issues or concerns.

Solutionz does not require a long term contractual commitment.   We do ask our enterprise clients for one year, with mutual agreement on renewal.

Traveler Support

We guarantee that we will have the lowest published rates on hotel rooms.  We stand behind that promise with a 110% best rate guarantee, and we will refund 110% of the difference if someone finds the same hotel, same room type for the same dates/duration after booking on your site(s).

We provide 24/7/365 support in 40+ languages for the customer and an Account Director will be assigned to you for escalation of any issues with the smart trip tool or any of your campaigns.

Referrals

We recognize that you have very strong partnerships in place with the philanthropic organizations that you serve and the various organizations that you partner with.  We have a very strong offering for both of those categories.  For ticketing providers, we can add the travel offer as a “do you want fries with that” at the end of the buying path.  For 501c3s we have various fund raising tools, including our “anywhere” tool that can be used to raise donations while they sleep.

We have a formal referral program and the underlying technology to track referrals from the John Gore Organization.   If you make referrals to Solutionz, we want to thank you in a material way.

We have started you at Level 2, which immediately allows you to earn royalties and donations.   Any referrals that you make while you are at Level 2 will be counted toward reaching Level 3.

Once you achieve Level 3 with us (250 booking threshhold), any referrals that you have done will accrue to your account and we will pay you as a channel partner on those deals at a fixed 10% of their first year’s revenues.

What brands can I choose from for the booking system that the traveler sees?

Depending on how you implement the widget, you may have a different need for targeted messaging in the booking system.  The default is The Hotels Nearby Events.  The next selection shows you all of the possibilities.

The Brand Options

The default refid is 5135 and the default brand is The Hotels Nearby.
To change the brand to one of our niche brands, you must use the combination of the refid and reflickid2 below.
These can be overridden at transaction time by using the refid and refclickid2 variables
refid= Brand refclickid2=
5135 The Hotels Nearby
6832 The Hotels Nearby Amusement Parks hotelbyattractions
6832 The Hotels Nearby Assisted Living hotelsbyamusementparks
6832 The Hotels Nearby Attractions hotelsbyassistedliving.com
6832 The Hotels Nearby Bloggers hotelsbybloggers
6832 The Hotels Nearby Companies hotelsbycompanies
6832 The Hotels Nearby Convention Centers hotelsbyconventioncenters
6832 The Hotels Nearby Cruise Ports hotelsbycruiseports
6832 The Hotels Nearby Doctors hotelsbydoctors
6832 The Hotels Nearby Embassies hotelsbyembassies
6856 The Hotels Nearby Events hotelsbyevents
6832 The Hotels Nearby Festivals hotelsbyfestivals
6832 The Hotels Nearby Funeral Homes hotelsbyfuneralhomes
6988 The Hotels Nearby Golf Courses hotelsbygolfcourses
6832 The Hotels Nearby Hospice hotelsbyhospice
6855 The Hotels Nearby Hospitals hotelsbyhospitals
6832 The Hotels Nearby Military Bases hotelsbymilitarybases
6832 The Hotels Nearby Museums hotelsbymuseums
6832 The Hotels Nearby Nursing Homes hotelsbynursinghomes
6832 The Hotels Nearby Places hotelsbyplaces
6832 The Hotels Nearby Prisons hotelsbyprisons
6832 The Hotels Nearby Racetracks hotelsbyracetracks
6832 The Hotels Nearby Spas hotelsbyspas
6832 The Hotels Nearby Theatres hotelsbytheatres
6832 The Hotels Nearby Trainstations hotelsbytrainstations
6857 The Hotels Nearby Universities hotelsbyuniversities
6832 The Hotels Nearby Wineries hotelsbywineries
6832 The Hotels Nearby Zoos hotelsbyzoos
7028 TravelingtoGIVE

Private Label

May we use our own brand?

Yes, for a one time fee of $1200, you may use your own logo and navigation options for the booking back end system, as well as your own URL.  You may also customize the buttons to your brand colors.  The footer can also be customized, but it must contain our Copyright and the Powered By logo, plus the words “Patent Pending”.

 

Press Release Draft

We will work with you to craft a press release for your implementations of TripProximity.  You will be the first event aggregation site to launch smart trip planning.

Our CMO George Lynch will help you craft engaging communications for social media and the press.

Recommended Help Text

We will assist you in drafting the help text for your clients, including the FAQs.

Getting Started Guide

Click on the image to download the Getting Started Guide.  This can be useful for socializing the capabilities of the widget with your team.

FIRST STEP: Click the button below to review the Enterprise Terms and Conditions and then REGISTER as an Enterprise Client (no obligation)

Portal Invitation

Once you have registered as an Enterprise Client, we will send you an invitation to our Portal.

From our portal you can modify your widgets, create new ones and see your usage statistics.

It is important to note that if you update a widget you do NOT need to reinstall it.  The changes will be live immediately.

The script that you write to augment the code snippet that is generated by the portal will override the fields that are included in your script.  We have put them in as %VARIABLENAME% into the Event and Venue widgets.  We have also built a few sample widgets for you that are included at the top of this page.  These are static widgets.

We have online chat (M-F 8am-9pm ET) on the portal.  You will have your own Account Director that will review your progress each month and work with you to improve merchandising and placement, including making recommendations about email and social media campaigns.

The Event Widget

The Event widget is one of our Smart Trip tools.  It allows you to dynamically embed trip planning in any event in your system.

It is distinct from the Venue widget in that it has a specific date range for the event and a location where the event is held.

We provide the embed code for the dynamic widget on your portal once you register.  Then you will find the instructions for our Dynamic tool, which shows you how to substitute your data for our variables in real time, so that you only have to install the widget snippet once.  Once it is installed, if you wish to make changes, you can edit the base elements of the widget in the Portal and you do not have to reinstall the snippet.  See the defaults in the last section.

Implementing the Dynamic Event Widget

The following sections are about implementing the Dynamic Event Smart Trip Tool.

If you need further information, click the image above.

The Venue Widget (dynamic)

The Venue widget is one of our Smart Trip tools.  It allows you to embed trip planning on any page in your system or on your site or blog where there is a contact with an address.  A venue can be a physical place, like a company or a museum, or it can be a location like a park or a beach.  As long as we can pinpoint a latitude/longitude, we can “trip enable” any landing page.

This tool is distinct from the Event widget in that the dates of travel are relative to the date that the tool is displayed, e.g. travel 7 days from today for 1 night.

Click the HDQ widget above to see the widget for the EVENTFUL corporate website for people traveling to see you.

Once you have been invited to the TripProximity portal, you will be able to grab the embed code for your HDQ tool.  Then you will find the instructions for our Dynamic tool, which shows you how to substitute your data for our variables in real time, so that you only have to install the widget snippet once.

If you need a VENUE widget we have created one on the portal.  Once it is installed, if you wish to make changes, you can edit the base elements of the widget in the Portal and you do not have to reinstall the snippet. See the defaults in the last section.

Implementing the Dynamic Venue Widget

The following sections are about implementing the Dynamic Venue Smart Trip Tool.

If you need further information, click the image above.

Tech Tips

Following are tips for the technical integration of TripProximity.

Static Widgets versus Dynamic Widgets

The static widget contains the following:

async onload=”tripWidget()”

The dynamic widget does not load asynchronously.  If you turn on the dynamic flag in the portal in the widget editor, it removes that line from the code snippet that is generated.  If you try to install a dynamic widget directly into an HTML container on WordPress, it will NOT render.

External System Interaction

The TripProximity widget interacts with the following systems:

  • Google Places for lookup of the venues and addresses in the address field
  • Google Maps for lookup of the latitude/longitude of any address

Once the input from the widget is received, we pass a search string to our booking system.  It contains:

  • Brand to be displayed in the booking system
  • Travel parameters
  • Tracking information to provide reporting back to you for each client

CSS

The widget has its own style sheet that governs the display of the widget within a container.

Rules for Display

The widget can be populated with event and venue information.  Ideally, the widget needs the full address to do an accurate proximity lookup of the hotels nearby.

The date fields for events can be coupled with a business rule.  For instance if you have an event that begins before noon, you may want to set the date of arrival to 1 day before the event begins.  If the event ends after 3pm, you may want to set the date of departure to 1 day after the event.

Just a reminder, even if there is no address or a partial address (city/state), our new widget with the Google Places lookup can find the precise address of the venue or company that they are visiting (even a Starbucks or TopGolf! or finding a hotel near someone’s house that works from home).  The user controls this by using the pencil tool on the address field to do their own lookup.

Email Services

Do your providers support JAVASCRIPT?

If not, you’ll need a graphic linked to a landing page on your site.

The Company - Solutionz Innovations, Inc.

Solutionz is a global technology innovator setting the standard for development of smart trip technology.  First and foremost we consider ourselves value creators through giving back and through social impact.

Since 1996, Solutionz has been solving problems for clients in the travel technology space. The company started as a consultancy helping leading brands amp up distribution and travel marketing strategies. Along the way, the business incubated products and technologies for our clients and for our own portfolio.

Over our 21+ year history, we have been a part of building a game changing loyalty platform for Carlson Companies, we launched one of the industry’s first mobile travel platforms for Intel, we built LasVegas.com from concept to company with a consortium of casino partners, we were a key advisor in the acquisition of Galileo and Worldspan by Cendant, we assisted with numerous other mergers and acquisitions and advised nearly 100 companies on the creation of differentiating solutions for their firms.

We were a major investor in LeisureLogix, a venture backed product that brought driving- trip planning to major online travel agencies. And most recently, we have been a part of the incubation of Rich Media Exchange, a digital asset management, marketing and distribution firm.

At every turn, there was always a drive to change the game.

Here are some of the companies that we helped to change their game.

#InnovationMatters

New Venture: TripProximity

Now, Solutionz is bringing its latest venture to market — TripProximity. Our first product is a smart trip widget that enables businesses and venues to easily serve customers at the very moment they are motivated to make a trip. Its innovative distribution strategy and technology capabilities sets it apart from the rest.

The product was launched first in 2007 as HotelsbyHospitals.com, but founder, Chicke Fitzgerald didn’t want to run a consumer facing web business, so she went back to the drawing board (more than once) and in 2015 launched the next generation, known as TripPlanz.  We are now on our third generation of the product, which was rebranded in 2017 as TripProximity.

Chicke Fitzgerald, Solutionz’ founder self-funded this business through the 2nd generation product and began raising friends and family capital in late 2016.  The company is now raising a seed round to accelerate growth. Learn more about the executive team assembled to change the game in travel with TripProximity.

In addition to changing the orientation of the travel request from city centers and airports to venues, addresses and events, TripProximity is also shifting the timing of the booking to be much closer to the catalyst for travel.  The strategy is to add integrated trip planning to CRM, contact management, calendaring, ticketing and registration platforms, media/publishing companies and web tool companies.

There are many reasons to travel.   TripProximity caters to the 72% of travel that is NOT vacation or managed corporate travel.

#ProximityMatters

 

For any other details regarding widget customization, please access the Support Center.