Southwest Airlines announced it has introduced updates and new features to its hotel booking page at www.southwest.com. The updates are meant to enhance and simplify the hotel booking experience for customers, according to the airline.
"New features allow customers to make informed decisions and find the perfect hotel fit. From TripAdvisor traveler ratings and reviews, to multi-room booking capability and neighborhood searches, the Hotel page provides everything customers need to find the perfect hotel,” Southwest said in a statement.
Customers will now see at www.southwest.com/hotels the TripAdvisor traveler rating and the most recent traveler reviews for each hotel, allowing customers to make more informed decisions based on fellow travelers' feedback. Research shows that hotel reviews are used by 77 percent of travelers when making a hotel booking decision. The addition of TripAdvisor reviews will allow customers to easily compare and contrast hotels to make the right selection for travel. TripAdvisor hotel ratings and reviews will be available on nearly all of the hotel properties that are available to book on the website.
The updated hotel page will also allow multi-room booking — a customer may book two rooms at one time. This is a feature that is ideal for families who need an additional room, Southwest said. Customers using the hotel page also will be able to narrow down hotel searches to specific neighborhoods. The search tool provides users preference of neighborhoods rather than large city searches.
"From distinguishing Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program partners, to adding map functionality and hotel reviews, Southwest would like to ensure that customers are not only getting great deals when booking hotels on southwest.com, but also have all the tools necessary to make the right decision," the company said.