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Site Features:
Franchising information, hotel booking engine, sweepstakes entry,
link to trip rewards program information, vacation packages provided
by Neat Group.
Site Report:
The Ramada Inn hotel experience began in 1954. The
first Ramada was opened in Flagstaff, Arizona. The concept was
new -- "the motor hotel". As the American traveler took to the
roads in increasing numbers, they needed a place off the
superhighway where they could enjoy a good night's rest.
Ramada Inns were dedicated to that principle. In fact, the
name ramada means "a shady resting place" when loosely translated in
Spanish. The folks behind the first Ramada thought that they
had a good thing going, and they began to grow the company by
franchising the brand to other investors, rather than building owned
hotels. This idea worked too, and the Ramada family serves the
consumer with style and value at nearly 900 locations in the US and
Canada. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first
Ramada Inn. To celebrate, the company gave the brand a
makeover and a new slogan -- Relax in Style.
This new logo and style bespeaks of new amenities in the hotels.
The consumer will be treated to complimentary breakfasts, high speed
Internet access and other spa-like benefits.
Currently, Ramada is part of Cendant's family of brands.
Ramada is currently comprised of:
Ramada International is primarily a franchised brand of 204 open
hotels representing 27,728 rooms under the Ramada® Plaza, Ramada
Hotels, Ramada Resorts and Ramada Encore brands in the United
Kingdom, continental Europe including Scandinavia, the Middle East,
Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Mexico and Central
America. In addition, there are 809 Ramada properties
representing 93,037 rooms in the US and 72 properties representing
7,640 rooms in Canada.
The Ramada.com site is very similar to the other Cendant brand
sites, as they share a technology platform. The consumer might
not understand exactly what they should do at the site, as the most
prominent piece of real estate on the homepage is a sweepstakes.
There is a reservation box at the far right of the screen, but at
this time it seems that the ramada.com site exists to sell
franchises and get consumers interested in the trip rewards program
-- Cendant's loyalty scheme. However, all the rates for Ramada
Inns and Hotels are also available on
Lodging.com,
Cheaptickets.com and
Orbitz, so consumers can book them there as well.
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