Red Lion Online Customers Now Have a Powerful New Way to Get Help and Make Reservations with eStara Push to Talk Technology
August 01 2005 - 8:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Red Lion Online Customers Now Have a Powerful New Way to Get Help
and Make Reservations with eStara Push to Talk Technology Joining
Some of the Biggest Brands in the Industry, Red Lion Hotels Has
Added 'Click-to-Call' Service to Improve the Online Customer
Experience and Drive Increased Revenue RESTON, Va., Aug. 1
/PRNewswire/ -- eStara, the leading developer of customer-centric
VoIP applications, has been selected by WestCoast Hospitality
Corporation (NYSE:WEH), owner of the Red Lion brand of hotels, to
be its technology partner for click to call services. The launch of
the new "click- to-call" service is part of a dramatic new redesign
of WestCoast Hospitality's branded websites. The click-to-call
feature, deployed on the Red Lion's newly designed website, allows
consumers navigating the site to initiate conversations, either via
telephone or PC, with a Red Lion guest service agent. Red Lion
recently launched its newly designed website, and cites the eStara
powered technology as a distinct enhancement designed to
personalize its customer's experience when visiting the Red Lion
website. "The overall personality of the redlion.com website is
smart, helpful and built with an eye toward making it easier for
our guests to get answers and, most importantly, make
reservations," said Arthur M. Coffey, President and Chief Executive
Officer of WestCoast Hospitality Corporation. "To support this
personal approach, we turned to eStara to provide the click-to-call
feature that provides our guests immediate web-to-phone
communication at the push of a button." eStara offers VoIP
communication services designed to connect buyers and sellers,
including click-to-call, local and toll-free call tracking and pay
per call services. Their extensive client list includes companies
such as Continental Airlines, Dell Financial Services, Club Med,
Starwood Hotels and Verizon SuperPages. "Red Lion Hotels joins a
growing list of travel and hospitality industry leaders looking to
improve their online customer service capabilities, increase
customer retention and drive sales through the use of our click-to-
call technology," said Brad Timchuk, Senior Vice President of Sales
and Business Development for eStara. "Our customers experience a
22% reduction in website abandonment and a return on investment of
about 50 times the cost of the service. We're very proud of our
results so far, and we are happy to have been selected as Red
Lion's cross channel communication technology partner." A recent
report from Forrester Research further demonstrates the impact that
eStara's cross channel communication services have had on a variety
of different large enterprise customers, including Dell Financial
Services. The report also cites eStara's click to call service as a
"must-have for any significant multi-channel business." (Forrester;
Best Practices: Click-to- Callback Bridges the Cross-Channel Gap,
Bob Chatham, 05/05/05.) This third- party research is available by
special arrangement from Forrester at:
http://www.estara.com/whitepaper/forrester.php To date, over 3
million consumers have used eStara's click-to-call service to speak
with company representatives from the web and complete online
transactions. eStara applications are powered by underlying VoIP
technology that requires no additional hardware or software
installation for end users because it is delivered via an ASP
model. About eStara, Inc. eStara develops applications to help
Fortune 1000 enterprises solve cross channel communication and
customer service challenges while increasing revenue. The company
serves more than 350 global enterprises across multiple industries
including yellow pages and directories, financial services, retail,
travel and hospitality, real estate and automotive. eStara's suite
of applications are developed using a VoIP technology platform
delivered via an ASP model to companies including Continental
Airlines, Dell Financial Services and Esurance.com. Its Push to
Talk service is the most widely deployed "click to call" service in
the world with over 3,000,000 users in 113 countries, giving users
the ability to make PC-to-Phone and Phone-to-Phone calls from the
Web. Please visit http://www.estara.com/ for more information.
About WestCoast Hospitality Corporation WestCoast Hospitality
Corporation is a hospitality and leisure company primarily engaged
in the ownership, management, development and franchising of upper
mid-scale, full service hotels under its Red Lion(R) and
WestCoast(R) brands. In addition, through its entertainment
division, which includes its TicketsWest.com, Inc. subsidiary, it
engages in event ticket distribution and promotes and presents a
variety of entertainment productions. G&B Real Estate Services,
its real estate division, engages in traditional real
estate-related services, including developing, managing and
brokering sales and leases of commercial and multi-unit residential
properties. CONTACT: Jaye Linnen of Strategic Communications Group,
+1-301-408-4500 ext. 1087, or , for eStara, Inc. DATASOURCE:
eStara, Inc. CONTACT: Jaye Linnen of Strategic Communications
Group, +1-301-408-4500 ext. 1087, or , for eStara, Inc. Web site:
http://www.estara.com/
http://www.estara.com/whitepaper/forrester.php
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