VIDEO: The Billboard Effect: Why hoteliers need to think of OTAs as marketing vehicles versus reservation engines
	Toronto, ON -- January 11, 2010 -- VFM Leonardo, the leader in online visual content distribution for hotels, has launched a new season on VTV Channel. In this first episode of the season, Chris Anderson, Assistant Professor at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration shares the results of a research study 'The Billboard Effect' conducted in partnership with JHM Hotels and Expedia. In the study, four properties were cycled on and off Expedia over a period of three months.
Here's what you will learn in this episode: Hotel placement on Expedia results in a 20% increase in bookings on other channels Reservations made on other channels (call center, brand.com, other sites) offset reservations made on OTAs Rates attained while being listed on Expedia were about 2-3% higher Watch The Billboard Effect Now � What topics were covered last season? Check out this guide for links to previous VTV Channel episodes on hotel online merchandising, eBusiness strategies, generational marketing, social media and more! Next Week's Episode: To Merchandise or Not with Felix Laboy, President of Sabre Hospitality Solutions Subscribe to VTV Channel� What is VTV Channel? VTV Channel is a video blog where you will find short interviews with industry experts on the most important issues in online marketing, e-commerce, sales and distribution in the hotel industry. Each week, host John McAuliffe, Chief Marketing Officer of VFM Leonardo interviews an industry expert on a single topic related to online merchandising in order to help you extract more value from your hotel's presence on the Internet. Go to VTV Channel � About VFM Leonardo VFM Leonardo is a technology leader in online visual content management and distribution for the hotel industry. VFM Leonardo's VScape(R) and VBrochure(TM) products leverage the distribution capabilities of the VNetwork(TM), the most universally accepted and largest online visual content distribution network for the global travel industry. VFM Leonardo offers the most effective digital asset management and online merchandising systems available today with over 1,000,000 visual images (photos, virtual tours and videos) for 90,000 hotels worldwide currently in distribution across the VNetwork. All four global distribution systems (GDSs) - Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Worldspan - as well as Pegasus source hotel visual content exclusively through VScape. Tens of thousands of travel-related channels including online travel agencies, travel research and supplier web sites, search portals; Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Yahoo! Travel, Kayak, Google and more also source visual content through VScape, many exclusively. For more information about VFM Leonardo, visit www.vfmleonardo.com. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VFMLeonardo. Media Contact: Julie Vieth, VFM Leonardo Inc. Toll free: 1-877-593-6634 Phone: 416-263-5446 Fax: 416-593-7572 Email: press@vfmleonardo.com