How to get a hotel reservation at LPN?
By JERUSALEM POSTTravel agency LPN is trying to lure some Israelis to the US and Europe to take advantage of a deal the agency is launching with the travel agency appTripAdvisor, which lets users book hotel reservations for trips within Israel.
The app will be rolled out nationwide by LPN’s new partner, TripAdvisor’s chief executive officer, Shlomo Gersh.
The app, which is currently in the testing phase, will offer more than 100 travel options in Israel, including Israel’s most popular destinations like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Travelers will be able to book hotel rooms for a maximum of six nights per week, Gershy said in an interview on Friday.
For every booking, Tripadvisor will pay LPN $500, the amount that LPN pays to the hotel industry.
Gersh said he had expected a surge in booking interest after the agreement was signed with TripAdvisers.
But he said LPN received only a handful of requests from Israelis who wanted to book hotels at the same time as they booked from outside Israel.
“The vast majority of those people were not going to use LPN in the future,” he said.
“I have no idea how this will go.”
Travelers can also book in the US by using the app’s Travel Center.
Gershed said LNP would charge $5,000 to $10,000 per booking and would receive an additional $50 for each reservation booked from an international reservation provider.
The service is available in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as in Europe.
Geshed said the agency will start accepting reservations at the end of October.
“This is not about a one-time deal,” he told the Post.
“This is about a plan that will work.”
He said the plan will include “faster, better and more efficient service” and would enable travelers to book as often as they want.
“We have to be patient with the customers and try to build trust in the Israeli travelers that we will work to solve the problems,” Gersha said.
Germantown, West Virginia, hotel chain Hilton will be one of the first US-based companies to sign on to the program.
Hilton said it has already booked at least 2,000 rooms and will have “a strong presence” in the country by the end.
“Our company’s mission is to provide our guests with the best experiences, to offer the best service and to offer a world-class experience,” Hilton spokeswoman Lisa Bresnahan said in a statement.
“Hilton has already had great success in the U.S. in our hotel booking business and we look forward to expanding our relationships in Israel to expand our business in this country.”
Tripadvisor, an app that lets users search hotels and book rooms through the app, said it is currently accepting reservations from Israeli travelers.
Gerhy said the agreement with Tripadvisors will be a “game changer” for LPN.”LPN is not only a great option for travelers in Israel but also for international travelers, because now we have a real opportunity to help them stay in Israel and not have to travel through Israel,” he wrote in an email.
The travel agency’s partnership with Tripadsvisor marks the latest in a string of partnerships between the US travel industry and Israel.
In November, LPN and TripAdvisors signed a contract to provide LPN with $1.8 billion in revenue from the hotel booking industry by 2021.
In June, LNP and Tripadirections also agreed to a memorandum of understanding to develop a joint venture to sell travel packages to the United Arab Emirates, where LPN operates.
In the first six months of 2019, Tripadsoresions revenue from hotels, travel agencies and hotel operators in Israel reached more than $30 billion, with a majority of the revenue going to Israeli travelers, according to TripAdventures data.
The Israel Travel Association, which represents over 6,500 Israeli travel agents, has urged Israel’s government to make hotel reservations more affordable and accessible.
The association has warned that the rise of cheap Airbnb rentals is a serious threat to tourism.