Without going into the other issues, one thing about searching for a hotel
on line that bugs the living s**t out of me is getting these "broker"
sites that don't allow you to contact the hotel direct, and I never seem
able to find the hotel's own webpage. And when I do, there's never a
friggin' phone number on it! I hate going through middlemen when it comes
to the internet, so if there's anything you can do to make yourself
directly contactable, and make it easy for someone to phone you directly,
that would make a difference to whether I booked with you or not.

You and me both, Shawn. I have tried EVERYTHING to avoid using those
God-da*ned middle-men, but they have literally taken over the on-line hotel
market.

My one success? If you go to Yahoo and type in "Iowa City Hotel" we will
pop up at the top of the list.

But is it my website that pops up? Hell, no! It's some sort of Yahoo hotel
site. And do they link to my website? Hell, no!

You'll have to scroll down a couple of pages to get to my webpage, simply
because the Hotels.com-types have flooded the market with bogus "Iowa City
Hotels" webpages. And they've done this in every, single market.

I've spent the last two years raging against the machine, but now I'm about
to give in and sell my soul to the devil. (I'm about to sign a contract
with an on-line booking company that will get us listed -- as a
side-effect -- on Expedia and all the other crappy hotel websites...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"