Orbitz and Google let travelers check out the neighborhood

Orbitz.com has just unveiled its new Google Street View to allow customers to take a walking-tour of a hotel’s neighborhood before, during and after booking a hotel stay. This new feature marks the company’s most recent example of Orbitz’s strong focus on delivering an unparalleled hotel booking experience to its customers.

To date, Orbitz.com is the first and only major U.S. online travel company to integrate Google Street View into its hotel offering, allowing customers to explore the neighborhood around a hotel and check out 360 degree street-level views of hotels, nearby restaurants, shops and local attractions.

“With the launch of Google Street View on Orbitz.com, we are continuing to progress towards our goal of making Orbitz the best place for travelers to book a hotel,” said Sam Fulton, GVP of retail merchandising for Orbitz Worldwide. “This launch comes on the heels of the introduction of Hotel Price Assurance and Total Price hotel search results, differentiating Orbitz from the competition.”

“We’re excited to see Orbitz implementing the Google Maps API Premier and adding Street View imagery to the hotel booking experience on Orbitz, giving consumers the ability to observe a hotel’s surroundings as if they were there,” said Daniel Chu, Product Manager, Google Enterprise. “We’re glad to see partners like Orbitz bring this type of innovative technology to their millions of customers.”

To access Google Street View on Orbitz, simply select the “Maps & area info” tab on the hotel property page and click the “Street View” link. Any hotel address available for Street View on Google Maps will be available to view on Orbitz.com.

Street View is made available via the Google Maps APIs. Orbitz is implementing Google Maps API Premier, the enterprise-grade version of the Google Maps API with advanced geocoding and support capabilities.

Putting customers first

Google Street View is the most recent example of Orbitz’s strong focus on delivering an unparalleled hotel booking experience to its customers.

Orbitz recently introduced Total Price hotel search results, making it radically easier for consumers to search for hotels. Orbitz is the only major online travel company to show Total Price per night including taxes and fees upfront on the initial search results page. Competitors only show base rate, requiring customers to actually select a hotel before finding out the Total Price.

In May, Orbitz launched Hotel Price Assurance, promising customers the best Orbitz rate for their hotel. Here’s how it works: you book any pre-paid hotel on Orbitz, another Orbitz customer subsequently books the same hotel stay at a lower rate, and Orbitz automatically sends you a check for the difference.

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