Best Western Hotel Launches Online Booking Widget to Reach Customers Via Desktops, Facebook and the Web with WorkLight

Hotel to Use New Applications to Drive Revenues and Customer Loyalty

The Best Western Hotel President Berlin is the first Web 2.0 hotel in its region to launch an online booking widget for desktops, Facebook and the Web. Powered by WorkLight, the widget allows customers to check rates, book rooms at a discount and receive notifications from the hotel about upcoming promotions.

The Best Western widget, developed using software from WorkLight (www.worklight.com), is integrated with the hotel’s booking systems and marketing promotions database. In addition to convenient online booking, customers can access regional conferences and cultural events, preview the hotel’s daily lunch menu and follow its Twitter feed for more updates.

Developed in a single effort using the WorkLight Solution, the multi-channel widget can run as a lightweight Windows or Mac desktop application, an Adobe Air application or a Yahoo! desktop widget. The application can also be added to a customer’s Facebook, iGoogle, and Netvibes accounts.

"We recently launched a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account, but we wanted to complement our social media presence with a more robust service that would allow us to stand apart and drive real business," said Zeev Rosenberg, General Manager at Best Western Hotel President. "WorkLight immediately understood our desire to deliver unique value to our loyal customer base and increase revenue. The result is a very useful widget that accomplishes both."

The WorkLight Solution provides an efficient means for businesses to create and launch secure, integrated widgets. In addition to desktops and websites, widgets can be automatically generated for the popular iPhone and Android smart phones - all with a single development effort.

"The Best Western widget is a great example of how organizations can use widgets to connect with customers in new and exciting ways, while maintaining the security that businesses and their customers demand," said Shahar Kaminitz, CEO of WorkLight. "We were pleased to partner with Hotel President to deliver real business value leveraging our innovative technology platform."

Customers can use the Best Western Hotel President widget to book rooms at a 10% discount.

To download the widget, which is available in English and German, please visit: www.worklight.com/bestwestern

To learn more about WorkLight’s offering for hospitality, please visit: www.worklight.com/travel-hospitality

About Best Western Hotel President

Best Western Hotel President, located in Berlin, is part of Best Western International. Best Western is a quality, international hotel chain, with entrepreneurial independent hotels united under one brand. With more than 4,000 hotels in over 80 countries, Best Western is the largest hotel chain in the world. In Germany and Luxembourg, more than 180 individual hotels belong to the Best Western Hotels Germany GmbH. The conference, city and resort hotels under the Best Western brand worldwide guarantee uniform quality standards, while delivering individual style and local flair. In addition to the core brand, Best Western is now presenting the Top category Best Western Premier. Under the Best Western Premier category are hotels who are selected for their high-quality ambience, consistent design, and additional services and facilities. All Best Western Hotels worldwide can be booked through a travel agency, Best Western’s call centre, or on the Internet for easy and secure booking. The loyalty program for frequent travellers, the Gold Crown Club International (GCCI) has ten million members worldwide.

About WorkLight

WorkLight is the worldwide leader in enterprise-class widgets for mobile, desktops and web. The WorkLight software-based solution provides the highest levels of security, scalability and integration. Using WorkLight, businesses efficiently create and syndicate widgets to multiple channels such as the iPhone, iGoogle, Facebook and Windows Desktop to better reach and engage their customers, partners and employees. Headquartered in New York, WorkLight was recently named a “Cool Vendor in Web Technology” by Gartner. For more, visit www.worklight.com.