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Company NewsApril 1, 2004 
Gaslight Media announced it has signed an agreement to add its new technology to the Web site for the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. Headquartered in Detroit, the Bureau is one of the three largest convention and visitors groups in Michigan with over 800 member companies in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Founded in 1995, Gaslight Media is a full-service Web application, development and Internet software technology company and a leader in innovations for the travel, tourism and retail segments of the Internet.  "This is a very exciting project for us, and a real breakthrough," said Jodie Bissonette, Gaslight Media Vice President and General Manager. We already serve over three dozen Michigan-based travel and tourism clients, but this is the first time we have exported our expertise in the field to a major market like Detroit. And because of our extensive knowledge of travel and tourism, our partnering with the DMCVB is a natural fit. The DMCVB's mission is to attract tourists, business meetings and conventions to the Detroit area and its Web site markets member services to prospects worldwide. Gaslight Media will bring new functionality to the Bureau's current Web site (www.VisitDetroit.com) that not only allows visitors to the site to book vacation packages and conventions online, but also include tours, sporting events, visits to attractions and other amenities and activities as part of a total destination-based package. According to travel industry sources, booking an entire package of events and tours along with the usual travel and accommodation arrangements can add as much as 1.7 days to a person's or family's stay at a destination. And this means added business for the community and DMCVB members. Equally important, DMCVB members will control all of their inventory availability and rates; they will also have access to visitors who book on line with the DMCVB reservation system. This is not a cookie cutter application where one size fits all, said Gaslight Media's Jodie Bissonette. Our technology, which can be customized for each DMCVB member, is easy to use by both members and end users. And because it doesn't carry the overhead of larger sites like Orbitz and Expedia, it's a more economical and flexible solution for the DMCVB, said Bissonette. The Gaslight Media technology offers individual hoteliers, property owners, property chains and travel related retailers a true real-time on-line reservation system. The system is built to handle anything from a single B&B to hundreds or even thousands of reservation properties and attractions with common or separate management of reservation types, categories, rate classes and inventory for each accommodation and attraction. The flexibility of the Gaslight additions to the DMCVB's Web site will allow members and end users to deal with complex vacation packaging and promotional rates, unusual rate calculations, commissions, taxes and discounts, even rates that vary through the duration of a visitor's stay. The DMCVB's new Web packaging system launched in early spring 2004 - and is available under the Special Packages link on the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau web site |
