Its been awhile since Wego launched a feature called “Guest Satisfaction”. If you have seen it and am wondering what is this all about, well basically we analyze hotel reviews from across the web and boil them down into a simple score (Guest Satisfaction).

How do we compute Guest Satisfaction Scores?

We examine hotel reviews and opinions from different sites around the web. Semantic analysis of these reviews are done and by using sentiment analysis techniques, they’re grouped into Positive, Negative, and Neutral reviews.

Each hotel is then assigned a raw satisfaction score. This score takes into account the number of Positive/Negative/Neutral reviews. The raw scores are then normalized by computing their standard scores (also known as z-scores) within each destination. For example, all the hotels in Tokyo are compared to one another and their resulting scores normalized. The normalized satisfaction scores are then reduced to a scale of 5. This is the final satisfaction score that you see on Wego.

Why do we assign satisfaction scores within each destination instead of comparing hotels worldwide?

The reason is simple: assigning satisfaction scores by comparing hotels within each destination allows for a larger spread of scores. We want to make it easy for you to see which hotel is better reviewed within a destination.

If we’d compared hotels worldwide instead: most hotels in Wonderful Hotel City would end up with scores around 4 to 5. Most hotels in Rundown Hotel City would end up with scores around 0 to 2. This makes it really hard to compare hotels since the scores are so close. Imagine comparing hotels when they are mostly scored around 2.1-2.3!

Take a look at our Guest Satisfaction at work

Wego fan page has a new address on Facebook its called “Wego.travel” this is in line with Facebook’s new feature to allow keyword friendly URLs.

If you havent join us at Wego facebook fan page, here your chance simply go to http://www.facebook.com/wego.travel. See you there :)

Dubai is one of the seven emirates and the most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Well-known as the playground for the rich, Dubai has a wide range of luxury 5 star hotels for one to indugle and relax in.

If you are visiting Dubai in the coming weeks and visiting the city for the 1st time, here’s a list of 5 star Dubai hotels that might be of use.

1. Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa is located at Sheikh Zayed Road, set amidst beautifully landscaped gardens and the golden sands of the famed Jumeira strip. The resort hotel inspires guests to explore the natural splendor of Dubai, while enjoying a relaxing spa experience.

2. The Metropolitan Hotel has a Wego popularity rank of #2 among all 5 Star hotels in Dubai. With its own beach resort, broad array of sports facilities and close proximity to the commercial centers and world trade center, The Metropolitan is an ideal choice for both business or leisure travellers.

3. The Hotel Dubai Creek Hilton has a Wego.com user satisfaction score of 4.4 on a maximum score of 5. The Dubai Creek hotel is set in the Deira Business District and located just 10 minutes from Dubai Airport and the Airport Free Zone. Get to dine at the award-winning restaurant Verre by Gordon Ramsay.

4. The Fairmont Hotel situated on Sheikh Zaed Road in the heart of the City financial district, provides a unique blend of comtemporary design which makes the building an iconic landmark. The hotel boasts 10 contemporary dining and entertainment venues which will satisfy the taste buds of all who visit.

5. Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts, with 232 well appointed rooms and suites is  conveniently located in the heart of the city. The hotel is close to major shopping and entertainment centres of Wafi City and Lamcy Plaza, and is about 15 minutes away from Jumeirah Beach.

For more 5 Star hotels in Dubai (90/676), check out Wego’s Dubai 5 Star Hotels. Feel free to conduct a live hotel search for real time pricing and availiability.

Check out the must dos, the best deals and what others say about the Great Australian Roadtrips on Wego

(Singapore, 18 May 2009) Tourism Australia and travel search engine, Wego.com launched Great Australian Roadtrips in Singapore.

Australia is one of the most popular self drive destinations for Singaporeans travelling overseas. In 2008, 51% of Singaporeans holidaying in Australia decided to embark on their own personal adventure through self-drive.

Working with Tourism Australia, Wego.com features fourteen Great Australian Roadtrips and highlights the must dos and sees along the Roadtrips on the micro-site.

“The personal sense of freedom that an Australian Roadtrip adventure offers, the scenery from our rainforests and beaches to the outback, quaint towns, cities and meeting the locals along the way is a key feature for our Singaporean visitors.

“Australia is famous for its diversity, the best and most exciting way to explore the destination is to drive yourself and create your own adventure at your own time and pace,” said Mr Brent Anderson, Manager, Singapore Tourism Australia.

Detailed routes featured on Wego.com include a romantic journey from Perth to Margaret River, scenic coastal drive along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, food and wine trail in Tasmania, an adventure journey in Kangaroo Island in South Australia or the Top End Nature’s Way in Northern Territory, the Capital Touring Route from Sydney, Canberra to Melbourne and the Great Sunshine Way in Queensland. There is a perfect Australian Roadtrip to suit any traveller.

Wego.com worked closely with Tourism Australia and its State Tourism offices to develop the list of must-dos on each Great Australian Journey. With suggested itineraries for each Roadtrip and instant access to a range of airfares, accommodation and restaurants along the way, Wego.com has created a user friendly profile to meet the adventurous consumers budget and needs.

User-generated content is also featured on the site allowing those who have gone before to share their personal highlights of each Roadtrip route and capture the imagination of those planning a Roadtrip Downunder. Photos from Flickr, videos from Youtube and links to relevant blogs allow consumers to easily search and find out what other consumers’ experiences were on the specific journey, hotel or activity.

“Australia is a perfect self-drive destination with some of the world’s most spectacular coastal drives, scenery and nature on the routes. There is so much to do and see and Wego’s role is to help consumers find out the best places to see, stay, eat and also to get there with the best prices all at a one-stop search engine,” said Mr Craig Hewett, Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, Wego.

“Wego.com helps consumers make comparisons and find the perfect flight, hotel, or travel package for your specific needs without having to search through multiple sites, it provides unbiased search results based on budgets and preferences and links the consumers directly to the travel sites to book without commission. This makes it a good platform to provide consumers with the most accurate travel information and the best deals to Australia,” added Mr Anderson.

The Great Australian Roadtrips micro-site can be viewed at www.wego.com/feature/australia

Earlier today on Hamilton Island Tourism Queensland announced the winner of their Best Job In The World competition. After four months of searching, Brit Ben Southall has fended off the other final 16 contenders to take out the prize that will see him become the envy of the world.

From everyone at Wego, congratulations, we look forward to seeing what you can do in the role. There are some very jealous people here at Wego too!

Ben will now take post from July 1 as an Island Caretaker on The Great Barrier Reef, updating the world via blogs, videos and photos about all the things that make The Great Barrier Reef so, well, Great!

Not a bad gig hey. Sounds like a pretty tough next 6 months for the lad. Are you sure you can cope with all that white sand, crystal clear water and all that sun?  That is not a bad office to be in!

Congratulation to TQ on a great campaign so far, will be interesting to see how it rolls on from here.

Team Wego.

Win a holiday adventure for four!

Travel comparison site, Wego.com.au has launched its biggest promotion since entering the Australian market.

The promotion, titled ‘Holiday Entourage’, gives Australians the chance to win a holiday adventure for four, including airfares, valued at $20,000. To enter the competition, readers simply sign up to Wego’s Weekly Travel Hot Deals Newsletter at www.wego.com.au/contests/entourage

Thanks to G.A.P Adventures the winner will take three friends on one of six trips:

- 8 days on a Tanzania Wildlife Adventure

- 13 days enjoying Ultimate Italy

- 15 days in beautiful Costa Rica

- 10 days Sailing the Greek Islands

- 13 days on an Egypt Family Adventure

- 15 days experiencing the Best of Bali and Lombok

The promotion is supported by a substantial online and press campaign.

Wego.com.au’s local marketing manager Sam Lindner said that the promotion aimed to highlight the enjoyment of sharing travel experiences with friends or family.

“Many of life’s most colourful and lasting memories are created whilst travelling, but we rarely get the opportunity to share them with more than one other person. Thanks to Wego, Australians now have the chance to spend the trip of a lifetime with three of their nearest and dearest.

“We’ll take care of the travel planning and costs. All you have to do is choose the entourage you want to share the adventure with.”

For more details about the competition which is live until May 31, please visit: http://www.wego.com.au.

For more information, please contact:

Vida Redoblado – Wego.com.au

T: 02 811 7325

M: 0401 435 309

vida.redoblado@newsdigitalmedia.com.au

About Wego.com

Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, packages, travel deals and travel research across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book.  Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups”. For more information, please visit http://www.wego.com/about.

Singapore, 22nd April 2009 – Asia’s leading travel search engine today added car rental search to its product range, allowing consumers to shop for the best rental cars deals across multiple leading rental car sites in just one click.  The addition of car rentals means that Wego now offers the broadest product range of any Asia Pacific search engine, covering flights, hotels, packages, activities and travel deals.

Wego.com’s integrated search results display enables the consumer to compare real time pricing and availability of rental cars from more than 10 suppliers on a single web-page while the range of sort and filter options allow users to quickly find the product most suited to their specific needs.

The new Wego car rental search engine includes features such as:

• A user friendly Matrix Display that allows for quick side by side comparison of available cars and prices directly from car rental companies such as Avis, Budget, Hertz ,Europcar & Thrifty and through multiple online agency sites
• Multiple, intuitive and easy-to-use sort and filter tools
• The ability to search by key product features such as air conditioning and automatic transmission.
• Searching for airport only locations or airport and city locations together.
• Searching by one, multiple or all car categories (economy, compact, convertible & luxury etc.)

Lynn Marchant, National Leisure Sales Manager for Thrifty Australia stated “We are constantly working to bring consumers the best car hire deals and prices by updating our Thrifty website with specials. Wego is a great platform to extend these same deals to a broader audience beyond our own website.”

Wego will continue to add more car rental brands and agency sites.” Wego.com’s car rental search product delivers choice and simplicity and removes the frustration of having to shop across multiple sites,” said Craig Hewett, Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Wego.com. “Along with our hotel and air products, Wego allows online travel shoppers to search for flights, hotels and package deals across more than a hundred travel sites in the time that it takes to search just one. That means Wego can find the best product to buy and connect users to the best place to buy it in real time, within seconds.”   

About Wego.com

Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, packages, travel deals and travel research across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book.  Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor.. For more information, please visit http://www.wego.com/about.

For Wego.com photos, logos and screen grabs: www.wego.com/mediakit

Singapore, 13 April 2009 – Wego, Asia’s fastest growing travel search engine, today launched a viral competition to promote the Wego Deals Newsletter. The prize is a VIP Getaway to Phuket for 6 people, with a retail value of approximately S$15,000. Winners will stay at the new IndoChine Villas  and the VIP treatment will follow them throughout their holiday.

The Wego Competition winner will receive:

• 6 return tickets to Phuket from either Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore
• 3 nights stay in a private villa at the brand new IndoChine Santi Villas
• A private chef to create culinary masterpieces on demand
• A private butler to provide outstanding personal assistance
• A chauffeur-driven limo to provide smooth, luxurious local transportation
• Access to a private speed boat for exploration of the nearby islands

The competition is open to residents within the ASEAN region who sign up to receive Wego’s weekly top deals newsletter. Wego’s top deals newsletter can turn all travelers into VIPs by helping them save money on exciting trips . Consumers who enter the competition can increase their chances of winning by referring friends to sign up for bonus entries.

The competition closes on 31^st May 2009 with the lucky draw of the prize winner taking place on 12 June 2009. Consumers can enter the competition by completing the entry form on www.wego.com/vipgetaway

About Wego.com

Wego.com (formerly Bezurk.com) allows travelers to search for flights, hotels, packages, travel deals and information across 100+ travel websites in the time that it normally takes to search just one. Wego searches travel websites in real-time so that the latest pricing and availability are shown. Travelers are then linked through to partner websites to book. Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and ZUJI. News Digital Media, the Australian digital arm of News Limited and part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS), is an investor. In 2007, Business 2.0 magazine named Bezurk as one of “31 of the world’s hottest international web startups”. For more information, please visit http://www.wego.com/about.

For Wego.com photos, logos and screen grabs: www.wego.com/mediakit

Update: We’ve received some enquiries (both out of shock and curiosity) and we’d like to urge our readers to take a closer look at the date of the post ;) In other words, Happy April Fools Day.

It’s been almost a year since we made the big jump onto Ruby On Rails for our hotels meta-search product on wego.com. To celebrate its one-year anniversary (well, almost one-year anniversary) we are glad to announce that the hotels meta-search product is available as open-source on GitHub!

We are still sorting out a few issues with our development team regarding documentation and such, but we are confident that this move will strengthen our core product offering by utilizing the power of the community. Please fork our GitHub repository at http://www.github.com/wego/hotels and we will gladly accept patches. We are opening a Trac account for bug reports and mailing list for announcements – this will happen very soon.

In the meanwhile, Happy Hacking!

We have finally launched our car rental product http://www.wego.com/cars . Its still in beta , so we are busy ironing out  bugs , please help us test drive our car rental site . If you find any bugs please email geeks@wego.com 

We will be adding more destinations and car rental providors over the next few weeks. Watch this Space !