An online friend of consumers and hotels Chaago is an acronym that stands for Connecting Hotels and Guests Online, with an extra "a" just for fun.
"Chaago.com prides itself on providing all its services to consumers for free while not charging hotels a penny of commissions," stated the company.
"Chaago.com was created by a team of hoteliers who were `a little tired' of the way things work in the online hotel industry, where other travel web sites are milking travelers and hotels by charging high fees and markup," said Michael Schmitt, COO, Chaago.com.
"For example, the $100.00 rate someone pays for a hotel room booked through a popular online travel site means that the hotel gets about $70.00 to $75.00 because that room was booked online. That translates to a 25- to 30-percent commission rate. Can you imagine how much consumers will save if hotels just pass a portion of the huge commissions on to consumers? That is exactly where Chaago can save consumers money: by connecting them directly to hotel decision makers, bypassing the middleman."
The company is terming Chaago as an ideal site for busy travelers who want to save time and money as well as for people who are planning a wedding, class reunion, family event, or other group event.
Housing, credit markets may sap economy
The painful collapse of the housing market along with the credit crunch will weigh down economic growth in the final three months of this year and cause economic activity to lag in 2008.
It all means that the risk of a recession has increased, economic forecasters say.
The latest look-ahead from the National Association for Business Economics says the gross domestic product is on track to expand at just a 1.5 percent pace from October through December. If that proves correct, it would mark a sizable decline from the July-September rate of 3.9 percent.
The group's new fourth-quarter projection compared with September's prediction of a 2.5 percent growth rate. The GDP � the value of all goods and services produced in the United States� is considered the best barometer of the country's economic fitness.
