Tvtrip.com, the new, travel site where travelers get to check-out their hotel on video before they book it, announced today two major steps in its expansion. The site now offers 4 key destinations in the US (New York, San Franscisco, Chicago and Miami) and plans on adding 10 more US cities in early 2008. TVtrip has also boosted their destinations in Europe with 50 available popular cities. The other big step is TVtrip’s hot, new player making it easy for the user to access all the information, without ever leaving the viewer.

“The great reaction to our site has helped lead to our phenomenal growth in Europe and now in the U.S.,” said Marc Ruff, Founder and Chief Executive officer of TVtrip.com. “When other properties see how potential travelers respond to our videos and our web site, they want to be part of TVtrip.com and we are happy to have them.”

The site, which is free, features videos profiling over 600 hotels in key European and U.S. cities. The site was developed for customers to use unbiased, transparent videos and help them search for their hotels, Each property can be viewed in approximately 1 minute allowing general view of  inside the hotel, its surroundings and what the room categories are like.

The new TVtrip Player has the unique ability to show the user everything they need without ever leaving the viewer. The video minimizes and continues to play, making it easy for customers to access the hotel’s description, see more videos, consult reviews or even check for rates.

 

Results on TVtrip are displayed either by list, on a map or in the“Video Gallery” another cool, new feature. The “Video Gallery” showcases hotels videos from a specific city making it easy to switch back and forth between videos. The search can also be narrowed by price, hotel rating, amenities and so much more.

TVtrip pays and produces all of its videos, filmed and edited by professionals. The videos give users a complete picture of what the hotel has to offer, in an informative, unbiased manner, in order to facilitate the decision-making

 

In addition to hotel videos, the site also provides map information, nearby sites of interest and reviews of the property This information, along with the videos, helps facilitate  the user’s search, by putting all of the right information at their finger tips, without ever having to leave the site.

Also new: Now users can vote for hotels that are displayed on TVtrip but haven’t been filmed yet. The hotels with the most votes makes it to the top of the filming list.

TVtrip.com was founded by Marc Ruff, who is former Vice President of Expedia Europe; Fabien Bourdier, who is former Manager of Expedia France; Marc Pfohl, former Marketing Director of Expedia France; and Anja Keckeisen, former Managing Director of Expedia Germany.