Softvoyage has launched Monarc.ca, the first independent Canadian community of hotel reviews, so that Canadian travel agencies can compete with sites such as TripAdvisor.

The tool is free for Softvoyage retail customers and some 150 agencies have signed up including a number of major ones. Monarc.ca features reviews from Canadian travel agency clients of hotels sold with departures out of Canada.

Passengers who have purchased trips on the site of a participating online Canadian travel agency receive two days after their return from vacation a form sent personally from a secure e-mail server, which asks them to rate and to give their opinion on the destination that they just visited. Since this information comes directly from the reservation they had made in previous weeks, they are unable to change either the dates or the name of the hotel for another.

According to Steve Ringuet, president of Softvoyage, "we created Monarc.ca to prevent Canadian web surfing customers from going on foreign review sites to get information, where there is a higher chance that they will directly purchase on these sites travel products from non-Canadian suppliers that do not always correspond to the Canadian customer's quality standards and expectations."

The number of reviews is expected to grow quickly as the winter travel season gets going. For more information, visit Monarc.ca.