Abstract: An approach is provided for facilitating reservations of resources for a shorter time period (e.g., intra-day booking) than a traditional daily reservation and/or for extending reservations beyond the limits of traditional reservation times (e.g., check-in, check-out, etc.) The approach includes specifying an intra-day booking period for a resource, wherein the intra-day booking period is a period less than a daily booking period for the resource. The approach also includes interfacing with a channel manager platform to provide for an intra-day reservation of the resource based on the intra-day booking period, wherein the channel manager platform is configured to manage the resource. The approach further includes initiating the intra-day reservation of the resource based on a user intra-day reservation request.

Abstract: A system and method of social revenue management is disclosed. A member of an online social network reveals a commercial offer from a third party to their social network. The offer is customized and endorsed by the first user and typically includes details such as the price. A customization app obtained from a party outside the social network is used to create the offer. The offer is typically to reserve a bookable entity for a period of time, typically accommodation or transportation. When one or more of the contacts accepts the offer, an agent of the third party rewards the first user with a commission calculated using the purchase price of the offer.

Abstract: The disclosure provides a social network system comprising a host server that is configured to store a plurality of user profiles and associated profile pages of users of the social network system, and to provide a plurality of private social networks to the users of the social network system. Each private social network is private to a respective geographic location, and each user profile comprises a location indicator for specifying a current location of the corresponding user. The host server comprises an access controller configured to restrict access to each private social network to users whose user profile location indicator specifies they are currently visiting the geographic location of the private social network. Also an authentication method for the social network system is disclosed.