Bookassist and MICROS-Fidelio announce certified OPERA Connectivity Solution for Hotels

Bookassist, the technology and online strategy firm for hotels, has announced official certification of their booking engine software integration with the OPERA Property Management System (PMS) from the world's leading hotel solutions provider MICROS-Fidelio. The connection service allows hotels to automatically and seamlessly manage their online reservations from Bookassist via the OPERA PMS.

The connection service is the latest in a list of integrations between Bookassist's popular booking platform and the world's leading property management systems and channel managers.

Speaking about the advantages of the integration, Karen Moran, Sales and Marketing Director at Moran & Bewley's Hotels UK & Ireland said: "We're delighted to have direct integration between our online booking and our MICROS-Fidelio OPERA property management systems right across the group. It saves considerable time and effort, and more importantly makes sure that the reservations detail is end-to-end accurate. The automation allows our staff to get on with the more important business of running the hotel rather than worrying about technology."

Bookassist have collaborated with MICROS-Fidelio on the integration and client roll-out over the last 18 months culminating in official certification. A number of existing mutual clients have been using the integration since its first introduction in late 2010.

Discussing the official certification, Bookassist CEO Dr Des O'Mahony said: "A significant number of our clients in all the countries we operate in are also MICROS-Fidelio clients. This integration is a real advantage for them, reducing manpower, eliminating transfer errors, and improving efficiency. We expect a significant uptake of this new joint service."

"MICROS-Fidelio is pleased to offer connectivity between our hotel solution OPERA and Bookassist. The interface with Bookassist provides automated booking notifications directly into the OPERA hotel system," said Dr Peter Agel, Senior Vice President eCommerce and Strategic Solutions EMEA at MICROS-Fidelio.

Bookassist® (bookassist.org) creates and manages successful and proven online strategies for thousands of hotels and groups and is one of the leading hotel booking engine and online marketing providers in Europe. Headquartered in Dublin and with offices in 6 countries, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation.

Ian McCaig managing partner of Bookassist in Scotland, was delighted with the news, "This latest integration on top of some excellent new upgrades just presses the point about continuous improvement being critical. As the online booking sector moves ever faster with shifts to mobile, integration into social media and the need to react even more quickly to the market place this proves again that Bookassist can provide the hotel operator in Scotland - large and small - with the competitive advantages that they are looking for.

If you're interested in finding out more about how Bookassist can work in conjunction with your MICROS set up inScotland email Bookassist Scotland or call 01292 512404.

MICROS-Fidelio International (micros-fidelio.eu), the global markets subsidiary of MICROS®, is the premier provider of enterprise-wide integrated information technologies for the hotel industry. MICROS-Fidelio has become "the standard" in the industry with over 25,000 installations worldwide. Its enterprise solutions include multi-property, fully integrated hotel systems encompassing property management systems, sales and catering systems, central reservation systems, customer information systems, revenue management systems, an Internet/global distribution system-based hotel reservation service called myfidelio.net, and installation and support services associated with the various software products.

Google +1 Button - An Introduction

You may have noticed when browsing on Google over the past few weeks that there is now a new +1 Button.

It has some similarities with Facebook's like button but has significant differences and potential benefits for your website traffic and search engine strategies.


If you like any web page you can just click the +1 button on your screen and the same choicdes would become visible to your friends and contacts when they Google it. It is a virtual word of mouth recommendation.

According to Google +1 is shorthand for "this is pretty cool" or "you should check this out" and they advocate that websites should embed the necessary code to allow your site visitors to publicly give the webpage their stamp of approval. The pitch is that +1's can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search. Watch the video below to find out a little bit more.

We are recommending that all our clients should start using the +1 button on their website - it shouldn't take long and the notional cost should be well outweighed by the benefits. Just drop us an email and we'll let you know the cost and schedule the work in over the next couple of weeks for you. To find out why you could watch the video below and read some of the FAQs.



Google provided some FAQ's on the developer website pages which may clarify some issues. Here's some of the the bits that may be of interest to you.


How does +1 affect search results?

+1 helps people discover relevant content—a website, a Google search result, or an ad—from the people they already know and trust. Adding the +1 button to your pages lets users recommend your content, knowing that their friends and contacts will see their recommendation when it’s most relevant—in the context of Google search results.

When a signed-in Google user is searching, your Google search result snippet may be annotated with the names of the user's connections who've +1'd your page. If none of a user's connections has +1'd your page, your snippet may display the aggregate number of +1's your page has received. Does +1 affect my site’s performance in search?

Does +1 affect my site’s performance in search?

Content recommended by friends and acquaintances is often more relevant than content from strangers. For example, a movie review from an expert is useful, but a movie review from a friend who shares your tastes can be even better. Because of this, +1’s from friends and contacts can be a useful signal to Google when determining the relevance of your page to a user’s query. This is just one of many signals Google may use to determine a page’s relevance and ranking, and we’re constantly tweaking and improving our algorithm to improve overall search quality. For +1's, as with any new ranking signal, we'll be starting carefully and learning how those signals affect search quality.


How does the +1 button work?

If you want to use the +1 button, you will need a Google account. When you create a Google account, remember it is not just a mail-box; there are many added benefits to it. Generally, the +1 theme will work for all the Google sites but you are also provided with an option through which you can have the +1 button for non-Google sites.

Dragon's Tooth Website Integrate Blog News

Just completed a wee update for the team at the wonderful Dragon's Tooth Golf Course near Ballchulish in the West Highlands.

Plan B developed the new site for Laurence Young in 2010 and they have supplemented that with an active Facebook page and regular blogging.

We've now dropped the RSS feed from his blog directly into the website to ensure that all blog items can be viewed from the golf courses own website as they come through.

In addition we dropped in similar feeds from the Scottish Golf Union and The Herald sports pages to keep the members and site visitors up to date with the winder world of golf.

Ian McCaig of Plan B commented, "The website developed for Dragon's Tooth is driven by our own tourism content management system The Claymore Project and it gives the course complete control over their content, images, and uploding documents whether they be green fees, competition entry forms or menus. We can then develop a highly visual website based around the needs of a golf course at a really competitive rate. There really is no excuse for a golf course or club not to have a full CMS driven website incorproating the latest socail media tools"

Maximise Your Direct Share of late Bookings

This briefing was mailed out to Bookassist hotels across Scotland but stands up for any hotelier looking to maximise their share of online bookings direct from their own website.

Last Minute Bookings

The past week has shown a dramatic increase in late bookings (less than six weeks out) across the whole of Scotland from small inns to large resort hotels. You need to make sure that you’re maximising the opportunity for converting this business through your own website.

Best Available Rate

You must ensure that you have Best Available Rate on your own website through to the end of September. Web users may find you on a third party bookings website but large chunks of them will then check out your website for further information and your offered rate. It goes almost without saying that if your rate is higher there is no chance of switching the potential customer from the high commission third party website to your own low cost booking. Consider dropping a Best Available Rate box onto your site to grab the attention – we have a standard graphic available should anyone need one.

You must at least offer the same rate to convert this business at the lower cost of sale.

Maximise your availability

Again it should be a given but you need to ensure that you have as many rooms available on your own website as possible – right up to the very last minute. Increase the number of available rooms until the end of September if you haven't already and check when you are accepting bookings up until. If you’ve still got a restriction of several days ahead on your own website you may be losing out on valuable room sales – change it to same day for maximum impact.

Look at developing multiple night offers

With the Bookassist admin you can now create your own discounted offers for third or fourth of fifth night stays. Encourage longer stays with the use of selective promotional pricing for additional night stays. If you need further advice on how to do those contact your Bookassist account manager on 01292 521404

Add Ons

Ensure that your add ons are up to date and relevant for the summer period. Local visitor attractions, summer dining, room extras. All can help increase your secondary spends and guest satisfaction.

Facebook Searches

If you’re using Facebook at least make sure that you are using it to the maximum. Ensure you have Bookassist bookings and guest reviews embedded on your Facebook page and that any offers you are promoting on Facebook are available to be booked online. There is little benefit in promoting it through social media and then telling them to phone you! All your rates and pacakges can be sold directly through Facebook at your standard commission rate. If you need assistance again call your account manager.

Press and Online PR

If you have any offers or late availability send it to us at this email address and we'll post it on Scotland's For Me via Blog and Facebook. It's free and may just gain you some extra DIRECT business.

Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help you maximise your business both in the short term and further ahead. Booassist in Scotland can be contacted on 01292 521404 or visit the Booakssist Website for more information on developing your online sales and marketing strategy

Destination Toolkit Launched For Scottish Tourism

Tourism companies and destination marketing organisations are being urged to work together to ensure they realise their local area’s full market potential.

A new toolkit, produced by Tourism Intelligence Scotland, outlines the practical steps that individual areas of Scotland should take to grow their market and realise their full tourism potential.

"5 Steps to Destination Development" includes a range of case studies, practical challenges and resources designed to inspire businesses in local areas to join forces and help turn their vision of a great tourism area into reality.

Speaking about the toolkit, Fergus Ewing MSP, Minister for Energy, Enterprise & Tourism, said: "The Destination Development Resource is an excellent way of sharing knowledge and expertise across the sector and making sure that visitors to Scotland have the best possible experience and want to come back for more.

"Scotland has so much to offer visitors, from magnificent scenery and wildlife to our wonderful natural larder, and if our businesses work together we can make even more out of this.

"The toolkit will help local areas see where they can develop the overall package that they have on offer to attract even more people from across the world."

Katrina Morrison, tourism strategic priorities manager at Scottish Enterprise, said: "There are currently over 200 local associations, groups and destination marketing organisations in Scotland, all striving to put their particular area on the tourism map.

"Those areas which have demonstrated real success in growing their market, however, are the ones where businesses are collaborating and working together to identify and fill gaps in the visitor experience, rather than competing internally.

"If areas are to succeed in such a highly competitive marketplace, a shared vision, along with organisation and co-ordination, are the keys.

"This new toolkit aims to inspire and enthuse as well as provide practical advice, assistance and insights to help areas grow their market and compete on the national tourism stage.

"The toolkit explains how, by bringing businesses with a common purpose together, areas can work collectively to improve their visitor offer.

"Practical challenges help groups to gauge how their area is currently performing and identify the gaps between what they have and what visitors actually want, as well as the steps they need to take to improve."

The toolkit also looks at how, by working together, groups can develop a realistic and achievable plan for the future and defines the steps needed to develop a realistic, achievable and sustainable area action plan.

The final step outlines some simple steps to help groups measure the difference they have made and to monitor their progress as they continue along the road to developing a great tourism area.

Each easy-to-use section comes complete with a series of challenges to work through as a group, plus a handy checklist and signposting to the practical resources needed to help an area achieve its goals.

A range of best-practice examples from across Scotland illustrate the success that can be achieved through a collaborative approach to developing an area in this way.

The toolkit is available free to registered users here.

East Lothian Golf Post Advertised

The following position has been advertised for the Golf Manager's Position at East Lothian Golf.

Based at Council Headquarters, Haddington Salary £27,921 - £31,498 pa pro rata (£15.30 - £17.26 per hour) Closing date 14th August 2011

Hours of work 35 hours per week

Job Details 
Purpose of the Job To develop, implement and monitor projects to attract additional golf tourism visitors to East Lothian Major Tasks

1. To develop the East Lothian Golf Tourism Strategy and Action Plan to maximise economic benefit from golf tourism activities

2. To support the marketing and promotion of East Lothian before, during and after the Open Golf Championship at Muirfield in 2013

3. To support and work with the East Lothian Golf Tourism Alliance identifying appropriate projects and marketing activities

4. To develop and maintain strong and effective working relationships with partner organisations, networks and forums

5. To develop, implement and co-ordinate golf tourism projects in partnership with external interest bodies and agencies

6. To represent East Lothian golf tourism regionally, nationally and internationally

7. To develop appropriate promotional materials for target markets, including website development and print materials

8. To develop funding bids with the support of public and private sector agencies and organisations

9. To support golf tourism businesses in developing and implementing marketing and business development plans

10. To co-ordinate golf tourism market intelligence and provide advice to public sector on developments and opportunities

11. To contribute to the development of tourism strategies and policies

12. To undertake such other duties appropriate to the grading of the post as directed by the Executive Director of Environment and Economic Development Manager

Job Requirements
Relevant Qualifications SVQ4, HND or equivalent in a relevant discipline such as Golf, Economics, Event Management, Tourism, Leisure Management, Business Studies, Marketing AND/OR relevant extensive golf tourism experience

Knowledge of golf tourism in Scotland and of industry needs

IT skills – including knowledge of website developments, social media

Google Hotel Finder - Levelling the Playing Field?

Some of you may have had a wee look at Google’s Hotel Finder which was launched in test format last week in the United States.

A quick trawl through its functionality and you can't help but think that it's going to be good for the consumer and the hotel and may just offer a way of pushing back those expensive OTA commissions. Of course that may change but HotelMarketing.com's Markus Busch at least thinks it has the potential to disrupt the business of online bookings.

Simply type in Google Hotel Finder and up it will come. As you'd expect from Google the process is simple and fast allowing you to compare and book hotels without leaving the Google Hotel Finder page. Select by Hotel and user rating, Price, check in dates and obviously powerful Geo location tools.

According to Busch, "For the hotel industry, Google Hotel Finder has the potential to become a new level playing field where hotels can compete with online travel agents and have an equal change to succeed in securing the final booking. A powerful catalyst for driving direct bookings via your hotel website. Hotel destination search how it was meant to be"

And we have to agree, before Google Places was launched, if you searched for “hotels in Edinburgh” on Google, your search result page invariably was saturated with not a single link to a hotel website, but loads of links to a proliferation of online travel agents and their affiliates. Hotels trying to get a page one listing were often up that creek with that paddle.

Google Places and maps shifted that balance a little but with the heavies of Booking.com, Tripadvisor and others dominating the paid and unpaid listings. The effects of this have become clearer and clearer with the previously forecast shift to hotels' increasing direct sales slowed by the sheer buying power of the OTA's and a slewing of traffic towards third parties.


Google's Hotel Finder has the ability to change this - when it hits Scotland (sooner rather than later we hope!) the consumer will enter Google Hotel Finder, type in the city and their dates of travel and hey presto all you're going to get is a list of hotels relevant to your search. No OTA's just hotels!

If you use New York as your example for now, you can see that the initial list that comes up features hotels with an image, the hotel name and a description. It also includes the hotel’s star and user rating, and a price per night which sits alongside a value percentage against the historical average price.

Each hotel entry can be expanded out with a single click with more images and a slide show, reviews, contact details and a link to the hotel's own website! And that's where the balance starts shifting back to the hotel!

You can now scroll through the hotels and select the ones you like for comparing in your own shortlist at the top of the page. Once you're ready you just hit the Book button which opens up a neat little price comparison box with featured OTA's and most importantly another link back to the hotel to book direct.

A simple and expandable navigation menu on the left side along the hotel list allows you to refine your hotel search by a number of different variants:-

• Location: Simply draw your location on a map to only view hotels in your selected area;
• Dates: Enter your arrival and departure dates to only see hotels with availability during that period;
• Price: Define your price per night range, or use the deal finder to list only hotels that are offering deals that anywhere from 10% to 50% less than the hotels historical average rate;
• Hotel class & User rating: Select your preferred hotel class from one to five stars, and if you would like to see only hotels that have reviews.

According to HotelMarketing.com, the Google Hotel Finder experiment raises a few questions. They ask the following.

How do hotels get listed on Google Hotel Finder? What databases are accessed via Google technology to populate the hotel listings? They argue that it is most likely to be CRS content provided directly by hotel representation companies like Sabre Hospitality, Utell and the likes, or Pegasus ODD.

I'm pretty sure that Google will find an alternative solution that will open up the option for independent and smaller properties to be found. Some form of booking integration interface is not beyond the realms of Google Places and puts the responsibility back in the hands of the hotelier. If hotels can get to grips with UA Codes in Analytics then surely they'll work something out through Places for Business!

They also ask "How will hotels get ranked on Google Hotel Finder? Currently the result page is static, with the same hotels getting the top position on the list. Will that change into a randomly sorted list for the final product?

Where does the static content for the hotel listings like hotel descriptions and images come from? And how can hotels update that information? What role does Google Places for Business play when it comes to updating a hotels business information on Google Hotel Finder?"


From a Scottish tourism perspective it can't surely be a bad thing to have the possibility that individual hoteliers may actually see a day when there pricing and availability decisions are moved back into their own hands again.


The current situation where Scottish hotels are having to compete with the OTA's to bid for their own hotel brand names is for many quite ridiculous and has in the eyes of many moved their distribution channel from partners to competitors.

It must also have an impact on the search and web development strategies of  Destination Management/Marketing Organisations - what for example do VisitScotland.com do with Google Hotel Finder? Is it not clearly the dynamic solution to the recurring online booking problems that they are spending a small fortune to develop?

At this stage at least you have to say that Google Hotel Finder looks positive for the hotelier and the guest looking to book direct.