Go Rural Discussion at Scottish Parliament

Picked up from LinkedIn...

Graeme Dey MSP and Go Rural are hosting a discussion on rural tourism on Tuesday 29th January at the Scottish Parliament. We have 10 places for members of the Scottish Tourism Alliance.

The event is from 6pm to 8pm. If you are interested in how Scotland engages City residents with rural tourism and leisure businesses and how best small rural businesses collaborate with each other to deliver an authentic, quality experience then come along. I will be feeding back some findings from my Nuffield Scholarship study in New Zealand and Australia.

The organizers require to have names registered for security purposes by close of play Thursday 24th January 2013 and you should register using this link if interested.

Go Rural Scotland is a new initiative which was launched in July 2012 to encourage Scottish City residents and City visitors to make multiple trips into the countryside within 90 minutes of the City.

Go Rural aims to engage with consumers and encourage them to into rural areas of Scotland, from a weekly visit to a farm shop for food shopping through to a day out undertaking activities with the family, short breaks and longer holidays. Farm produce and local food and drink is an integral part of the Go Rural experience.

Go Rural would like to encourage more collaboration and joint working between Go Rural members and other businsses in their local area.

Rural Scotland has a large population of potential consumers on its doorstep both from Scottish cities but also from the large number of visitors coming to Scotland. There is potential to increase the amount of interaction between rural Scotland and the towns and cities of Scotland. This could have health beneftis for the Scottish population and economic benefits for the range of small rural businesses which Go Rural promotes.

This event will

• feedback what has been achieved since July 2012 with the pilot with 50 businesses around the Edinburgh area
• outline opportunities in the Year of Natural Scotland to extend Go Rural to another 9 Cities and towns in Scotland
• describe an initiative in Fife where Go Rural is being used to promote and track rural businesses working with each other in the food and drink and tourism supply chain
• feedback on best practice from other areas of the world by Caroline Millar, one of the directors of Go Rural, who is a current Nuffield Scholar looking at farm diversification and collaboration between rural businesses - study areas are Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Canada, USA, Austria and the UK

Golf Courses Set to Track Costs and Revenues

According to the SGU website a free and easy to use new online system that helps golf courses manage themselves more sustainably and efficiently has been launched by The R&A.

CourseTracker was unveiled at the British and International Golf Greenkeepers’ Association (BIGGA) Turf Management Exhibition 2013 in Harrogate.

CourseTracker is designed for golf course managers and club secretaries to record the income derived from the course and what is spent on its maintenance.

The secure system allows golf clubs to monitor their performance over time and identify strengths, weaknesses and areas where savings could be made in terms of energy and water, for example.

CourseTracker also enables golf clubs to anonymously benchmark their performance against that of other clubs of a similar size in their country. It produces accurate performance reports for the use of course managers and club secretaries and can be used to keep committees informed and to aid decision making.

The system has been extensively tested with course managers, club secretaries and industry bodies and their feedback has been used to develop and refine its range of functions. It has been endorsed by England Golf, the Golfing Union of Ireland, the Scottish Golf Union and the Golfing Union of Wales.

Around 50 representatives of the golf industry attended the launch at a special ceremony in the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate close to the exhibition centre.

Steve Isaac, Director – Golf Course Management at The R&A, said: “There is more pressure than ever on golf clubs to make the right decisions to manage golf courses sustainably, efficiently and cost effectively. CourseTracker can help them do that through recording, monitoring and reporting their activities and inputs. We know this is an area where many clubs struggle due to lack of time and resources.

“CourseTracker is free, completely secure and can enable clubs to compare their performance on an anonymous basis with other clubs of a similar size and situation. The aim is to give clubs more information and understanding of their course maintenance activities to enable them to improve performance.”

Paul Keeling, Club Services Manager at England Golf which has supported CourseTracker, added: “CourseTracker is an excellent new resource for golf clubs which can really help them get a grip on their expenditure on course maintenance.

"It is so important to manage golf courses sustainably both to protect the environment and reduce costs. This is a quick, easy to use system which can deliver accurate and useful management information for golf clubs. We will certainly be recommending CourseTracker to courses we work with in England.”

CourseTracker can be accessed online at www.coursetracker.org. Golf clubs need only spend a few minutes registering before using the system. It is simple to use and there are full online tutorials available for guidance.

Torridon takes starring role in new Scottish tourism drive

THE splendour of the Torridon mountains is set to be the star of an international TV advert aimed at luring domestic, American and European visitors to the great outdoors of Scotland.

The commercial is part of VisitScotland’s biggest ever nature-focused tourism drive, highlighting the country’s natural environment. It is designed to get the Scottish population out of their armchairs and into the countryside for the Year of Natural Scotland 2013.

This £3.4 million campaign — tipped to bring a return of some £68million to the Scottish economy — will target the key domestic market as well as North America, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

It will feature a new television advert highlighting mountain biking in Torridon and the beach at Arisaig.
Other activity includes a major ticket giveaway from Scottish transport providers which will see at least 15,000 people enjoying free travel during April - allowing them to visit a Scottish island or to travel all over Scotland - courtesy of Caledonian MacBrayne, Northlink and ScotRail.

Coach operator Stagecoach has also offered 5,000 money-off vouchers that can be redeemed throughout the month of April.

Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland regional director, said: "The Year of Natural Scotland is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the Highlands’ spectacular natural environment and I’m delighted that millions of potential visitors will again see Torridon and Arisaig throughout the next twelve months in our new television and cinema advert.

"The Highlands boasts some of Scotland’s most beautiful coastlines and countryside. "The Big April Adventures" is an incredible opportunity for people to travel to our region and enjoy our landscape for free. We are extremely grateful to Calmac, ScotRail, Northlink and Stagecoach for their generosity in this Scotland-wide initiative and we hope that as many people as possible sign up for these tickets and experience our beautiful country for themselves."

Click here for more information on the Year of Natural Scotland.

Maximise the Visual Impact of Your Booking Engine

There are so many things that can turn off your site visitor from booking. Hide away the availability checker, have too many levels, not showing best available rates or in this case not making it easy to find the room options available.

It is extremely important that you spend some time optimising your room descriptions, images and even order to ensure that your guest can book the room that they wish.

Bookassist have made this even easier to do now and we thought it worth while looking at what you could or should be doing.

Now, at the outset is that there is quite probably no right and wrong in how rooms should be set up but if you follow your own "customer journey" through your own booking pages you'll be able to identify where the hurdles are and then you can remove them.

However on most occasions we are recommending to accommodation providers that they promote two routes to their bookings - by Room Type and by Promotional Package.

By Room Type 

Bookassist can sort your rooms and packages into Variation Groups. In ordinary English that means that you can create a variation group that describes the generic room type and then you can sell the various package options underneath it.

Variation Groups are viewed once the site visitor has clicked on the availability checker. The order of rooms and packages can impact on the conversion of lookers to bookers and it is important that thought is given to how providers list their product.

A variation group can be seen as a type of folder holding each of the packages relating to that room underneath it.

We recommend sorting your packages in this way as it means that the guest can systematically see the options by room type and the accommodation provider can make it easy to upsell packages form a basic room.

The booking engine allows the accommodation provider to move the order of the packages and indeed the variation groups themselves using an easy drag and drop facility to make sure that the most important packages can even temporarily be moved to the top of the page.

From the customer perspective they can see the room description at the top and then read only the detail of the specific packages below. A/B testing has overwhelming shown that the new layout converts at a higher level than the old route.

By Promotional Package

In addition to the sort by room type in the availability pages we always recommend that accommodation providers create a dedicated Promotions or Special Offers page on the website. Your customer is looking for the deals so you may as well sell them direct rather than through expensive third party channels.
Bookassist booking engine uses Price Groups to make the booking of your packages very easy. The creation of a regularly updated offers page highlighting January Sale, Spring Breaks, Golf Packages  Three nights for Two, Sunday Night Free (the list is clearly only limited by imagination!)

Price Groups work by allocating unique codes to packages or groups of packages to allow the visitor to click directly on the specific promotion without having to go through layers of date and room type information. It is proven to increase conversion rates in promotional packages.

In addition Price Groups can be used to promote email campaigns and in house "flash sales" (See Mar Hall Case Study) often with extraordinary results. Simply add a price group to the package being promoted and use the direct link to the package in your mail, social media and website.

Design and Layout

Bookassist allows the accommodation provider not only to control the content and order easily but also to mange the look and feel of the booking engine itself. Web designers can easily change the CSS code to ensure that the booking pages are styled to suit the website design.

Downloads and Links

For more information on how Bookassist can improve your business contact us on 01292 521404 or email us

Visit Bookassist Website 

Riverside Inn closes for refurbishment

The Riverside Inn just south of Ayr along the busy A77 has closed for an extensive refurbishment programme and is expected to reopen in spring 2013.

Last year, The Riverside Inn was bought by SimpsInns, one of the leading family-owned hospitality groups with bars, restaurants and hotels across Ayrshire. An opportunity arose to acquire The Riverside Inn and owners, Malcolm and Karen Simpson, recognised the potential in the converted farmhouse, which had been operating as a quaint country pub and restaurant.

After taking ownership in June 2012 the owners decided to continue trading for the remainder of the season and only closed the doors after recent Hogmanay celebrations.

The Riverside Inn sits on acres of unspoilt Ayrshire countryside, mature woodland and adjacent to the River Doon. The premises, though warm and homely, were always in need of upgrade and refurbishment.

That said, it didn't stop leading restaurant critic Tam Cowan heap praise on The Riverside Inn on his visit there in 2012. The Simpsons feel now is the right time to carry out the refurbishment project, which they hope to have completed in time for spring this year.

Downloads and Links

SimpsInns is the award winning hospitality group based in Ayrshire and operates:

• The Gailes – Irvine
• Old Loans Inn – Troon
• The Waterside – Seamill, West Kilbride. 

In 2013 Si! Café:Bar:Restaurant and Si! Italia will open on the Kilwinning Road in Irvine.

SimpsInns Accolades:

• The Waterside: 'Refurbishment of the Year' (SLTN Awards 2012)
• Malcolm Simpson: 'Entrepreneur of the Year' (SLTN Awards 2012)
• SimpsInns: 'Award for Success' Gold Medal winner (DRAM Awards 2012)
• SimpsInns: 'Ayrshire Family Business of the Year' (Ayrshire Business Awards 2011)
• Old Loans Inn: 'Small Hotel of the Year' (Golf Tourism Scotland 2011) 

For further information please contact:

Paul Gallagher
SimpsInns
Marine Drive
Irvine
T: 01294 204040 

E: paul.gallagher@simpsinns.com

Best Book Direct - Flash Sales Without Exposing Yourself!

Alongside the OTA's Flash Sales have been the second biggest dilemma in 2012 - they provide volume but at what cost? Exposing hotels to downward price, reduced value, compromised service and often disappointed guests. How can you use the good and eradicate the bad? Flash Sales are Best when Booked Direct of course!

The principle concept behind flash sales is nothing novel or revolutionary it's just the delivery mechanism that has allowed them to flourish so prominently.

The idea of selling (often distressed or dated) products and services at a reduced cost for a limited period of time is the basis for all good promotional activity.

The window of opportunity to buy must be short -emphasising the need for immediacy of purchase - and the availability of product needs to be limited - scarce offers sell quicker!.

The difficult with Flash Sales promotions is that they have become the preferred method of sale for too many hotels across the UK with the clear net impact of brand erosion, reduction in loyalty, movement away from direct sales, increased telephone handling costs and a massive reduction in the contribution from the room sale itself through the punitive commissions and charges.

Are they to be avoided at all costs? No is the simple answer but they should be used sparingly, VERY sparingly, and be very controlled in the inventory and pricing used.

However price and date lead promotions have their place.

Take the key concept of the flash sale, use it on your own website, your own distribution channels and your own marketing using your own DIRECT booking engine and you can make a Flash sale stack up pretty well.

To highlight this we've used an example this week from Mar Hall Resort near Glasgow using Bookassist Web Booking Engine to drive business to a specific January offer on Junior Suites. They have previously used multiple third party channels to promote their product with varying costs associated but earlier this week decided they would try a January Flash Sale via their own website, mailing lists and social media channels using their own booking engine Bookassist.

Email Campaign

As we've highlighted before it is essential that you gather your guest data whenever and wherever you can. The lower cost of repeat business against new has always been recognised and with specific time based promotions being sent directly to the target market who already know you, your campaign is going to have an infinitely greater chance of conversion.

The email campaign on the right was put together by the hotel, the package loaded up into the booking engine, availability updated and rate changed.

The mailshot went out at 12 Noon with details on the offer, the restrictions and a direct link to the Booking Page for the offer.

The Booking Landing Page

The landing page can be all important for the guest booking. If you don't take the time to land them properly they may just bounce off! Literally! Taking them to your home page is just laziness and they will be less likely to click through all the dates, choice of rooms and offers available.

Landing them on the booking page is an improvement but still leaves the potential guest searching for the offer you have sent them. Still lost conversion here.

Best practice should land the guest right on the offer's booking page itself. it saves guest time, it leads to less confusion and it undoubtedly leads to higher conversion.

Bookassist provide deep links directly to specific groups of offers, packages or even specific date driven offers such as Mar Hall's to the left.

When the guest's curiosity was engaged by the mailshot they were then clicking directly to the point of purchase. It is not rocket science or complicated marketing theory here! You are simply making it easier for the potential customer to move through that old flow from Awareness, Interest, Action and Desire. Simple stuff really.

So Does it Work?

Ask Mar Hall! Revenue Manager Sharon Mullen outlines the results.

"We put the email together with our marketing company at the beginning of the week and contacted Bookassist to ensure that we were maximising the promotional activity. The specific package was then given a price group which allowed our marketing company to link directly to the booking page from the mail itself.

The email went out at twelve o'clock and in the first three hours it generated more than £11,000 in January Room Sales for a single package! The great thing about it was that we didn't have to man up phones as we would for an external promotion as the bookings were being made using live availability and being confirmed online.

The cost of sale was minimal and the return on investment superb and they were OUR customer booking direct!

At nearly £20,000 in total, the bookings using Bookassist over the twenty four hour period have exceeded our expectations and the process in doing it ensures that we will repeat the direct links for future golf breaks, spa packages and special events. It just makes sense to ease the booking process for the guest and Bookassist Booking Engine allowed us to do that perfectly."

Logistics?

It is not difficult and here would be a typical process.

• Identify the package - you may have already done something similar externally.
• Add the new package (it needed be heavily discounted) into your Bookassist Admin area
• Open up availability and apply the rate for the period of the offer
• Bookassist will provide a direct booking link or promo code for your guests to use
• Decide whether to make the offer public (on your website) or private (available only to those with the link or promo code - great for loyalty!)
• Use the direct booking  link in your emails, your website and your social media campaigns
• Promote the direct link through tourism partners websites such as destination sites, golf clubs or attractions. Consider creating a package with them?

Things To Do Today

• Consider how gathering email addresses from your customers is to your business
• Look at your quieter periods for the next three months or even next autumn and plan your DIRECT online promotions. Aim to become less reliant on heavy discounted/high cost external promos
• Contact Bookassist for more advice on how to create specific promotional deals and direct links
• If you're not using Bookassist call 01292 521404 to find out more about the award winning solution to your booking problems

Downloads, Links and Reference

Download the PDF guide to Bookassist Facebook Apps
Find out how Bookassist could help your conversion - Read More

The Best Book Direct series is being produced in conjunction with the on-line marketing team at Plan B and the award winning Bookassist Booking Engine. 

Email or call 01292 521404.
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Bookassist named World's Leading Booking Technology Provider at World Travel Awards 2012

Great news this week from our long term booking engine partners as Bookassist has won the World's Leading Booking Technology Provider award at the 2012 World Travel Awards.

The prestigious prize was presented on December 12th at the 2012 Grand Finale event, which was hosted at The Oberoi, Gurgaon, New Delhi, India. Often referred to as "the Oscars of the travel industry", the awards recognise winners worldwide as setting the benchmark to which all others aspire.

It is the third year in a row that Bookassist has been nominated in the category.

Speaking at the ceremony in New Delhi, Bookassist Founder and CEO Dr Des O'Mahony said "We're extremely honoured to have won, it was third time lucky for us. Especially with such distinguished competition in the category such as industry giants like Sabre/SynXis and Amadeus. It's a real stamp of approval from our own industry for what we do."

"To have our client hotels and industry peers vote us into a world-leading position is testament to the hard work and dedication of the Bookassist staff, in all our offices. The award is recognition of the real difference they have made to our clients' business".

Bookassist was founded in Dublin in 1999. Entirely self-financed and privately owned, it has a strong emphasis on research and innovation and has grown to over 70 employees. The company has offices in Madrid, Paris, Italy, Rome, Vienna, Prague and Munich in addition to its headquarters in Dublin.

The company develops advanced booking software that allows hotels to sell directly on their own websites instead of relying solely on online travel agents, who typically charge hotels high commissions. Direct business is a strong growth area for hotels as the industry seeks to improve revenue margins and reduce commission bills.

The company's booking engine software powers thousands of hotel websites and has handled in excess of 120M Euro in direct hotel booking revenue in 2012 for its clients.

Asked why he thought Bookassist won the award, O'Mahony explained: "I believe it's because we deliver for our hotels. We consistently raise their direct business revenue online. We allow them capture more online business at a far lower cost, and therefore higher margin, than any of our competitors. We do this through expert consultancy and best-of-breed technology - and you need both."

“This award also coincides this month with the release of a major upgrade to our hotel website booking software. Even more reason for our hotel clients to be delighted with us”, commented O’Mahony.

March 2013 will be equally exciting with Bookassist’s planned release of version one of its eagerly awaited new distribution management platform to intelligently optimise the way hotels do online business.

The company has previously been ranked in the Deloitte Fast 50 companies in Ireland and in Europe, and O'Mahony has twice been honoured by the Irish Internet Association NetVisionary Awards.

About Bookassist

Bookassist (http://www.bookassist.org) creates and manages consistently successful online strategies for hotels and develops world-class booking and distribution software to ensure hotels drive more direct bookings and increase direct revenue. Bookassist is the industry-leading booking engine and online marketing provider for hotels in Europe with thousands of hotels using Bookassist services.

About the World Travel Awards (WTA)

World Travel Awards (http://www.worldtravelawards.com), established in 1993, reward the very best travel organisations worldwide. Nominations are vetted and inspected by a group of industry experts and votes are cast by professionals working within travel and tourism. The voting works on a first-past-the-post system, and votes are submitted online at WTA's website. More than 5000 travel organisations are nominated each year and over three quarters of a million votes are cast. The Grand Finale 2012 event, officially supported by Ministry of Tourism of India, was hosted at The Oberoi, Gurgaon, New Delhi.