Bookassist Upgrade

Really good article published in a hospitality magazine about the recent major upgrades to the Bookassist Booking engine.

It follows on from winning the Best Booking Engine at the World Travel Awards in December 2012 and highlights again Bookassist's commitment to innovation.

Bookassist will be showcased at a number of forthcoming events in Scotland over the next weeks so get in touch and we'll let you know where these are taking place.

The company are also unveiling their integrated Distribution Manager solution at ITB in March

Bookassist Upgrade Link

Open publication - More bookassist

Prestwick golf club PGA Professional wins Top Pro shop National Award.

David Fleming, PGA Professional at Prestwick Golf Club - birthplace of the Open Championship - was presented with the Pro Shop of the Year award by Europe’s leading golf retail services group, the TGI Golf Partnership at its Gala Awards Ceremony in Manchester.

We're delighted to have been working with David and his team over the years on a number of projects and we have just embarked on the redesigning of his online retail store which we are sure will help him to further awards in the future!

David saw off competition from TGI Golf’s 450-plus PGA Professionals from across the continent to scoop the award, finishing ahead of fellow nominees John Heggarty, Head Professional at Royal Liverpool, host of the 2014 Open, and Martin Balfour, from Newbury & Crookham Golf Club.

Held at the four-star Marriott Worsley Park Hotel in Manchester, on February 4, the TGI Golf Partnership Awards Dinner was attended by some of the biggest names in the golf industry, including PGA Chief Executive Sandy Jones.

David’s ‘Pro Shop of the Year’ award was graded on top class shop presentation, excellent customer service, choice of quality products available and attention to detail.

“It’s an honour to receive this prestigious award and fantastic to receive national recognition for what we do,” said David. “This provides us with a benchmark for keeping the standard high going forward. A special thanks to my PGA qualified senior Assistant Nicky Sinclair and PGA trainee assistant Allan Todd for their hard work and dedication in my business”

Eddie Reid, Managing Director of The TGI Golf Partnership, added: “David thoroughly deserves this award for the hard-work and dedication he has shown to ensuring his Pro Shop at Prestwick Golf Club is one of the best in the area.

“Along with his team at the club he has ensured golf club members and visitors have a beautifully laid out shop where they can find the latest products from golf’s top suppliers, as well as knowledgeable and friendly staff to help with any enquiries.”

Bookassist Talks 'Redistribution' at ITB Berlin

The World's Leading Booking Technology Provider, Bookassist, will have a major new product launch at the ITB travel fair in Berlin on March 6th next.

"2013 is a turning point for Bookassist", according to CEO Dr Des O'Mahony. "We started the year as a world leader in booking technology, and now we are building on that with the launch of our new Bookassist Distribution Manager at ITB, a major new platform for the company to build on for the future".

Intelligent and dynamic redistribution is the key

ITB sees the first public outing of the new Bookassist Distribution Manager. Built from the ground up by Bookassist, the technology will go far beyond basic channel management. The system has been in beta testing with a number of hotels in different European markets in recent months.

"Channel managers are popular and useful tools, but their aim is a relatively blunt one. They help the hotel sell anywhere online. Basically, they are agnostic - they don't care where the hotel sells", explains O'Mahony.

"Bookassist Distribution Manager will actively and intelligently help the hotel to get the best margin on what it sells and where, not just distributing to online sales channels and the hotel's website but actively redistributing from one channel to another when demand is recognised, constantly favouring the sale point with the best margin for the hotel. Active redistribution is a concept that Bookassist is introducing to the channel manager space with this platform. And we have a very exciting roadmap for where this platform will go through 2013 and beyond".

Bookassist's long background in direct sale strategy on hotel websites is a distinct advantage in the dynamic redistribution game. The company has continually worked with hotels to favour the direct web channel as the channel of highest margin, while taking advantage of exposure and distribution on third party channels where it is beneficial to do so. Hotels are well aware that Bookassist's approach is to favour the hotel's direct channel over other more costly distribution. This software puts that strategy directly into practice with real benefits to margin.

Bookassist is exhibiting at Hall 8.1 / Stand 108 at Berlin's Messe. To arrange contact with the team, please email ITB@bookassist.com.

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.

Bookassist in Scotland is overseen by partners Plan B - if you are interested in finding out more contact the team by email or call 01292 521404

Best Book Direct - Don't Dismiss Email Marketing

Encouraging guests to Book Direct is a mission with us just now and every phone call we have with our clients aims to drive that message home.

Last week we designed a quick offers template for Nick White at the Inn at Lathones near St Andrews to promote his onlien deal for January through March.

The offer is only bookable online and using Price Groups we have linked the offer DIRECT to the booking page for the deal on his own website. The customer doesn't need to search for the booking page, the specific offer or even the calendar. And importantly because the offer is using the online booking engine the phone lines don't melt under the weight of calls as they do with Flash sale promotions.

The easier you make it for the customer to book the room the greater the conversion rate will be.

It's not difficult to increase your DIRECT business it jsut requires a bit of thought and consistency and commitment to offering the best rate direct.

Find out how it works or take advantage of a great wee offer by testing the link:

Here's how the newsletter built using ConstantContact looked going out to the Inn at Lathones mailing list.

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.
Get Daily Updates and Comment on Tourism Matters Facebook

Abbey Tours Scotland announce changes in the structure

Many operators throughout Scotland will have a working relationship with Abbey Tours. The following is taken from their recent press release.

Abbey Tours Scotland announce changes in the structure of their Edinburgh based operation, effective from February 1st 2013.

Having set up Abbey Tours Scotland in 2008 and overseen its development and growth over the intervening 5 years, Julie Morris has decided to step down from her current position of Managing Director and concentrate on providing consultancy services to the travel and leisure industry through her company Hotel & Leisure Solutions.

Commenting on this development, Abbey Tours Scotland Chairman, Brian McColgan paid tribute to Julie Morris for her outstanding contribution to the success of Abbey Tours Scotland. ‘As our Managing Director, Julie has been instrumental in the successful set up and development of Abbey Tours Scotland. She has helped us build a strong team of experienced travel professionals in our Edinburgh office and this year we expect to handle in excess of 18,000 clients into Scotland. Julie will continue to work with Abbey Tours in a sales consultancy role. We wish Julie every success in Hotel & Leisure Solutions and we look forward to continuing our close working relationship’.

Julie Morris also commented ‘I am greatly looking forward to this new chapter in my professional career. Having spent 5 years setting up Abbey Tours Scotland and establishing the organisation in Scotland, now was the right time to move back into the area of travel and leisure consultancy. I wish Abbey Tours continued success and look forward to working closely with them in the future’.

Abbey Tours Commercial Director, Rebecca Brooks, will now take up the role of Managing Director of Abbey Tours Scotland. A lifelong tourism professional, Rebecca has worked in inbound tourism to Scotland since 1997 and joined Abbey Tours in 2010. As well as being a Director of Abbey Tours Scotland, she is also actively involved in the industry in Scotland and is a member of the Scottish Tourism Alliance Board as well as the Chair of the SDMA - Scottish Destination Management Association.

Glenmorangie Partners Nick Faldo

Glenmorangie, Scotland’s favourite single malt Scotch whisky, has announced a one-year association with legendary golfer Sir Nick Faldo. With career highlights including six major championship wins, eleven consecutive Ryder Cup appearances and 98 weeks spent at the top of the rankings as the world’s No. 1 golfer, Sir Nick Faldo is widely regarded as the most successful British golfer in history and of course in the UK. Sir Nick Faldo was knighted in 2009.

“This partnership recognizes the exceptional stature of Sir Nick Faldo and the leading role he has played in forging golf’s global appeal and the influence that he continues to wield through his successful US and global broadcasting career,” said Brian Cox, Vice President of Glenmorangie in the U.S. “Glenmorangie’s 169-year legacy has been defined by an elite group of skilled craftsmen who created this ‘unnecessarily well made’ single malt Scotch whisky and Sir Nick embodies this commitment to perfection and we are honored to partner with him.”

As Glenmorangie’s new ambassador, Faldo will work closely with the brand throughout 2013, making guest appearances at consumer and trade events including Glenmorangie’s presence as the official Spirit of the Open at the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland. Sir Nick will also collaborate in various CRM initiatives and the two parties will collaborate on a number of charitable initiatives.

“I am very proud to continue to work with Glenmorangie, which I have always regarded as the best single malt Scotch whisky and a leader in its field,” said Faldo. Glenmorangie’s relationship with Faldo is the brand’s latest initiative to connect aficionados of premiere single malt Scotch whisky and golf.

Glenmorangie has leveraged its involvement with America’s 27 million golfers to become the fastest growing single malt whisky in the U.S. for the third year in a row. Glenmorangie has also recently received tremendous industry accolades recognizing both its rising popularity but also its heritage and undisputed product excellence, including Scotch Whisky and Distillery of the Year from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition in 2010, Wine Enthusiast’s Distiller of the Year at the 2011 Wine Star Awards and in 2012 Glenmorangie was named a Hot Prospect brand by Impact, the highly respected industry source of reference.

Perhaps the greatest recent accolade has been the award of the prestigious title of “Distiller of the Year” this year from the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London where Glenmorangie has consistently won more “Gold Best in Class” medals than any other single malt over the past six years.

Glenmorangie www.glenmorangie.com

Bookassist Booking Engine Upgrade

Bookassist is committed to continually improving its technology and services and we are very proud to announce a major upgrade to our award-winning booking engine technology. The Scottish team have been working their way around all of our Scottish clients to make sure that they can benefit even further from the great new design and layout changes

As we are making the changes and because the upgrade is quite significant, we have been taking the opportunity to review the hotels' current setup in the booking engine and we optimising them for the new booking engine layout. The following gives you some flavour of just some of the improvements this upgrade has brought to the users.

Visual redesign and modernisation

Visually, the design of entire display for the booking pages has been significantly improved to give a fresh modern look.

• The design makes better use of fonts, font size, colour, layout and style improvements to help make the display more appealing and hence help conversion. 
• Across all pages of the booking engine there is a redesigned top strip indicating the steps 1,2,3 to completion more clearly.
• We can control colouring much better so that the system blends seamlessly with your website.

Usability improvements for your customers

• We have added animations of the customers' actions, for example smooth opening and closing of information sections etc, all of which gives a more dynamic feel to the system and also helps guide the customers' eye to where it should be looking.
• We have placed a strong emphasis on focus: because the booking options are usually quite complex, we want the customer to be able to focus on exactly what they want so when a user is interacting with a particular room, the system "lifts" it off the page so that it stands out more prominently, as Figure 1 shows.

Figure 1: Focus in the booking engine

Better price comparison

One of the key issues in a booking engine is being able to quickly scan prices across multiple room types and packages. The new design improves this significantly

• We have changed the color and size of price display for easier viewing.
• We have redesigned the room description strips with more prominent pricing.
• We have redesigned the ‘variations’ (room grouping) display into horizontal strips per variation with better photo and details display, plus consistent design with regular room strips for easy comparison as Figure 2 shows. 

Even Better Dynamic Discounts

A strong selling point of Bookassist's World-leading booking technology is the Dynamic Discounts function. This booking engine upgrade takes this winning concept even further.

• Using a calendar-like display, we show a price range (from aaa - to bbb) on non-stay dates and we clearly show the discounts that are available on those dates.
• We display a clear "advertisement" listing the types of Dynamic Discount that are available if you change your dates, as figure 3 shows
• You can now open/close Dynamic Discounts on specific dates instead of just on arrival dates. 
• You can have a discount price of €0 to provide an extra free service instead of an actual discount.

Figure: Dynamic Discount advertising

Photos

This is the first phase of photo improvement in the Bookassist engine, we expect to significantly enhance this in the very near future. For now,

• Photos have been restyled and replaced by flexible-width photos that automatically re-size with the page width. 
• We now store your hotel's booking engine images on the Amazon cloud so that image files are automatically copied to servers all over the world and are "locally" accessible in your customers' country. This provides much faster download times for your customer and improved display of photos.

Customer feedback on errors and omissions

We have strongly enhanced the way in which we give feedback to your customer when they enter incorrect information or attempt to book unavailable rooms etc.

• Message wording in all error dialogues are much improved to help the customer better understand the problem and point out the options to resolve the error quickly.
• Error messages are better "localised" on the page to where the specific problem is so that resolution is easier for the customer.
• Clearer handling of all errors helps solve issues quickly and gives better conversion

Some Integrated Examples

Here's a few examples of how well integrted your booking engine should be. No linking out, no change in URL's and designed to match the look and feel of your brand

• Wheatsheaf Hotel Swinton
• Gailes Hotel Irvine
• Old Loans Inn Troon
• Callater Lodge Braemar
• Mar Hall near Glasgow
• Cairngorm Hotel Aviemore
• Inveran Guest House Nairn
• The Inn at Lathones Fife

More Information

For more information on how Bookassist can improve your DIRECT bookings call us on 01292 521404 or mail Bookassist Scotland