Bookassist Appoints Director of Sales and Marketing for Czech Republic

Jaroslav Tibitanzl has been appointed as Director of Sales & Marketing for Bookassist in the Czech Republic and joins Bookassist's existing Sales, Account Management and Support team in the Prague office.

Jaroslav is well known in the hotel industry in the Czech republic, having previously been the General Manager of the Hotel Sax, the award winning design hotel in Prague, as well as being the Director of Finance for the famous Prague landmarks the Hotel Aria and the Hotel U Zlate Studne. He holds Bachelors and Mssters degrees from the Hotel University in Prague.

Bookassist Appoints new Search Optimisation Specialist

Bookassist announces the appointment of Paul Ferry to the position of Search Optimisation Specialist. The role forms part of Bookassist's Traffic Builder team and will be based in the Dublin office.

Paul has extensive web design experience with hotel and hotel group websites in particular. Bookassist continues to expand its strategic marketing teams as well as its development teams in its Dublin office, and in its offices abroad, as hotels increasingly seize the opportunity to build direct booking business on their websites.

Bookassist Appoints new Development Project Manager

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Diego Núñez as Development Project Manager. Diego will work directly with the Core Development team based at Bookassist's Madrid offices and will be responsible for leading, organizing and scheduling development for Bookassist, reporting to CTO Dr Robert Whittle.

Prior to joining Bookassist, Diego was IT Architect and Business Consultant at Panel Company. He has worked on software projects in several business fields such as Air Traffic Control, Financial Risk Analysis and Logistics/Distribution, involving Societé Generale Equipment Finance, Leroy Merlin, AENA and others. He brings considerable experience in development methodology, in particular with Java technologies, to the Bookassist team.

Hotels told economic downturn can be a strategic opportunity

Dublin, April 30th

Leading hotel software provider and online marketing company Bookassist has encouraged hotels to "wake up" and seize the opportunities for building bookings directly on their websites. Direct online booking should be the main strategy for building business in the current downturn according to the seminar held for hotels by Bookassist in Dublin on April 30th.

As part of a series of seminars around Ireland and in Bookassist's markets abroad, Thursday's Dublin event saw Bookassist sales, online marketing, web design and research staff present a series of topics to hotels in a day-long conference covering website optimisation, pay-per-click advertising, strategic marketing and the use of Web 2.0 tools. Hands-on training was also given on setting up analysis and Web 2.0 publication tools on the internet to help hotels monitor their brand online and promote their businesses while measuring the return on their online investment.

"Hotels are still missing the opportunity to capture more direct business online, and in the current climate it makes even more sense since the cost of doing business online is so much lower than any other marketing approach", said Sarah Collins, Sales Manager for Ireland (pictured above). "Hotels that get it right now will be well positioned to grow strongly when the market begins to recover again".

Bookassist will again present the day-long seminar event in Galway on May 14th and in Cork on May 26th. For further information see www.bookassist.org/seminars.

Bookassist CEO Dr Des O'Mahony at the Dublin seminar

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland. Bookassist is expanding rapidly abroad with additional offices in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Italy, Poland and Austria and a client base of over 2000 hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Award for online trade.

Click for Seminar Slideshow:

Bookassist CEO to address SMILE Conference

Bookassist CEO and Founder Dr Des O'Mahony will address the upcoming 2009 Smile Conference taking place at One Kilmainham Place on Thursday, 21st of May. Des will discuss online distribution strategies for hotels with particular emphasis on what hotels should and should not be doing online in the current economic climate.

The schedule for the Smile conference is at www.smileconference.com.

This year, the Smile conference organisers are responding to the particular challenges that the industry is facing through a number of initiatives. In particular, the organisers
• are focussed on Key Opportunities for delegates by addressing the following red hot topics: Revenue Management, Digital Media, Distribution Strategy & Masterful Selling.
• have launched the Facebook Failte call to action which aims to issue one hundred thousand welcomes to family and friends overseas to visit Ireland in 2009 (see http://tiny.cc/FacebookFailte).
• have reduced ticket prices from the usual €295 to €195.
• are offering a special ticket price of €150 for group purchases of three or more.

Czech Seminar highlights Strategies for Building Hotel Business

Bookassist held a very successful series of presentations for hotels in the Czech Republic on how to implement Strategies to Build Business in the current downturn on Thursday April 23. The seminar took place at the Irish Embassy in central Prague and was introduced by Ladislav Muller, Director of Enterprise Ireland (pictured, right) in the Czech Republic and by H.E. Mr Donal Hamill, Irish Ambassador to the Czech Republic (pictured, left).

The seminar focused on the increasing need for hotels to concentrate their marketing effort on online business and the opportunities that this channel presents even in the current economic downturn. Optimising traffic to hotel websites, increasing look to book conversion, online marketing methods and strategic analysis of online yield as well as visitor and booking data were all presented and discussed in the context of the market place in the Czech republic.

The presentations were delivered by Yahya Fetchati and Des O'Mahony of Bookassist, and chaired by Jaromir Pazout from Bookassist's Prague office.

Bookassist Head of Business & Operations Yahya Fetchati

Bookassist Appoints new Support Coordinator in the Czech Republic

Leading online marketing consultant and booking technology company Bookassist has appointed Andrea Houdková as Support Coordinator to join the team in Bookassist's Prague office. Andrea will coordinate the set-up and training of hotels and groups using the Bookassist Booking Engine and other products such as GDS Manager.

Andrea has previously worked as a professional trainer for internet banking at Raiffeisenbank in the Czech Republic. Prior to joining Bookassist she was with Citibank as Account Manager with responsibility for international payments.

Spanish and Portuguese groups move to Bookassist

Market-leading booking technology company Bookassist announces that two large hotel groups in Portugal and Spain have signed to the Bookassist platform for booking technology, support systems and online marketing. The groups will be managed from Bookassist's Madrid office.

Portuguese hotel group Eurosol hotels (eurosol.pt) includes 9 hotels in Portugal and a further 2 hotels in Brazil. All hotels will use the system and avail of Bookassist's multilingual and multicurrency booking technology. Corporate booking facilities and Loyalty systems, as well as Traffic Builder online marketing services are also available as part of the Bookassist suite of services.

Citymar hotels and apartments (citymar.com) comprises 15 hotels across the south of Spain in Granada, Almeria, Cadiz and Toledo. The hotels offer a mix of beach, golf, ski and city properties. The versatility of the Bookassist booking engine is ideal for the group, allowing for configurations for standard sale, family rooms, apartments with special sale conditions etc.

The Citymar group will use Corporate booking and Loyalty systems, as well as Traffic Builder online marketing services and additionally avails of Bookassist's GDS Manager service to give them a complete platform solution.

With a suite of integrated products forming a complete online transaction platform for groups, Bookassist is increasingly providing the exact solutions that groups and chains need to switch the majority of their business to direct online bookings, reducing their cost of sale and building their brand online.

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland. Bookassist is expanding rapidly abroad with additional offices in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Italy, Poland and Austria and a client base of over 2000 hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Award for online trade.

Recruitment - Bookassist is expanding and hiring in multiple offices

Bookassist is recruiting to build its teams in a number of its offices over the coming months in order to deal with the increasing client list and ongoing expansion of its geographical reach. Despite the economic downturn in many areas, Bookassist business has continued to see year-on-year growth with March showing record booking numbers.

Bookassist has introduced a number of new products recently which are bringing added value to its partnerships with hotels and hotel groups in all its operational areas and which are allowing it to more quickly enter new markets with a very mature and established product offering.

Bookassist growth is accelerating and we will be announcing major new acquisitions and market developments in the coming weeks.

For further information on positions available at Bookassist, see Bookassist Jobs http://www.bookassist.org/jobs.jsp

Bookassist launches 2009 Seminar Series for Dublin, Cork, Galway on Strategies for building hotel business in the downturn

Leading technology and online strategy provider to the accommodation sector Bookassist (Bookassist.org) has announced its 2009 Seminar Series to help hotels get the most from effective marketing strategies online.

Taking place in Dublin on April 30th, Galway on May 14th and Cork on May 26th, Bookassist will introduce research and concepts in the rapidly moving field of online trade and marketing with a strong emphasis on what hotels should be doing right now to best deal with the downturn and to be best positioned for the upturn when it comes.

Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop for live interactive break out sessions. Shared Laptops will be more than adequate where 2 or 3 people are attending from the same Hotel or Company.

Who should attend?
General Managers, Sales Executives, Sales & Marketing Managers, Front Office Managers, Operations Managers, Yield Managers, Reservation Agents

Participants will learn how to:
- Boost their web address in the search engine results
- Manage and track on-line advertising and ROI with Google and Analytics
- Take care of their brand on-line by being proactive with reviews
- Boost the conversion on their website and upsell
- Set up and effectively use Web 2.0 blogs and Google Local
- Effectively market their brand through newsletters and Web 2.0 strategies
- Optimise for value rather than price to hold occupancy

For more information visit bookassist.org/seminars
or email seminars@bookassist.com

Softguide Madrid featured on New York Times travel

Bookassist's major accommodation affiliate website in Madrid, Softguide Madrid, has been featured in today's edition of the New York Times. The travel section, with a feature on "36 Hours in Madrid", specifically recommends the accommodation section of Softguide Madrid for alternative accommodation to the standard hotel stay, with lofts and apartments featured.

Softguides in all destinations is underpinned by Bookassist's channel accommodation technology which also operates accommodation services for other high-traffic affiliate websites such as visitdublin.com and others. The Bookassist system's ability to equally offer hotels, apartments, and variable stay lodging makes it an ideal platform for any website seeking to supply the widest possible accommodation service for their target destination.

Softguides.com is a major destination information website that was one of the first ever web-based travel guides on the internet in the early days of the web. Softguides covers all manner of tourism information such as local customs, local events, restaurants, bars, culture, shopping and of course accommodation. Operating since as long back as 1995, Softguide Madrid has one of the highest traffic levels of any site in Madrid and is considered an authority on the city.

See New York Times Travel

New Loyalty System from Bookassist allows hotels to boost return business and build brand recognition

Bookassist (Bookassist.org) has announced the addition of a major new service to its existing product portfolio. Bookassist's breakthrough Loyalty System offers hotels the opportunity to build loyalty in their customer base through the award of free stays for corporate booking agents or for regular agency bookers. Rewarding regular customers is a key approach to brand building and can now be done via online as well as offline bookings through Bookassist's new system.



"As hotel marketing executives know, getting return custom is a far more efficient way of generating business than chasing new custom. Bookassist's completely automated Loyalty System can be customised by hotels to create their own particular incentive, reward or loyalty scheme whether they're a large hotel chain or a small individual hotel", said Bookassist CEO, Dr Des O'Mahony. "Loyalty programs are a major part of brand building also for hotels, though many hotels have not had affordable technology to implement their own automated scheme until now".

Hotels can choose to award points to corporate clients, to events bookers or to agency bookers, with points earned for each booking. Hotels can top-up bookers with extra points if they wish and choose to show them preferential discounted rates also when they book online. Customers can manage their loyalty scheme membership, can track their bookings and their points as they accumulate and use them, and can choose to redeem points against bookings once thresholds set by the hotel are reached, all within a private management area.

For hotel groups, the system can allow bookers to accumulate points from any stay in a group hotel and redeem them in any other group hotel. This is a significant advantage for hotel groups in cross-promotion and cross-selling and can be extended to virtual marketing groups also.

The Bookassist Loyalty System is available now as a service to all hotels using the market leading Bookassist Booking Engine and Bookassist Corporate System.

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland. Bookassist is expanding rapidly abroad with additional offices in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Italy, Poland and Austria and a client base of over 2000 hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Award for online trade.

Corporate booking system from Bookassist receives major upgrade

The new Corporate System from Bookassist (Bookassist.org) is a significant upgrade to Bookassist's extended Booking Engine functionality and original corporate system for hotels. Corporate System allows hotels to manage and offer special private rates to travel agents and corporate booking agents to help build brand loyalty and return custom. Hotel groups can also use Corporate to offer preferential rates across all hotels in a group.



The new 2009 Corporate System allows hotels to offer private logins to online agents to access their customised management areas where they can view and search their booking history, alter or cancel bookings, and avail of other advanced features to help streamline their management of bookings. Corporate System also provides the framework for Bookassist's new Loyalty System, where hotels and groups can automate the management of rewards and incentives for agents. Agents can view, manage and redeem loyalty points incentives within their customised management areas.

Corporate System is a free upgrade for hotels using the existing corporate system and is available now for all hotel an hotel group clients.

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland. Bookassist is expanding rapidly abroad with additional offices in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Italy, Poland and Austria and a client base of over 2000 hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Award for online trade.

Client business shows rapid rise with Bookassist

Bookassist clients continue to show clear and industry-beating increases in booking numbers, with some of the latest clients to join Bookassist registering up to 70% increase compared to their previous strategy partner's results.

Again and again, Bookassist clients who are availing of the company's strategic advice, online technology and marketing expertise see growth and real return on investment. "Bookassist 'Five Star' functionality", as one 5-star client The Kingsley Hotel points out, has helped drive an increase in traffic and conversion, while Bookassist support staff who are, to quote the Talbot Group, "passionate and enthusiastic about their work and provide an excellent support network" make all the difference in delivering key strategies and in continuing to drive those strategies.

Read more about what Bookassist partner hotels and groups have to say on the Bookassist Testimonials page.

Bookassist at FITUR/09

Bookassist exhibited with its largest ever presence at the FITUR/09 fair in Madrid in January. The Bookassist booth was organised and staffed by Bookassist's Madrid office team. Spain and Portugal are among Bookassist's fastest-growing markets. Bookassist has doubled staff numbers in the Madrid office in the last 16 months dealing with the very successful uptake of its Web2.0 booking engine technology, online marketing and GDS connectivity solutions in the Spanish and Portuguese markets.








See also: Travel Daily News, Bookassist.es

Bookassist and Hotelpoints ink expanded 3 year deal bringing an estimated 30M Euro in business to hotels

Leading online reservations technology company Bookassist (bookassist.org) and Ireland's top customer rewards scheme Hotelpoints (hotelpoints.ie) have announced another 3 year deal estimated to bring over €8M in revenue to Ireland hotels in 2009 alone and over €30M over the course of the deal.

Bookassist, with its online booking capability and call-centre management system, has had a very successful 3 year partnership with WINWIN Hotelpoints to the end of 2008, back-ending the online and offline Hotelpoints customer rewards vouchers for over 20 partners such as DID Electrical, Londis, Woodies, Atlantic Homecare, Shaws, O2, Heatons, Zurich, Sasha and Bank of Ireland.

"Bookassist manages almost 300 hotels online in Ireland for WINWIN Hotelpoints, each featuring unique special offers and deals accessible only to Hotelpoints voucher holders", said Mary Collins, Head of Internet Marketing for Bookassist. "Hotelpoints is by far the largest and most popular loyalty scheme in the country and our hotels see clear value in making attractive offers available through such a prestigious channel".

Kieran Fives, Director of Sales at Bookassist notes that hotels continue to join the scheme at a rapid rate: "Especially in the current climate, the opportunity to be in front of a dedicated customer base and to reap the rewards of return custom is something that our hotels are very keen to participate in. This represents a win for the hotel, a win for the partner company, and a win for the price-conscious customer."

James Lenehan, Managing Director of WINWIN Hotelpoints is very upbeat on the scheme's rapid growth. "We are planning to specifically target the Insurance & Media sectors in 2009 to help grow our client base, and extend the reach of our promotions", said Lenehan. "We will also open up Northern Ireland as a new growth area and we will roll out the Butler & Bell Hotel Privilege Club as part of our plans, and build loyalty across the existing people that have booked a Hotelpoints package over the last 3 years".

Hotelpoints works by allowing partner companies to offer loyalty vouchers to their customers, for example when they reach certain spending thresholds. The voucher code allows access to a private online system of hotels throughout the country operated by Bookassist, offering 50% or more discount to voucher holders and other special deals. Lenehan says that Hotelpoints will print upwards of 1,000,000 vouchers in 2009 alone for distribution to customer loyalty schemes in partner businesses throughout the country. "This represents an increase of 30% year on year compared to our most successful year to date in 2008."

The list of hotel campaigns will be promoted across Ireland, with expected promotional investment by partners and WINWIN Hotelpoints of around €1,000,000 in 2009.

Bookassist is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland and is expanding rapidly abroad with additional offices in Spain, France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Italy and Poland and a client base of over 2000 hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Award for online trade.

Bookassist appoints new Operations Manager in Prague Office

Leading online marketing consultant and booking technology company Bookassist has announced the appointment of Jaromir Pazout to its Czech Republic team as Operations Manager, based in Bookassist's Prague office.

Jaromir comes to Bookassist from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Prague and has extensive experience in the industry, particularly in online business and marketing. He has previously operated as a consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and has worked with eBanka Internet Bank in the Czech Republic.

Commenting on the appointment, Bookassist's Head of Business and Operations Yahya Fetchati said: "Bookassist has a strong and focused presence in the Czech Republic for some years now and is rapidly growing there thanks to the skill of the existing team. Jaromir will be an ideal addition to expand our presence to the wider region centered on the Czech Republic. Bookassist has built its reputation in Ireland in particular on having a strong local presence, on focusing on the local market and in delivering the best possible local support and service. This localisation model is a model we are committed to and won't deviate from, and even as we expand in other regions, our strategy is to build local teams to re-create that winning Irish formula."

Jaromir will join the Prague team with responsibilty for Bookassist's Central Europe sales.

Bookassist launches Italian corporate website

Following Bookassist's recent corporate website releases in Spanish and French, the leading provider of booking technology and online marketing expertise to the accommodation sector has today launched a comprehensive corporate website in Italian (bookassist.it). Bookassist services for Italy are exclusively marketed by Umbriaviva in Perugia and rapid growth is being achieved since Bookassist launched in Italy in mid 2007. This latest corporate website release by the company underpins the continuing pace of growth of Bookassist's hotel booking engine, Site Builder web development product and Traffic Builder search engine marketing service in Italy, supplemented now by the ground-breaking GDS-IDS connectivity product.

Founded on delivering world class solutions in a fast changing market place, Bookassist's cutting-edge technology is supported by unrivalled account management and online marketing support helping hotels to unlock the power of their websites and build direct online sales.



Bookassist is an Irish Internet Association NetVisionary Award winner for online trade and has twice been a Top 10 company in Deloitte's Fast 50 fastest growing companies. Bookassist has its headquarters in Ireland with offices in Spain, Scotland, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Poland.

New Appointments at Bookassist Spain and Ireland

Bookassist Spain

Bookassist has appointed Almudena Sampò as Sales Manager for Spain, based in Madrid office.

Almudena has a broad experience in the tourism industry, from sales positions in tour operators to GDS representation and other technology account management positions. Prior to Bookassist she worked for Pegasus Solutions as account manager for Utell Hotels in Southern Europe and in the international contracting department in Bancotel.

Almudena will coordinate the expansion of the company in Cataluña and in the Mediterranean area.

Bookassist has also appointed Luis Miguel Llopis to the Traffic Builder team responsible for online marketing services to increase the online visibility and direct sales of Bookassist client hotels in Spain. Luis is based in Madrid office.

Luis has more than 10 years experience in the tourism online industry as project manager with responsibility for operations teams implementing website applications for travel agencies, airlines companies and hotels. He brings considerable experience working in SEO, SEM, Social Networks and email marketing for the tourism industry.

Bookassist Senior Management

Mary Collins has been appointed to the position of Head of Internet Marketing based in the Dublin office. The role oversees online marketing strategy for the company as a whole, covering the Traffic Builder and Site Builder products as well as affiliate programs and web presence for the company.

Mary was previously Web Presence Team Leader at Bookassist Ireland and in her new role will report directly to the CEO.

Introducing Bookassist GDS Manager for GDS-IDS connectivity

Leading hotel reservations software provider Bookassist announces GDS Manager - their latest progressive product to help hotels master their broader electronic distribution strategy.

Bookassist GDS Manager will integrate the Global Distribution and Internet Distribution Systems (GDS-IDS) right into the Bookassist booking engine administration system. Hoteliers can reach the world with a click, availing of the worldwide travel agent network of over 65,000 agents using the GDS. With Bookassist GDS Manager hotels can also save money compared to all other suppliers with the lowest GDS-IDS service costs available. Bookassist GDS Manager allows hotels to carefully control their online distribution to fine tune their online strategy.

Bookassist GDS Manager accesses the leading GDS players: Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport's Galileo and Worldspan systems. In addition, hotels get direct access to the Pegasus Online Distribution Database (ODD) distributing on TravelWeb, Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz and thousands of other affiliates. Bookassist's pricing model is unbeatable in the industry with no monthly fees and no minimum booking requirements and easy contract exit.

Hotels can now develop the strategy mix that's best for their property with direct online bookings at the lowest possible cost through the Bookassist Bookine Engine, supplemented with worldwide distribution at the best value available via Bookassist GDS Manager. The best of both worlds in one cost-effective service.

Bookassist.org nominated for Golden Spider Award

Bookassist has been shortlisted in the Golden Spider Awards for the bookassist.org website in the Best Professional Services Website category.

The Golden Spider Awards are an annual event honouring Irish individuals and organisations for their outstanding achievements online and celebrating the successes of the Irish internet and digital media. The awards not only reward Irish businesses and community organisations but also individuals for their creativity and innovation.

Bookassist.org has been designed specifically to get the Bookassist product suite in front of its target audience as quickly as possible, to clearly indicate the functionality and business advantages of our products and to deliver informative, dynamic content which is continually relevant and focused for the hospitality industry. The site is available in several languages and continues to change.

Bookassist hotels scoop Georgina Campbell Awards in Ireland

Two Bookassist client hotels have won prestigious Georgina Campbell Awards for 2009 in Ireland.

Kingsley Hotel in Cork has again been awarded Georgina Campbell Business Hotel of the Year, citing "Major investment over the last two years" which has "enlarged and upgraded this hotel and, remarkably, has not only made even more of its lovely riverside location but has also managed to retain the sense of intimacy and homely atmosphere that has always been a special feature."
See "www.kingsleyhotel.com"

Renvyle House Hotel in Co. Galway wins Georgina Campbell Family Friendly Hotel of the Year 2009 and is no stranger to awards. Described as "A wonderful place to visit at any age or any time", Renvyle House excels for "Very good child facilities", which "include a nice traditional playground and a crèche in summer - and, to ensure that parents are able to make the most of Tim O’Sullivan’s excellent food, the large dining room is cannily organised with a window along one side where parents can see their children in the supervised playroom next door".
See "www.renvyle.com"

Our congratulations to the hotels for their achievements in a very competitive market.

Bookassist Founder to open the Hospitality Ireland Conference 2008

Bookassist Founder and Managing Director Dr Des O'Mahony will deliver the opening address to the Hospitality Ireland Conference and Annual Awards Ceremony in Dublin on October 30th, 2008.

The Conference is the largest of its kind in Ireland, encompassing the entire hospitality and leisure sector. The conference takes place the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

Dr O'Mahony, an Irish Internet Association Netvisionary award winner, will talk on the future of the internet in the coming decades and what it means for the hospitality sector.

Also addressing the conference are Marco Pierre White, three star Michelin chef; Louis Fitzgerald, Chairman of the Fitzgerald Group and Gerard Lawless, Executive Chairman of the worldwide Jumeirah Group.

The conference will be chaired by broadcaster and economist David McWilliams.

Bookassist is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland with additional offices in Spain, Scotland, France, Czech Republic, Italy and Poland. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company in Ireland and in the Top 100 Deloitte Technology Companies in Europe, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation.

For more information on the Hospitality Ireland conference, see:
http://www.hospitality-ireland.com/

New Business Development Manager Appointed in Scotland Office

Bookassist has appointed James Kennedy as Business Development Manager for Scotland, based in the Ayrshire office. James is well known across the Scottish Tourism industry and has been working in Business Development over the past four and a half years for VisitScotland.com.

"We've been expanding very rapidly over the past twelve months with Bookassist performing exceptionally well across all accommodation sectors but we recognised that we needed to increase the reach as we go into a challenging period for Scottish tourism. James' understanding of the market place and most importantly the people in that market place made him easily the the number one person for this position", said Ian McCaig, Operations Manager for Bookassist in Scotland.

James will now be reponsible for a raft of new marketing opportunities for Scottish tourism businesses including the rolling out of Bookassist's Web 2.0 tools, the new and exciting Sitebuilder product and the continuing growth of the Bookassist Trafficbuilder programmes. "I'm delighted to be joining the Bookassist team and look forward to working with clients old and new over the coming months and years. The Bookassist suite of products offers real and affordable solutions for all sizes of operators throughout Scotland and will be able to help many hotels, guest houses and self catering businesses get their product to the market more directly", said James.

Sat-Nav equipped with Bookassist, putting Irish hotels on the map for drivers

Details of over 600 Bookassist hotels in Ireland are now available on sat-nav in partnership with MyPOIs.ie

Bookassist and My Points of Interest (myPOIs.ie) today announced the availability of the Bookassist Hotel Guide for Ireland and Northern Ireland for Garmin sat-nav users. Users are now able to download for free the Bookassist hotel inventory for Ireland, complete with contact details and links for further information or booking. Hotel bookers who have used the Bookassist system on bookassist.com or directly on one of hundreds of hotel websites in Ireland will also receive, in their booking confirmation, information on how to download sat-nav data should they need assistance in locating their hotel on the road.

"It's all about giving the best service we can to the customer. Our customer feedback has indicated that this is something people would appreciate, particularly those who came from abroad and hadn't anticipated the poor level of road signage of the beaten path in Ireland!", said Christina Roche, Business Development Advisor for Bookassist in Ireland. "The myPOIs site makes it simple for people to tap into the large database we have of accommodation country-wide".

myPOIs.ie collects varied points of interest information nationally and makes it available for download to sat-navs from their web site. So far myPOIs.ie have collected 35,000 additional POIs which are continuously updated, with plans for a further 50,000-100,000 POIs. All listed POIs have proper verified and accurate locations using the latest geocoding techniques.

Bookassist is the market leading Irish company for web-enabled hotel reservations and online marketing. An Irish Internet Association NetVisionary Award winner for online trade, Bookassist has twice been a Top 10 company in Deloitte's Fast 50 fastest growing companies. Bookassist has its headquarters in Ireland with offices in Spain, Scotland, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Poland.

Bookassist fuses powerful Google Analytics and Booking Engine reporting

Bookassist has announced today a major innovation in its Traffic Builder search engine optimisation and marketing services. Clients of its award winning Booking Engine software can now use Google Analytics not just to track usage throughout their websites but specifically to trace clicks on individual adverts right through to a specific booking by a specific person in the Bookassist system via a direct integration between both systems. This allows for website statistics as well as advertising tracking in unprecedented detail.


Client hotels can now "drill down" into any pay per click (PPC) advert campaign and determine instantly the return on investment, in booking revenue terms, for each accommodation package they offer online. This allows for immediate feedback on the perceived value by online customers of special offers, discounts and other offerings the hotel has online, giving the hotel valuable instant intelligence on what is working online and what is not, rather than having to wait to analyse returns at a later date.

"What we now have is a complete integration between our Booking Engine system and our Traffic Builder [online marketing service] system, all rolled together in Google's Analytics. So in one place you can view user patterns throughout your site and track every single cent spent on PPC to see if a particular advert is generating real booking revenue, what part of the world your booker is coming from, what kind of package was booked and whether any add-ons or additional services were bought", said Mary Collins, responsible for Traffic Builder strategy at Bookassist.

Bookassist's integration of Traffic Builder with Google Analytics leaves no room for doubt and is the most powerful analysis of online marketing available to hotels today. Hotel clients using Traffic Builder can respond instantly to the marketplace based on real data, not on supposition. It is another in a string of tie-ins with Google technology for Bookassist.

Early in 2008, Bookassist was first in the industry to adopt the then-new Google Charts technology for the generation of innovative real-time graphics in its Booking Engine reporting. As far back as 2005, Bookassist integrated its entire database of hotel information with Google Maps. Bookassist is a Google Adwords Qualified Company and works closely with Google and has had access to early technology releases. In 2007 the company was a beta tester of the Google Local service on Google Maps where it now features prominently.

Traffic Builder with Google Analytics is available now, exclusively to hotels using the Bookassist Booking Engine on their websites.

Bookassist appoints Pascal Gauthier as Director of Operations in Paris office

Bookassist has appointed Pascal Gauthier to head its operation in France.

Pascal has in excess of 20 years experience in the hotel industry, with a specific focus on sales, promotions and marketing at various hotel groups in Paris and beyond. He has a strong knowledge of national and international markets, global distribution systems and internet distribution networks. He will be based at Bookassist's office at Rue Faubourg Montmartre in Paris, represented online by the localised corporate website bookassist.fr.

Bookassist corporate website launch in French

Following Bookassist's recent corporate website release in Spanish, the leading provider of booking technology and online marketing expertise to the accommodation sector has today launched a comprehensive corporate website in French (bookassist.fr). Bookassist opened its Paris-based office in late 2007 and is gaining significant business in this competitive marketpace. This latest release by the company underpins the continuing pace of growth of Bookassist's hotel booking engine, Site Builder web development product and Traffic Builder search engine marketing service in France.

Founded on delivering world class solutions in a fast changing market place, Bookassist's cutting-edge technology is supported by unrivalled account management and online marketing support helping hotels to unlock the power of their websites and build direct online sales.



Bookassist is an Irish Internet Association NetVisionary Award winner for online trade and has twice been a Top 10 company in Deloitte's Fast 50 fastest growing companies. Bookassist has its headquarters in Ireland with offices in Spain, Scotland, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Poland.

Bookassist is exhibiting at the World Travel Market WTM 2008 in London November, area Global Village N° TT 7085. Representatives from all of Bookassist's international offices will be on hand.

Bookassist enhances its corporate web presence with new Spanish language site

Bookassist, the leading provider of booking technology and online marketing expertise to the accommodation sector, has today launched a new comprehensive corporate website in Spanish (bookassist.es). This latest roll-out by the company highlights the fast pace of growth that Bookassist is experiencing with its hotel booking engine, its Site Builder web development product and its Traffic Builder search engine marketing service in Spain.

Founded on delivering world class solutions in a fast changing market place, Bookassist's cutting-edge technology is supported by unrivalled account management and online marketing support helping hotels to unlock the power of their websites and build direct online sales. The new Spanish language website is specifically tailored to the markets serviced by Bookassist's Madrid office.



Bookassist is an Irish Internet Association NetVisionary Award winner for online trade and has twice been a Top 10 company in Deloitte's Fast 50 fastest growing companies. Bookassist has its headquarters in Ireland with offices in Spain, Scotland, France, Italy, Czech Republic and Poland.

Bookassist is exhibiting at the World Travel Market WTM 2008 in London November, area Global Village N° TT 7085. Representatives from all of Bookassist's international offices will be on hand.

Czesc Polsko! Bookassist launches hotel reservation software services in Poland

Bookassist has launched its award-winning booking engine technology in Poland with initial hotels going live for direct sales online through their own websites in the popular destinations of Warsaw and Krakow.



Piotr Byrski, Lukasz Kidon and Anna Stabrawa of Wirtualny Turysta, Bookassist's exclusive partner for Poland, are the initial team involved in market research, sales and technical implementation of Bookassist technology for hotels in the region and have been planning the market penetration strategy for a number of months. In the coming weeks, hotels which are currently being trained in the use of the technology will be coming on stream.

The continuing fast growth of tourism in Poland and in the accommodation sector in particular represents a strong opportunity for expansion of Bookassist services, and with many Polish hotels going on the internet for the first time and availing of the direct sales approach, Bookassist products and technology are the ideal mature platform for the emerging internet travel sector.

In recent months, Bookassist has expanded its services with offices in Italy and France also, supplementing the more established offices in Ireland, Spain, Scotland and the Czech Republic.