Bookassist and Hotelguide to power online bookings for over 1200 Czech hotels

Dublin-based technology firm BOOKASSIST (bookassist.org) and Prague-based communications company MEDIATEL, spol. s r.o. (mediatel.cz) have announced a comprehensive partnership agreement to bring Bookassist online booking technology to over 1200 hotels in Mediatel’s HotelGuide portfolio.

Mediatel’s HotelGuide is one of the largest travel guide publishers and travel portals (hotelguide.cz) for the Czech Republic featuring over 1200 directly contracted hotels and is one of Mediatel’s primary assets in the travel sector. Mediatel is an information and database specialist operating the Yellow Pages directories for all regions of the Czech Republic as well as providing advertising and direct marketing services and the distribution of telephone directories. The company was founded in 1991 and belongs to the European Directories S.A. publishing group (originally, the YBR Group), which brings together the directory book publishers in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Sweden and Gibraltar. Across all regions, the company interacts with some 7000 hotels in its operations.



“We are pleased to form this cooperation with Bookassist in order to bring the Bookassist booking platform to our hotel clients and our online HotelGuide.cz portal. This represents a real opportunity for HotelGuide to build on its position as a leading company in the hospitality segment and we look forward to extending this cooperation to other Mediatel products in the future”, said Radim Knobloch, Director of HotelGuide.

According to Jaromir Pazout, Operations Manager at Bookassist Czech Republic, the agreement with Mediatel gives Bookassist access to the majority of Czech hotels, while simultaneously allowing Hotelguide.cz to improve their online services to those clients. "It’s a significant advantage for both parties to the agreement and I have no doubt it will be very successful for both. With Bookassist's award-winning online booking technology and Hotelguide's industry-leading hotel database we believe that Hotelguide.cz will be soon the leading online channel for accommodation in the Czech Republic and Central Europe"

"We are delighted that Mediatel has chosen Bookassist as a partner. Bookassist excels when it comes to local customer support and Czech speaking representatives and this has been an important factor in the decision for Mediatel," added Jaroslav Tibitanzl, Director of Sales and Marketing at Bookassist Czech Republic.

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online strategy 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 thousands of hotels. A Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company winner in Ireland and recently 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.

Austria's ARCOTEL Hotels & Resorts GmbH signs to Bookassist for Strategy and Online Technology

Dublin-based hotel online strategy and technology firm Bookassist is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Vienna-based international ARCOTEL Hotels group (www.arcotel.at), which has chosen Bookassist's strategy and technology platform for direct online business.

Bookassist will provide its award-winning online booking technology to the group as well as its industry-leading e-commerce integration with Google Analytics for pay-per-click tracking. Direct integration with the group's Protel property management system as well as Channel Management updating services are also being provided by Bookassist as part of the initial 2-year contract with the group.


The ARCOTEL Hotels & Resorts GmbH is one of the biggest family-held tourism enterprises in Austria. The group has a long history of success and is currently celebrates its 20th anniversary. With five hotels in Austria and one in Croatia, expansion has mainly focused on Germany in the past few years with the ARCOTEL Velvet Berlin, the ARCOTEL Rubin Hamburg, ARCOTEL Camino Stuttgart and the ARCOTEL John F Berlin. The ARCOTEL Onyx Hamburg hotel is due to open its doors in 2011. ARCOTEL hotels have currently over 1600 rooms throughout the group with an annual turnover of EUR 50 million in 2008. "We are looking forward to co-operation with Bookassist, as the company offers us an overall solution for the online booking process as well as excellent service quality. This is, what we expect from a competent partner", explains Manfred Mayer, ARCOTEL Hotel AG CEO.

"With ARCOTEL Hotels, you have top quality products in ideal locations. Their appeal on the internet is already high and Bookassist will help them to achieve their online sales targets and grow their online business even further in the coming years", said Dr. Des O'Mahony, Bookassist CEO.

"We are delighted that ARCOTEL Hotels has chosen Bookassist from among all the major players in this arena", said Yahya Fetchati, Head of Business & Operations at Bookassist. "Beyond the online expertise and technology, Bookassist excels and out-performs everyone when it comes to customer support and client satisfaction. This has been an important factor in the decision for ARCOTEL Hotels."



Pictured at the recent Bookassist training session in Vienna for Arcotel Hotels Reservation managers were, from the left, Martin Grabner (Revenue Manager, Arcotel Hotels), Patricia Oehner (Director of Reservations, Arcotel Hotels) and Gerd Weingrill (Bookassist Austria Representative).


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.

Bookassist launches new bookassist.at website in Deutsch as expansion in Austria continues

Online technology and strategy company Bookassist has launched a new corporate website in Deutsch - bookassist.at - to serve the fast-growing Austrian and Southern Germany market for the company. The region has been a strong focus of expansion for the company during 2009 with both the number of hotels signed to the company's services and the number of bookings generated through the company's systems growing rapidly.


"Our local presence in the marketplace, and our local knowledge, means that we can offer hotels and groups a much higher service level than other operators in terms of online strategy", commented Gerd Weingrill, Bookassist Representative at Bookassist's Graz office. "The bookassist.at website in Deutsch is just another example of our commitment to the marketplace and to localising our services, as Bookassist always does in its markets. High service levels are what we are about."

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.