IHI Founders' Banquet and Awards

Bookassist clients featured prominently at the Irish Hospitality Institute's Founders' Banquet & Hospitality Awards 2009 which were held on 26th November at the Four Seasons Hotel, Dublin.


From Left to Right: James Lenehan, Managing Director Win|Win Hotelpoints; Kieran Fives, Director of Sales, Bookassist; Fiona Cassidy and Martin Cassidy, Cassidy's Hotel; Róisín Wallace, Manor House Hotels; Paul Dooley, Director of Client Services, Bookassist; Sarah Collins, Sales Manager, Bookassist; John Loughran, Mount Herbert Hotel.

See www.ihi.ie/ for more details and coverage.

Paris Seminar urges hotels to prepare for economic upturn

Bookassist has told French hotels that preparing now for the economic upturn is vital to ensure that they are not left behind. While the hotel industry is advancing through its economic cycle, not all hotels can expect to rise with the inevitable upswing unless they embrace current technologies and techniques.

Click for Seminar Slideshow


In a comprehensive seminar held in the magnificent surroundings of the Irish Embassy on Avenue Foch in Paris on Thursday November 26th, hotels were urged to consider the lifetime value of a customer to their business, not just the single first booking, and to engage with their clients continually through high level offline and online service. Bookassist speakers covered all aspects of online optimisation and marketing for client retention, while co-host Hoosta discussed the importance of social media for hotels doing business online.

The Enterprise Ireland and Irish Embassy supported seminar attracted over 60 hoteliers to hear presentations by Bookassist CEO and Founder Dr Des O'Mahony, Bookassist's Director of Business & Operations Yahya Fetchati, and co-host and Bookassist Partner Orso Filippi, Chairman of Hoosta (hoosta.com), who specialises in Social Media usage for hotels.

The seminar was opened by His Excellency Ambassador Paul Kavanagh, Irish Ambassador to France and was organised in conjunction with Ms Karen Hallez, Market Advisor for Software Services & Emerging Sectors at Enterprise Ireland's Paris office and the Enterprise Ireland team in Paris.

See also http://hoosta-webagency.com/?p=126

Bookassist appoints new Austria and Germany region account manager

Mario Clemente has been appointed Account Manager at Bookassist's Austria office.

Mario joins Bookassist after working at Hurra.com, where he held the position of Key Account Manager for Spain and Portugal, managing the sales department and building a solid portfolio of key accounts in several industries as finance, ecommerce and travel sector. Specialized in Online Marketing Environment, he has been working in senior positions in the hotel and entertainment sector.

Mario holds a TEAT Degree in Tourism Management, and is based in Bookassist's Vienna office, giving support to Bookassist's Austrian and German hotel clients.

New Italian Sales & Support Team appointed at Bookassist

Alberto Recanatesi has been appointed Director of Sales for the Italian market at Bookassist.

Alberto joins Bookassist after 10 years at Venere.com, an Expedia Inc. company, where he held the position of Client Services Manager. Coordinating two teams, he built and managed a portfolio of over 30,000 properties. Alberto has also more recently been Product Manager for Hotels at Iperclub, responsible for acquisition processes and managing of the company’s affiliates and consolidators that provide additional content. He is based in Bookassist's new Rome office.

Almudena Sampó is Bookassist's new Account Manager for the Italian market.

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 Italy. Before that Almudena held a sales position in the international contracting department in Bancotel, where she was in charge of introducing the Bancotel product in Italy. Almudena has spent the past year coordinating the expansion of Bookassist in Spain, in Cataluña and the Mediterranean area.

See Bookassist's Corporate Site for Italy - bookassist.it

Bookassist appoints Account Manager for Catalunya

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Angel Lorenzo as Account Manager for the Catalunya region, to be based in Barcelona. Angel previously worked in Iberrail for more than ten years across several commercial departments. More recently, he has worked in the commercial sales department at Sercotel Hotels in Spain. He holds a TEAT tourism degree from the Centro Delicias in Madrid.

See Bookassist's Corporate Site for Spain and Portugal - bookassist.es