Trade Dinner in Prague

Bookassist invited a number of hotel and hotel group clients to the Ireland - Czech Republic Trade Dinner organised by Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Embassy on May 28th at the Intercontinental Hotel in Prague. The Trade Dinner was hosted by His Excellency Donal Hamill, ambassador to the Czech Republic and Ladislav Muller, Enterprise Ireland Director for the Czech Republic & Slovakia. Bookassist continues to expand in the Czech Republic with its focus on the direct sales model for hotel and group websites, and in particular has signed a number of hotel groups in recent weeks.


Bookassist's Managing Director Des O'Mahony (left) with His Excellency Donal Hamill


Bookassist Czech Republic Sales Manager Jitka Krizova (left) with Jaroslav Tibitanzl of the Vintage Design Hotel Sax


Ivan Gruza of the Hotel Hoffmeister (left) with Bookassist's Kieran Fives


Patrick Rieger (left) and Kristian Hanslik (centre) of the Hotel Hastal with Bookassist's Yahya Fetchati


Bookassist's Des O'Mahony (left) with Miroslava Micurova of the Bellagio Hotel

Bookassist Directors address Czech Hotels Association

Bookassist directors address the annual conference of the Association of Hotels & Restaurants (AHR) in the Czech Republic on the Future of Internet Distribution

At the recent annual conference of the Association of Hotels & Restaurants of the Czech Republic, Bookassist was invited to present their view of the future of internet distribution over the next quarter century.

Operating in the internet environment since 1994, Bookassist Managing Director and Co-founder Dr Des O'Mahony has seen the development of the internet first hand and has closely followed the research and trends in the accommodation sector online in particular for over a decade. "Our experience in Bookassist of what has and hasn't worked, what technology has taken off and what technology has died, is invaluable in predicting the shape of the internet in the future for the accommodation sector and for our clients in particular", according to Dr O'Mahony.

The conference was also addressed by Bookassist Director and Co-founder Kieran Fives who provided an overview of the company and its products to the delegates. The conference was attended by over 300 delegates over a two day period in the picturesque town of Tabor, south of Prague and included the annual awards ceremony of the AHR.

Jitka Krizova (pictured) heads Bookassist's office in the Czech Republic.

Bookassist, the leading technology and online marketing provider for hotels, launches services in the Czech Republic

At an official reception at the Irish Embassy in Prague hosted by the Irish Ambassador, His Excellency Donal Hamill, and sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, Europe's fastest growing online reservations service Bookassist today (Bloomsday) launched its Czech Republic accommodation offerings on the Bookassist.com website and on local hotel websites. The reception was attended by hoteliers and by travel industry representatives throughout Prague. Beginning today with a core group of accommodation providers in the Czech capital, Bookassist aims to bring accommodation providers from across the Czech Republic on-stream in the coming months to offer a comprehensive online accommodation booking service for the Czech Republic to online bookers from around the world.

Bookassist is the leading online reservations system in Ireland with more hotels using the Bookassist system on their websites than any other system. "The growth in online bookings worldwide continues to be extremely strong, and popular destinations such as Prague and the Czech Republic are seeing more and more people choosing the online option for travel and accommodation booking rather than the traditional travel agent approach that has typified Prague tourism", said Dr Des O'Mahony, Managing Director of Bookassist. "We feel that the time is right to expand our award-winning services in the region and we are delighted to target Prague as the starting point given its popularity and its easy access from our primary markets in the UK and Ireland."

Bookassist allows accommodation providers to sell through their own websites, to set their own low prices online at all times, giving them complete control of their inventory and giving the online customer the best value possible. With over €24 million in online reservations revenue through the system in 2005, and in excess of €32 million projected for 2006, Bookassist is a top ten Deloitte Fast 50 Company and a European Deloitte Top 100 Company and has received awards for Online Trade and Technology Innovation.


Dr Des O'Mahony (left) with Enterprise Ireland's Jim Mongey and His Excellency Donal Hamill, Irish Ambassador to the Czech Republic


Alena Moravcikova, Adria Hotel Prague (left) with Marie Sharpe, Bookassist


Miroslava Micurova, Bellagio Hotel Prague (left) with Dr Des O'Mahony