Bookassist and protel announce technology integration, further streamlines online business for hotels

In a major upgrade to its XML Connector technology, Dublin-based hotel technology and online strategy firm Bookassist (bookassist.org) has announced the successful integration of its award-winning online booking engine with the protel (protel-hotel-software.com) hotel property management system (PMS).

The solution allows hotels using protel PMS products in-house and Bookassist's booking engine on their websites to seamlessly connect the two technologies. Incoming reservations from the website booking engine are automatically passed to the PMS, eliminating the need for any management or intervention by hotel staff.

Time and cost savings are the obvious advantage for hotels, together with improved accuracy of data in the PMS and a more up-to-the-minute representation of availability.

The OTA/XML-based integration of the two systems has already been deployed across all hotels in the ARCOTEL Hotel group (arcotel.at) in Austria, Germany and Croatia. According to Manfred Mayer, CEO of ARCOTEL Hotels, "At ARCOTEL, we needed a fully integrated solution from online booking engine to front desk, and Bookassist's successful integration with protel has given us exactly what we need. We are very happy with the results and it has streamlined our reservations operation considerably."

Speaking about the collaboration, Dr Robert Whittle CTO & Founder at Bookassist commented: "Using our OTA/XML interface layer, connections with compliant systems such as protel's PMS is now a straightforward task. protel's interface team in Dortmund and Bookassist's core development team in Madrid worked very closely to bring this integrated solution to the market place in a very short space of time, and we see great opportunities for further collaboration for our joint clients in the future."

Manfred Osthues, co-founder and managing director of protel, shares this point of view: "At protel, we never lose sight of the most important purpose of our software: to optimise our customers' workflows and thus improve their operational effectiveness. We are pleased that with Bookassist we have found yet another partner who shares our goal and are looking forward to further successful cooperations."

protel is now the leading PMS vendor seamlessly connected with Bookassist's hotel booking engine via the XML Connector technology. Further announcements will be made in the coming weeks regarding market-leading vendors connecting to XML Connector.


Bookassist® creates and manages successful and proven online strategies for over 2000 hotels and groups worldwide and is the industry-leading hotel booking engine and online marketing provider in Ireland. 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.

protel develops and sells technology and service solutions specifically and exclusively for the hotel industry and related companies. The consistent focus on the needs of this industry makes protel one of the most experienced and successful providers of professional hotel management systems. From the small individual hotel to multi-national hotel groups - the product lines of protel hotelsoftware GmbH provide all segments with standard software solutions that can be individually customized to meet any need. The company's headquarters is located in Dortmund, Germany. Cooperating with a dense network of international business partners and operating a branch in Dubai, protel is represented worldwide.

See also "Neue protel ISD connect Schnittstelle mit Bookassist (Deutsch)" and "protel und Bookassist streamline online business for hotels (English)"

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.

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.