Travel 2.0 crucial to Hospitality Industry

The importance of Travel 2.0 to the Irish hospitality industry was outlined by John Hearne of the Irish Examiner today in conversation with Des O'Mahony of Bookassist.

See Examiner 20080415.pdf
© Irish Examiner

Bookassist appoints new Business Development Advisor

Christina Roche has been appointed as Business Development Advisor in Bookassist's Dublin office. Christina will work directly with Bookassist partner clients to help increase direct revenue through their hotel websites.

Christina is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology at Cathal Brugha Street where she studied for a degree in Hospitality Management. Prior to her appointment with Bookassist Christina worked as Reservations Manager in the Irish Management Institute.

Mary Collins to head Trafficbuilder strategy development across all offices at Bookassist

The Board has appointed Mary Collins, Web Presence Team Leader at Bookassist, to also head overall Trafficbuilder strategy development across all Bookassist offices. Bookassist Trafficbuilder services for online marketing are operated out of a number of Bookassist offices in different countries, since the service often requires localisation.

Mary has been with Bookassist since its formation in 1999 and is a Physics graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology and a Management graduate of the National College of Ireland. She has held a number of development and management positions over the years at Bookassist.

Bookassist appoints Sales Manager in Ireland

Bookassist appoints Sarah Collins to head Sales in Ireland

Sarah Collins has joined Bookassist as Sales Manager (Ireland). Sarah will obtain new business to partner with Bookassist, who provide an award-winning booking engine and proven online marketing expertise. Bookassist are at the forefront of online reservations technology with offices in Ireland, Spain, Scotland, Czech Republic and Argentina. Prior to this Sarah held the position of Sales and Marketing Executive with the Irish Hospitality Institute. She is delighted to continue working within the Hospitality Industry, where she can maintain the relationships she made during her time with the Irish Hospitality Institute.

A native of Co. Limerick, Sarah spent 4 years in Cardiff where she obtained a Degree in Marketing.

Bookassist Galway workshop cautions on brand-diluting web practices, introduces new Trafficbuilder promotions programme

On November 9th, members of the Bookassist team hosted a very successful workshop in the Galway Harbour Hotel. Topics for presentation and discussion included "Designing websites to maximise online business", "Secrets of Search Engines", "Effective Online Marketing", "Current issues in the online accommodation business" and others.

Managing Director Dr Des O'Mahony introduced this latter session as "cautioning on current online marketing practices which, while bringing short term gains, may ultimately be detrimental to the hotel's brand. The Bookassist approach on the other hand is to always build the hotels own brand first and foremost". An expert session on getting the most from the Bookassist administration system was also on the agenda, hosted by Roshan McPartland and Director, Kieran Fives. A lively discussion of all topics was had, and Bookassist's Claire Sawier and Jude Murray introduced the newly revamped Trafficbuilder web promotions package designed to tackle the total visibility of the hotel brand online and to propel online business to the maximum achievable. The new Trafficbuilder programme is exclusive to hotels using Bookassist on their own sites.

Bookassist touchscreen system to launch at Dublin Airport

Bookassist is the exclusive supplier of the touchscreen booking technology and reservations content for Dublin Tourism's new touchscreen information services at Dublin Airport.

Bookassist will make extensive use of its last-minute booking capability to allow arriving passengers to book from a range of accommodation, both in Dublin and throughout Ireland, for arrival up to midnight on the booking date. According to Kieran Fives, Bookassist Co-Founder and Director, "the system incorporates a number of industry-first features such as SMS text confirmation of bookings for touchscreen users and travel directions delivered directly to the user's phone. Touchscreen users making last minute bookings wouldn't usually be able to print their confirmation details, so the SMS capability is a significant advantage of the Bookassist system".

Dublin Tourism to use Bookassist as preferred accommodation channel on visitdublin.com

One of the most popular internet sites in Ireland, visitdublin.com, is to utilise the Bookassist system as its source of hotel bookings for the capital and throughout Ireland.

Operated by Dublin Tourism, visitdublin.com is a highly professional, high traffic site with definitive information on Dublin City and County. According to Kieran Fives, Bookassist Director, "the decision to use Bookassist in preference to all other providers was largely based on the market-leading penetration of the Bookassist system in the Dublin region, where more hotels are online with Bookassist than with any other system".

Dublin Tourism is the Official Tourist Board for Dublin City and County.