Corporate Site nominated for Golden Spider Award

Bookassist's Corporate Website at bookassist.org has been shortlisted for a Golden Spider Award for 2009 in the Best Professional Services Website category. The awards take place on November 19th in Dublin.

Bookassist systems achieve full PCI DSS Compliance

Bookassist servers and software technology have been confirmed by independent external audit to meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) Digitial Security Standards (DSS) compliance for the handling of credit card data as of September 2009. Bookassist is among the first in the online hotel booking industry to have met the exceptionally high standards for encryption, intrusion detection, security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures as laid down by the PCI Security Standards Council.

"Bookassist has long operated to PCI standards in terms of security, but we're particularly pleased that all the necessary requirements have now been assessed by independent external auditors and Bookassist servers, systems and software have passed all security tests and scans", said Karen Fives, Senior Systems Analyst and Director at Bookassist, coordinator of the compliance project. "Reaching these stringent requrements reflects Bookassist's approach in general to achieving the highest standards in everything we do".

Maintaining PCI DSS compliance is an ongoing task for the technology team at Bookassist and Bookassist's compliance is monitored by an independent outside party. Standards are continually raised by the PCI as new requirements are built into the developing DSS framework. Bookassist has been validated according to current standard PCI DSS v1.2.

The PCI DSS, a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security, was developed by the founding payment brands of the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. Inc. International, to help facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures on a global basis. The motivation is to raise security levels online and to protect cardholder data to the highest possible security levels.

For more information see: PCI DSS Website

Bookassist.org nominated for Golden Spider Award

Bookassist has been shortlisted in the Golden Spider Awards for the bookassist.org website in the Best Professional Services Website category.

The Golden Spider Awards are an annual event honouring Irish individuals and organisations for their outstanding achievements online and celebrating the successes of the Irish internet and digital media. The awards not only reward Irish businesses and community organisations but also individuals for their creativity and innovation.

Bookassist.org has been designed specifically to get the Bookassist product suite in front of its target audience as quickly as possible, to clearly indicate the functionality and business advantages of our products and to deliver informative, dynamic content which is continually relevant and focused for the hospitality industry. The site is available in several languages and continues to change.

Almost 90% rate Bookassist booking engine at 8/10 or higher

Almost 90% of customers rate the Bookassist booking engine experience at 8/10 or higher, with almost 60% giving it 10/10

A staggering 89.4% of online users who have used the Bookassist booking engine rate the system at 8/10 or higher, with a significant majority of users, almost 60%, giving it a full thumbs up with the highest 10/10 rating, according to statistics gathered from tens of thousands of users and released on the bookassist.org corporate website.

Bookassist has been collecting reviews from customers and have amassed tens of thousands of customer comments on the system. After having stayed at a hotel, customers receive a follow up email to comment on their experience, which forms the backbone of Bookassist's popular customer reviews for hotels. Hotels can feature these reviews on their own website as part of the Bookassist Travel 2.0 booking engine.

However, Bookassist also asks customers about the booking engine experience so that this information can be used to continually improve the customer experience. With thousands of bookings made a week using embedded Bookassist technology on hotel websites and affiliate channels, this is critical and valuable information. Coupled with analysis of the way customers use the booking process, this information has led to substantial advances in the booking engine design, advances which, while technically accomplished, lead to a simplicity for the online user instead of more complication. Bookassist advocates the multi-screen approach to the booking process for many reasons, rather than the single page approach that some vendors promote. Independent research has shown this approach to be vindicated for user friendliness and clarity of the process and it is industry best practice.

Having a customer centric approach, rather than a technology centric approach has been a cornerstone of how Bookassist has operated over the last 8 years in the online reservations arena and has been the open secret of Bookassist's success to date.

Bookassist is a Google Adwords Professional Company

Bookassist has earned Google Adwords Professional Company status from Google. The Trafficbuilder online marketing service, which has seen Bookassist client hotels make extraordinary gains in direct sales online, is staffed entirely by qualified Google Adwords Professionals in the various Bookassist offices, which is a minimum requirement for joining the team.

Bookassist's professional status can be viewed online here:
https://adwords.google.com/select/ProfessionalStatus?id=Jn12_C0slQ8vCuuoFgAnFg&hl=en_US

Bookassist again ranks top 10 in the Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Companies in Ireland for 2006

Bookassist today announced that it ranked Number 10 in the 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Ireland. Rankings are based on average percentage revenue growth over five years. Bookassist turnover grew over 800% during this period.

Bookassist’s CEO, Dr Des O'Mahony, credits new market penetrations and competitive product development and pricing in existing markets with the company’s significant revenue growth over the past five years. He said, "We have continually developed the product and continually lowered pricing, and have scaled up on associated services such as our online marketing, trafficbuilder, for our clients. Uniquely in the marketplace, we have continued to concentrate on helping our clients to build their own online brand first and foremost. Our client loyalty over the past years has proven that this is the approach the market wants and we aim for the same loyalty as we expand in our new overseas markets in South America and Central Europe."

Announcing the winners of the Technology Fast 50 programme, David O’Flanagan, Partner with Deloitte, Dublin said: “What’s very encouraging about this year’s awards is that we are seeing strong performances from both new and previous entrants. This bodes well for our indigenous Irish companies and proves that Ireland is consolidating its position as a key player within the sector, while simultaneously producing fresh and innovative new companies.”

The Fast 50 programme, now in its seventh year ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Thirty-five companies from the Republic of Ireland and 15 companies from Northern Ireland were recognised for achieving an average annual growth of 852% over the last 5 years. This represents an increase of 329% on last year.

The Awards ceremony took place in the Mansion House, Dublin and was timed to coincide with the inaugural Deloitte Technology Forum, themed this year, ‘Get Connected – Celebrate Innovation’. Industry figures speaking at the event included Cyril McGuire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Trintech Technologies Limited, Martin Murphy, Managing Director, HP Ireland, and Paul Lee, Director, Deloitte Research, Deloitte UK.

Bookassist's Ireland ranking has also led to a position 30 ranking in the Fast 50 combined ranking for UK & Ireland.

Bookassist managing director wins eircom.net Golden Spider Award

December 1st, Bookassist managing director Dr Des O'Mahony was the recipient of a prestigious eircom.net Golden Spider Award for his design of the Dublin Institute of Technology's School of Physics website, which won Best Educational Institution Website for 2005.

The award was presented by Fintan Lawler, Managing Director of eircom.net, to Des at the gala blacktie awards ceremony in the Burlington Hotel. The website features an unique and comprehensive annual student yearbook, an online content showcase of graduates' final year projects and introduces new technologies such as Physics Blog and RSS/XML news feed.

The Golden Spider Awards are considered to be Ireland's most prestigious internet awards and were established nine years ago to promote and reward excellence in the internet industry. They have become an established landmark in Irish business and technology with hundreds of websites nominated annually across twenty five categories.

Bookassist in European top 100 companies in Deloitte Fast 500 Technology Companies

Award-winning Irish online reservations firm Bookassist, recently ranked 8th fastest growing company in Ireland, has been positioned number 100 in the Deloitte Fast 500 Technology companies in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region.

Accepting the award in London on November 28th, Bookassist Director Dr Robert Whittle said "The Deloitte recognition of Bookassist's achievements is a very welcome one. This year has been a stellar year for the Bookassist team and all the indications are for even more spectacular performance through 2006".

The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 program covers public and private companies across EMEA, and is based on five-year average percentage revenue growth. The awards are researched and sponsored by the Deloitte Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Industry Group. "This is the fifth year of the ranking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and we are beginning to see some interesting regional and global trends emerging," said Eric Morgain, Deloitte's Partner in charge of the Technology Fast 500 EMEA. "Western Europe still dominates the ranking, with 61% of companies featured in the Fast 500 from this region (a drop of 11% compared with 2003). Northern Europe's presence in the ranking has grown, with 25% of winners from this region, a rise of 8% compared with 2003. Also worth noting are the number of companies from the Middle East & Africa, which make up 7% of the ranking, compared with 4% two years ago."

Bookassist rises to top 10 ranking in 2005 Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Companies

The leading Irish online reservations firm Bookassist scooped 8th place in the annual Deloitte Fast 50 Technology awards in Belfast on November 24th, rising rapidly from last year's ranking of 42nd. Director Kieran Fives, who accepted the award from David O’Flanagan, Partner with Deloitte, said "the achievement reflects the commitment of a very dedicated and talented team at Bookassist that it has been my pleasure to work with over the last 5 years, and it also speaks volumes for the confidence in us expressed by over 1000 accommodation providers who trust Bookassist to act on their behalf each and every day".

The Fast 50 programme, now in its sixth year, ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland based on turnover.

Bookassist's Des O'Mahony honoured by the Irish Internet Association

The Irish Internet Association has awarded Bookassist Co-Founder and Managing Director Dr Des O'Mahony the 2005 Netvisionary Award for Online Trade. Presented at the annual awards ceremony in Clontarf Castle in Dublin, the award recognises the recipient's contribution to online trade and commerce and reflects Bookassist's innovation in the tourism and accommodation marketplace and its commitment to delivering cutting edge technology.

Bookassist was first to introduce live credit card checking, true dynamic currency conversions, configurable family rooms with dynamic pricing, SMS text message confirmation of bookings, touchscreen booking at Dublin Airport and at ferryports, These developments have kept bookassist at the forefront of e-commerce development for the accommodation sector in Ireland and internationally.

The NetVisionary Award for Online Trade was held by Aer Lingus in 2004.


IIA Chairman Colm Lyon, NetVisonary for Online Trade 2005 award winner Dr Des O'Mahony of Bookassist, and category sponsor representative Andrew Yoakley of Realexpayments.

Bookassist wins Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award at first attempt

Bookassist has been awarded a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Award celebrating the success of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Ireland. The award is based on growth in turnover over the previous 3 to 5 year period and objectively recognises the phenomenal success and growth of the Bookassist community in Ireland, Spain, England and Scotland.

This is the first year that Bookassist has been eligible for consideration in the Deloitte Fast 50 programme.

Bookassist Managing Director shortlisted for Innovator of the Year Award

The award-winning Bookassist reservation system recently earned Managing Director Dr Des O'Mahony a finalist position for the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Innovator of the Year 2004 award.

The award recognises innovation in hospitality sales and marketing either in technology or in novel applications. The Bookassist approach of providing the reservations system together with the Trafficbuilder online marketing expertise as a partnership service to hotels was the primary motivation for the nomination, according to the nomination board.