Managing Your Online Availability

A question which we are often asked is “how many of my rooms should I put online” and whilst the temptation exists for us to say “put all of them on” the reality is that this will really depend on your overall approach to online selling and distribution.

The key factors to consider are,

• Do you work with Online Travel Agents (OTA’s), if so, what percentage of rooms do you allocate?
• Do you have a Booking Engine on your website? if so, what percentage of rooms do you allocate? If not, how much time do you spend answering email enquiries?
• What percentage of your business comes from the OTA’s and your Website?
• How much time have you allocated to update your website and OTA websites?
• What commission do you typically pay OTA’s and your Booking Engine provider?

Once you have the answers to the questions above, you are ready to set some strategic goals for your online business, such as...

1. Reduce time spent answering Email Enquiries and Increase Direct Online Sales via your own website by investing in an easy to manage Booking Engine
2. Reduce time spent on updating OTA websites that are not performing
3. Reduce the allocation (or cancel the contract) of non performing OTA websites
4. Reduce the commission bills from OTA websites by increasing production through your own Booking Engine

Bookassist Makes Managing Availability Simple and Quick
The Bookassist Booking Engine enables you to easily manage one simple Room Allocation which can be sold on the website in a number of different packages, for example.



This reduces the amount of time you need to spend in updating 4 discreet room allocations, you simply update once and the availability cascades to all the relevant Room Offers that are linked to that Allocation.

This reduction in time makes your reservations operation more efficient, cutting down wasted time spent in updating OTA websites and giving you more control over your direct business via your own website.

The Bookassist Booking Engine has also been integrated with 3rd party Property Management Systems (PMS) such as Softbrands & Micros Fidelio which can increase your staff productivity even further by connecting your room inventory directly with your own website.

For More Information
Contact the Bookassist Scotland office on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or email Scotland@bookassist.com

Make your Booking Engine work for You!

At Bookassist we are all too aware of some of the challenges faced by Hotels in managing their business. In many cases staff are multi-disciplined, covering 2 or more roles, there is also a higher than average turnover of staff and the use of seasonal staff.

All of this means it can be difficult to be on top of some tasks, like effective administration of your booking engine. We are constantly striving to develop our software to make administration of your booking engine as hassle free as possible. Some of the key features include,




We are confident that our administration tools are easy to use, will enable you to maximise productivity and increase bookings. This is definitely time well spent. There are many other features of the Bookassist Booking Engine including;

• Multiple Language – Key reservation information is translated into 10 other languages as well as English
• Multiple Currency – Rates information can be translated into 15 other currencies as well as GBP
• Corporate Bookings – Give your key customers access to password protected special rates you control
• Loyalty Scheme – Reward frequent Corporate Bookers with points that can be used against overnight stays
• Integration with Google Analytics – Measure the exact ROI from your booking engine

What to do next
Bookassist Scotland can be contacted on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or Scotland@bookassist.com

Effective Online Rate Merchandising

There are many opinions out there about the most effective way to manage your online rates; however the principles are more or less exactly the same as you would apply to your Revenue and Yield Management Strategy. We won’t go into that in detail in this briefing; rather we will focus on some of the best practice being employed today.

Offer a “Best Rate Guarantee”
This should be the keystone of your Online Rate Strategy, you are essentially letting customers know that the BEST price they will pay, is DIRECT with you on your website. This engenders brand loyalty and protects you from erosion of your revenues via Online Travel Agents (OTA’s) websites, where you will pay a hefty commission but be expected to maintain rate parity.
You also need to make a noise about this guarantee, let existing customers know about it, use it in all your offline marketing to drive traffic to your website, and not an OTA website.

Enable “Rate Shopping” on your Website
You will be aware of the multitude of OTA websites and also Price Comparison sites, where consumers can compare rates from multiple hotels in one place before making a booking. Consumers are now very adept at identifying good value, and you should enable them to do this on your site by offering a selection of different room grades & board options on all room types. (see diagram).





Offer Extras and Packages
Have you ever been tempted at the checkout by the tasty chocolates or special offer, whilst you are waiting to be served? Your Booking Engine should be able to tempt customers in exactly the same way, by offering them some tasty extras to enhance their stay with you. From something as simple as Wine on Arrival, or Single Red Rose, or even a 3 Course Dinner in your Restaurant, this is a great way to maximise your revenue per booking and also make the guest feel special.

Bookassist Booking Engine enables effective Rate Merchandising by,

1. Allowing you to easily create multiple Room Grades, Room Types and Board offers
2. Gives access to our “Linked Pricing” function that allows you to change one rate that then cascades through all linked Room Types, Grades and Board Basis, saving you valuable time.
3. Providing you with a Best Rate Guarantee logo for your website which links straight through to your booking pages.
4. Creating as many “Add On’s” as you want in order to deliver the customer with a tailor made package.
5. Use our “Group Variation” function to group & sort similar Room Grades or Board Basis offers together that make it easier for the consumer to “Rate Shop”.

What to do next
To find out more about how the Bookassist Booking Engine can benefit your business, contact the office on +44(0)1292-521-404 or email Scotland@bookassist.com

Merchandising Your Online Rooms

The old adage borrowed from another industry of, “Retail is in the Detail” should be applied to how you promote your Rooms online. Customers who want to purchase online have the same needs and wants as those that come through your front door.

You wouldn’t ignore a customer who was hanging around the reception desk waiting for some information on a room rate before booking, and neither should your website.

Among the key factors that concern customer’s booking rooms online are,

• What does the room look like?
• What’s included in the rate?
• Is the rate good value for money?
• Can I picture myself staying in this room, at this hotel?

If you are on an accommodation website and these questions cannot be answered then you are much less likely to book online. In some cases you may grudgingly call or email the property, if you really really want to stay, but it’s just as easy to go back to your search engine and find another hotel website which can answer your questions.

Bookassist Makes it Easy to Promote your Rooms
Every Room Package loaded onto a Bookassist Booking Engine benefits from clearly displayed rates, high resolution room images and lot’s of descriptive text, together with an accurate reflection of any applied discounts.

You can see the from the example image that the customer is drawn towards the discount information presented in brighter colours, thus illustrating the value for money.
They can also see an image of room itself, which will expand when you mouse over it. And underneath the rate information, (which helpfully spans 7 days) there is significant text descriptions that is persuasive and alluring.

In addition to these key features, the Booking Engine also enables you to group different packages together, as you can see in this example which shows the Superior Rooms options.

What to do next
To find out how the Bookassist Booking Engine can help you to promote your Rooms more effectively and increase your online sales, please contact the Bookassist Scotland office on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or email us at Scotland@bookassist.com

Building long term online Relationships

Web 2.0, Social media or User Generated Content are just some of the terms being used to describe the next age of the internet. If this means nothing to you then perhaps the names Tripadvisor, Facebook & Twitter will.

These websites boast global membership counted in the 100’s of Millions, how many of those users are your customers? , how many of them have posted pictures, videos or reviews of your business?

Evolution of the internet
The so-called Web 1.0 that we are all familiar with today, is based on a rather traditional marketing model where a company wants to promote its brand, products and services to potential customers who have traditionally used search engines to find what they are looking for. Once they have found the business, they make contact and possibly purchase.

The next version of the Web (so called 2.0) is all about collaboration, creativity, user generated content, reviews and most importantly CONVERSATION.

How will this affect you?
If you do not participate in the conversation it will continue without you. The most concerning aspect of this is that you begin to lose control of your online reputation & brand, which will make it more difficult for you to attract potential customers to your website where they should be able to purchase from you.

Today’s online customer is looking for openness, honesty & transparency, without it they will not feel able to trust you enough to purchase from you. Given that the latest predictions are that more than 60% of all accommodation bookings will be made online from 2010 onwards, you really cannot afford to ignore this.




Bookassist RelationshipBuilder
RelationshipBuilder allows you to get involved in the conversation immediately. We will act as your dating agency, setting up the contacts, introducing you to your potential partners and then let you build the relationship! More than that we’ll even provide some support on keeping the relationship on track when things get difficult.

Your customers are out there listening and RelationshipBuilder can provide the tools that will allow you to talk with them not just at them. The RelationshipBuilder Program will;

• Identify the key brand values to be promoted by the business and develop the appropriate communication style and tone
• Create or update accounts for each of the social media websites, including initial content for the following:- Google Account, Facebook, Twitter, Tripadvisor, Picasa, YouTube
• Integrate analytical ROI tracking of traffic and online sales and advise on how best to monitor results and maximise returns
• Deliver support and Briefings to key staff on managing each account or provide a managed service maintaining relationships on clients behalf

Our RelationshipBuilder can deliver tailor made solutions for businesses to enhance their online reputation across the majority of Social Media platforms to ensure that a consistent corporate message is delivered and sales opportunities maximised and measured, this includes the setup of accounts and the ongoing update of content if required

Cost:
The RelationshipBuilder programme has an initial fee of £995 and includes the setup of online accounts for all the key Social Media platforms. Ongoing content management and copywriting is available from £195 per month – we however recommend that you are always better to make the communications with your customers yourself.

Contact us on +44 (0)1292-521-404 or Scotland@bookassist.com today to find out more.

Why Hoteliers Must Keep the Booking Process Simple

A thought provoking report came into our inbox this morning - American research granted but has much resonance with our sector in Scotland too.

The key points jumped out at me as I read them.

1. According to a recent study conducted by Merrill Lynch, online bookings as a share of total reservations increased from 30% in 2006 to 40% in 2008. The same study projects that 45% of hotel bookings will be made online by the year 2010.


2. Booking is the leading preoccupation of hotel website visitors. In this way, hospitality websites face a basket of challenges not dissimilar to mainline e-commerce sites: optimising the transactional experience for visitors who are onsite to book and ensuring that researchers and rate shoppers are efficiently shepherded down the booking funnel.


3. Industry analysts expect a measurable slowdown in travel this year, as both business and leisure consumers forego travel plans to save money.


4. Looking ahead, those who do travel will no doubt change their booking habits – specifically, they will wait until the last minute to book in order to obtain the best prices, combing through the online brokerage sites to shave valuable dollars off room rates. Cost sensitivity is already having a negative impact on hospitality website satisfaction scores. The two weakest attributes in the sector pertained directly to price and perceived sense of value.


5. Only 51% of bookers were capable of completing their tasks. While some of the reasons underpinning this low rate might have been outside the purview of the web experience, significant numbers of bookers reported problems with site navigation, the booking flow, and insufficient hotel/room information, all of which fall squarely on the plate of interactive marketers and website developers.

The report goes on to say that to counteract this, hotel websites will need to focus on better engaging and persuading visitors at incipient stages of the booking cycle.

The research indicated that 50% of website visitors were onsite for the first time and thus not acclimatised to the site navigation, architecture, and functionality. Hotel websites struggled to effectively cater to this segment reflected in lower conversion rates.

To boost their efficiency in a troubled economic climate, hotel websites will need to focus on delivering simpler, more intuitive site navigation, a streamlined booking process, and more robust content, supplemented with better pictures and more lifelike virtual tours.

Ian McCaig from Bookassist in Scotland who provide the booking engine to an increasing number of accommodation providers across Scotland was not surprised at the findings, "A website requires three key elements; it must not simply reflect the accommodation providers product graphically, it must also be able to be found by the potential traveller but most importantly it must be readily bookable. The booking engine must be easy to understnad and navigate through at all stages - and this really must include language and currency options aimed at the increasing numbers of overseas markets visiting the UK.

Bookassist has recognised that conversion rates can only be maintained by making the Booking process user friendly. Creating unnecessary barriers such as frames linking out to other websites, or offering competitive product or no room descriptions only leads to the customer hitting the X button and closing down the process."

Ian McCaig continued, "The percentages however should be sobering to the accommodation provider and really should ensure that they look critically at the booking process on their own website;

• more than 1/3rd of the site visitors were on the site to book
• more than 50% failed to do so

In raw numbers? For every thousand site visitors to a website as many as 175 wanted to book but gave up! Hoteliers have to ensure that the booking process they offer is built around the convenience of the site visitor and not simply because the process comes with a PMS system or as an add on to third party distribution products. When deciding on how their bookings are offered the hotelier must make this the first box to be ticked; all else comes after."

You can get more information on Bookassist Booking Engine by clicking the link

Read the full iPerceptions Report here

Bookassist at VisitScotland Expo

Bookassist Scotland will be exhibiting at this years VisitScotland Expo at the SECC in Glasgow on the 22nd & 23rd April. We are on stand P9 and would like to invite anyone attending to drop by.

We are providing a "FREE" 10 minute website health check, providing you with some valuable expert insight into how to generate more business from your website and online strategy.

Come and find our more about the recent enhancements to the Bookassist product family

• GDS Manager
• Loyalty System
• Corporate System

Discover new ways to connect with your customers through our Relationship Builder service, which maximises the potential offered by Social Media and User Generated Websites such as Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.

Generate significant increase in traffic to your site using our Traffic Builder services such as E-Marketing, SEO Audits and Pay Per Click advertising campaigns.

To find out more visit Bookassist.org

Bookassist Scotland now on Twitter

We have been "following" Twitter closely recently to evaluate the potential benefits that this has for hotels in Scotland.

And we've come to the conclusion that there definitely is an opportunity for hotels to reach out to customers in a very easy and potentially rewarding way .

Which is why we have begun "tweeting" today, to allow us to learn a little more about this phenomonon, whilst developing products and services around this technology for our clients.

We will be updating our Twitter every day with the latest developments and news from Bookassist Scotland, so please "Follow us" to keep ahead of the crowd.

New Hotel Goes Online in Troon

The South Beach Hotel Troon are the latest privately owned hotel in Ayrshire to turn to Bookassist for their online reservations.

The hotel which has been in the Watt family for three generations is a well respected property for short break, business and golfing visitors to the world famous golfing destination. As well as incorporating the Bookassist Booking Engine into the website the hotel will also be doing more work on search engine optimisation with a tailored TrafficBuilder programme for the remainder of the year to improve their website presence and increase traffic.

Stuart Watt who now runs the hotel was finally convinced by the need and benefits for Bookassist following an onsite presentation to him and his team by James Kennedy of Bookassist in Scotland.

James said, "We've been really keen to get Stuart and The South Beach Hotel online for some time now and we're delighted that the hotel can see the future benefits of having 24 hour availability, multiple languages and currency and an easy to manage administration system. Being so close to Prestwick Airport and the number of inbound European visitors coming into the area expected to increase due to the weakness of the pound he thought it critical that his booking engine featured the language and currency facilities."

With The Open Championship returning to Ayrshire this year increasing number of hotels are looking at their online marketing strategy and turning to Bookassist for more advice and for many properties it is now recognised as a major part of their business generation.

As a footnote, the first booking at The South Beach Hotel was generated within two hours of the system going live!

Ayr Racecourse Selects Bookassist Channelbuilder

Bookassist Scotland are pleased to announce a joint marketing initiative with Ayr Racecourse to promote online availability from local Ayrshire hotels, B&B's and self catering properties on the www.ayr-racecourse.co.uk website.

The service will launch in early 2009 and will deliver great consumer value on busy race days and for large corporate events held at the racecourse. Bookassist already works with many accommodation properties in the Ayrshire region and we would encourage all our existing partners to ensure they have up to date availability to feature on the website.

Any accommodation businesses that do not currently use the Bookassist Scotland service and wish to provide online availability should contact James Kennedy at james.kennedy@bookassist.com or at the office on 01292-521-404

Darkstar Scotland selects Bookassist

Dark Star the dynamic, energetic and youthful pub, club & hotel group, have selected Bookassist to provide booking engine services to their four hotels in Scotland.>

Based in Glasgow and probably best known for its chain of Budda bar's and clubs in the city, the group has been evolving since 2007 by acquiring many new sites across Scotland, stretching from Ayr to Aberdeen.

The group now has four fantastic hotels where their guests can enjoy the complete Darkstar eating, drinking and clubbing experience, by booking an overnight stay in advance using the Bookassist booking engine.

In selecting Bookassist, Euan Bain, Director at Darkstar, said

"At Darkstar we recognise that many of our clientele are web savvy and need to be able to book accommodation online, the Bookassist booking engine is embedded seamlessly within our website and allows us to present fantastic offers for our guest to book 24/7"

The four hotels which feature the Bookassist booking engine are

• Ivy Rooms, Ayr
• Collective, Dunfermline
• Cove Bay, Aberdeen
• Whitehorse Inn, Aberdeen

For more information on how Bookassist in Scotland can help you increase your online business, contact James Kennedy on 01292-521-404, james.kennedy@bookassist.com

Fife Golf Group adds Bookassist Availability

A Fife golf marketing consortium have this week confirmed that they will use Bookassist to complement the online tee times launched on the website last year.
First in Fife Golf is a group of Fife golf courses working in partnership with local accommodation providers to promote golf breaks to West Fife.
The consortium is made up of the lesser known golf courses in the Kingdon who knew that they had to work together to compete with St Andrews and the neighbouring championship layouts.
The group have utilised really positive e-marketing and search engine optimisation over the past three years and last year implemented online tee time reservations for the first time. This will be supplemented this year not only by online bookings with Bookassist but also the use of Web 2.0 tools including a Blog, new Picasa galleries for each member and a focussed direct e-marketing campaign. As a result of their online activity the group are successfully achieving returns on investment above their expectations.
Just shows what a little vision and a lot of co-operation can achieve in tourism...

Scottish Tourism Wakes up to Web 2.0

Bookassist Scotland were in attendance at the recent Scottish Tourism Forum's networking event "Surviving the Crunch" at the Royal Hotel, Bridge of Allan.

The event was held to foster discussion and share thinking on the most effective ways for tourism businesses to operate during these difficult times. A number of key themes were constantly referenced by the presenters,

1. "Online Marketing is Marketing"
2. "Value and Quality will deliver growth"
3. "Your website strategy needs to keep moving"

Both Prof John Lennon and Neil McLean highlighted the need for tourism websites to embrace the latest developments in Social Networking, Photo & Video Sharing & Blogging in order to identify new customers segments and to help with ranking in search engines.

They also agreed that the weakness of the GBP against the Dollar and the Euro would see an influx of North American and European travellers in 2009 and that booking engines which easily allowed for currency conversion would be the main beneficiaries.

David Smith, owner of the Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Moffat and Debbie Taylor, General Manager of the Old Course Hotel & Spa in St Andrews both spoke of the need to stay true to the principles of quality and service and find innovative ways to use latent staff skills and enthusiasm to upsell.

Bookassist is already ahead of the game with innovative solutions which will allow accommodation businesses and their partners to "Survive the Crunch"

Our booking engine offers unparrallelled features such as

• Multiple Languages
• Multiple Currency
• SMS Text confirmations
• Detailed Reporting
• Easy Integration
• Competitive Pricing

All of this is supplemented by an Online Marketing Support Package which assists in bringing together all the elements of the accommodation providers online marketing to maximise site visits and conversion to booking. Our whole ethos is developing partnerships that have longevity and mutual benefit.

So if you're not sure where you're online strategy is heading why not give us a call or drop us a quick email. We can arrange an appointment or just discuss how the Bookassist products could benefit your business immediately.

Contact us by email on james.kennedy@bookassist.com or call the office on 01292 521404.

VisitScotland.com brought back into public hands

The following statement has been issued by VisitScotland:

"Today we announced that VisitScotland has reached agreement to bring the national tourism website VisitScotland.com back into public ownership. The website, which attracted over 11 million visits in 2007 and has delivered over £65 million in bookings since it was launched, will be brought under the direct control of VisitScotland in a move to allow it to adapt more flexibly to changing consumer trends and tourism industry needs. The changes will also give VisitScotland more flexibility to assist businesses and to respond to the current economic downturn. As technology advances VisitScotland.com needs to respond to those changes and be able to work with market leaders to deliver a high-quality website that can change and develop quickly. Changing internet usage and developing consumer trends have meant that the original model developed over six years ago—that of a ‘one-stop shop’ that meets all the customer needs for information, booking and sales—now needs to evolve to ensure that VisitScotland.com remains able to fulfil the needs of the Scottish tourism industry in the 21st century.

Following discussions with its partners in the joint venture – Tiscover, Partnerships UK and Atos Origin – VisitScotland has reached agreement on the terms of a deal to take control of the operation. VisitScotland is currently working with the partners to ensure a smooth transition. VisitScotland is committed to ensuring continuity and stability throughout the changes and we will engage fully with VisitScotland.com staff. The website will continue to operate as usual, tourism businesses and consumers will see no immediate change, although the website will continue to evolve and develop over time. Further information on the changes announced today is contained in the attached briefing document. If you have any questions on any of the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch."

What does this mean for online tourism in Scotland will only become clearer in the days and weeks ahead. However with the technology that we offer Bookassist look forward to a much closer working relationship with the national tourism body on behalf of all our accommodation providers.

Another Nairn Hotel Turns to Bookassist

It's always nice when you get an enquiry based on a recommendation so we were delighted to receive a call from Nairn hotelier Ian Bochel who was looking to update his website. He'd heard about Bookassist from a fellow Nairn hotelier and after a in depth introductory discussion about our ethos we agreed a way forward.

The result is a brand new website with a fresh feel that reflects the hotel's dynamism, incorporates Bookassist online reservations and is built around the Bookassist Sitebuilder Standard web package.
Sitebuilder allows hotels the opportunity to manage their own content and, when ready, upgrade further to the Pro version with its additional Web 2.0 tools.

Ian knew he needed an online booking engine but was confused by the plethora of options available to him. We discussed his requirements fully with him and once the key benefits of Bookassist were outlined he was confident that he had a fully integrated and future proof online package.

So from introduction to new website was less than six weeks and we've looked after not only design and content management but online reservations, search engine optimisation, domain transfers and training.

Ian can head off on his own holiday confident that his web presence is in safe hands.

Scottish Inns Online!

Online reservations has been seen by too many as the preserve of large hotels and groups. Well with Bookassist that just ain't the case. In Scotland some of the most successful partnerships have been with smaller independatly run inns offering personalised styles of accommodation and service.

The Drovers Inn on the West Highland Way just north of Loch Lomond is perhaps the finest example of a small property able to maximise its room revenues using Bookassist. It's now been onlien for more than three years and continues its staggering growth.

The Inn at Lathones near St Andrews is another prime example of a rpivately operated former coaching house using online reservations to its full and now tying it in with Web 2.0 tools including an innkeepers blog and YouTube video footage.

In the Highlands just outside Inverness Graham Cross at The Old North Inn has been using Bookassist to drive his website for a couple of years as well.

So with our portfolio of Inns oncreasing all the time we're delighted to welcome The Galley of Lorne in Ardfern in Argyll on board. The Galley of Lorne Inn is a 17th Century Drover's Inn and country retreat situated in the picturesque village of Ardfern which nestles among the hills beside Loch Craignish. This beautiful corner of Argyll has long been a favourite for yachtsmen, artists and those who appreciate beauty, wildness plus the good things in life - and now it's bookable online using Bookassist.

If you're wanting to know how your property can benefit from online reservations with Bookassist give James a call on 01292 521404 or email scotland@bookasssist.com for your information pack.

Fife Country House Hotel Joins Bookassist

Well known Kirkcaldy country house hotel, Dunnikier House Hotel, has this week gone live with Bookassist and has signed up to use both its Sitebuilder and TrafficBuilder products.

The Fife hotel which is well known locally for business and weddings markets was recently taken over by Stewart Dykes who also owns the Crusoe Hotel in Lower Largo on the East Neuk of Fife and is benefitting in a series of upgrades to both the property and the marketing activity.

We sat down with Stewart and identified what was required of the new site and the need to start ensuring that the hotel website was used more effectively to market business and leisure stays.
The new site has been completely redesign using Bookassist's Sitebuilder Pro and gives the hotel marketing and reservations team complete control over content, images and even a series of web 2.0 tools including a new blog.

The Bookassist booking engine is integral to the site and offers the reservations team control over availability and rate management that they've never previously had with other booking systems. And from the guest point of view they can now be assured that if the visit the Dunnikier House Hotel website they will receive Best Available Rate - guaranteed!

The hotel is taking advantage of tools such as Google Picasa Gallery which only enhances the website experience. It is also using the Bookassist Trafficbuilder programme to enhance its visibility on the search engines. This includes working with the account management team at Bookassist to make sure that search terms are appropriate, Google Adwords campaigns managed appropriately and optimisation stays high priority.

Ian McCaig from Bookassist office in Scotland was delighted to be working even more closely with the hotel, "The new website is a great example of what can be incorporated into a Web 2.0 hotel site and how Bookassist technology can become the driver for hotels' online marketing activities. Increasingly we are seeing independant hotels the leghth and breadth of Scotland recognising the benefits of not only having a booking engine on their site but having a booking engine that has strong marketing support working alongside it. Bookassist provides this partnership support and in the current economic climate it is being seen as a major benefit by our accommodation partners."

Tartan Army Select Bookassist

As the national team prepare for a crucial World Cup Qualifier with Norway at Hampden this weekend, Bookassist have come off the bench to provide the Tartan Army website with their own booking engine.


TartanArmy.com is now featuring availabiltiy across the whole of Scotland to visitors to their site and it gives accommodation providers the opportunity in these difficult times to target their local market for short breaks.


Ian McCaig from Bookassist's Scotland office was delighted that The Tartan Army site was live, "Bookassist is the best solution for accommodation providers looknig to get their own rooms online on their own website with competitive commission rates and easy to manage rates and availability. However it is also a superbly powerful tool for niche distributino channels such as TartanArmy.com and is perfect for organisations promoting date or area specific events. We are indeed talking to another couple of football and sports related websites and hope that these will also be going live in the coming weeks.
Don Lawson, Director of Tartan Army Ltd, was delighted to have sign up to the Bookassist team, "The integration of the technology was painless and doesn't affect the look or feel of our site at all and in the future this will give us the opportunity to sell accoommodation offers with selected hotel partners for major matches. In addition it offers our site visitors the chance to just book a short break at any time of the year. We're delighted to have Bookassist on our site."
You can check out Bookassist now at http://www.tartanarmy.com/

Scottish Team at World Travel Market

With just over a month to World Travel Market we're delighted to confirm that the Scotland Office will be represented over the complete event.

The event which is this year taking place between the 10th and the 13th of November at London's Excel is going to be doing business under the shadow of seriously testing world tourism market conditions.

For the accommodation provider the market is going to test the mettle of everyone from guest house to largest group. At Bookassist our focus on technology that works is combined with an understanding that, more than ever, our hotels, guest houses, self catering properties and even DMO's are our partners.

Our commitment to working with our partners in the next year can lead to establishing best practice in a host of areas; our Booking Engine offers multiple langauges and currencies, easy to manage administration, totally flexible room and rate management to react to markets easily; our Trafficbuilder programmes will help you with gettting visitors to the site with PPC management, search engine optimisation and implementation of Web 2.0 tools. We can even offer state of the art web development with our brand new suite of Sitebuilder products designed with the Scottish market in mind.

So whatever the markets may throw at us all in 2009, you can be assured that the Bookassist team will be standing with you through it ensuring that your online business can continue to develop, can continue to reduce costs and can continue to drive new revenues.

If your an accommodation provider, hotel group or destination management organisation in Scotlan and wish to discuss your online market development opportunites drop us an email to scotland@bookassist.com - Ian McCaig will be on the stand on Monday and Tuesday and James Kennedy on Wednesday and Thursday.

Golf Channelbuilder Tees Off in Scotland

Bookassist's team in Scotland have added a new club to their bag with the launch of Golf Channelbuilder on the website of 2009 Open Championship Qualifying course Kilmarnock Barassie Golf Club.

The club which lies in the midst of Ayrshire's golfing links coast has added an availability checker to its website allowing site visitors and potential golf tourists the chance to not only check their golf but also reserve their accommodation.

Ian McCaig of Bookassist's Scottish office was delighted at the latest development, "Golf tourism is such an important part of the tourism mix in places like Ayrshire, East Lothian, Fife and The HIghlands and this recognises the potential golf courses have for converting on line enquiries to online bookings for accommodation providers."

The Barassie website offers a wide selection of accommodation from five star to self catering and small B&B's and is the first of many.

"We're already working on embedding the booking engine into a few more of Scotland's most famous courses. It really brings together the golf course with the accommodation provider and offers genuine joint marketing opportunities. Our aim would be to work with golf courses throughout the country in making sure that their website offers the visitor the very best availability and rates in their area."

Any golf course or accommodation provider looking for more information on how Bookassist online booking enginen benefit their business should contact the Scottish office of Bookassist on 02192 521404 or email scotland@bookassist.com
You can view the system at http://www.kbgc.co.uk/

Bookassist Drives New Hotel Websites

Bookassist is delighted that Open Rooms Scotland has this week introduced the first in a series of upgrades for its users giving a choice of three new "skins" for the accommodation websites driven by Bookassist's booking engine.

The Open Rooms Scotland website package combines The Claymore Project tourism database with Bookassist's booking engine and offers affordable ecommerce ready web design for the largest or smallest operator with prices starting from £695 plus VAT inclusive of hosting, website development and integration of Bookassist into the site.

The new changes allow accommodation providers to select the design they wish from a selection of three options with others added over the next couple of months. The site remains fully content managed with the website owner able to update content, images and news. Events and Job Vacancies can also be added to the system for publication on a range of third party websites. Current users can view the different styles currently available by clicking on the Site Appearance area of their control panel and select a new one to apply to their website which will update immediately.

And of course if you're interested in changing your website in the future you could now perhaps consider Open Rooms Scotland with Bookassist embedded as the perfect future proof answer.

For further information on the package and how you can get your rooms on line email us on scotland@bookassist.com

Open Rooms Scotland Website Package comes inclusive of

• Bookassist Booking Engine
• Domain Name
• Web Hosting Package
• E-mail package
• Site Optimisation Tools
• Embedded Google Map
• Integrated destination information
• Free distribution on third party websites
• Integrated Google reports
• Full management of your content including
• Contact information
• Google Map
• News
• Special offers
• Updateable room rates
• Information on facilities, dining, weddings, meetings
• Integrated information on attractions, golf courses and travel in your area
• Photo gallery and easy image uploads
• Upload PDF menus, business packages and brochures
• Updateable metatags for search engines
• Classified adverts section

Online reservations facility complete with:

• Low commission rate
• Multiple language function
• Multiple currency
• Mobile phone text confirmations
• Powerful reporting functions
• Full rate and availability control
• Integrated live availability map
• Guest comments function
• Gift vouchers
• Sell guest add ons

The evolutionary, perhaps revolutionary, Open Rooms Scotland website is powered by The Claymore Project database and Bookassist online reservations and will link into other accommodation providers, visitor attractions, golf courses and destination marketing websites to support your own marketing activities.

All the information is easily updated through The Claymore Project database with full online assistance, an FAQs section, help functions and ongoing marketing support and hints.

So if you're looking at your web presence for 2009 don't put your web in a closed box; make yourself available through Open Rooms Scotland. Contact them directly on 01292 521404 or at scotland@bookassist.com

Highland Hotel Uses Bookassist to the Max!

The Claymore House Hotel in Nairn has gone live with Bookassist on their new Web 2.0 website.

The site which features not only the Bookassist booking engine but a fully updateable content management system and recognises the need for accommodotion providers to grasp the current and future potential of Google Mapping, image galleries, Blogs and RSS News Feeds.

The site was designed and published by using the new Bookassist SiteBuilder Pro web development tools. The SiteBuilder project has been developed specifically for accommodation providers who are looknig to improve their web presence and incorporates a whole host of tools aimed as 1) Increasing traffic to the website and 2) increasing on line sales using the Bookassist engine once the visitor is on the site.

The Claymore House Hotel team can now control and update all its metatags, create new web pages at will and even publish their job vacancies!

The Bookassist Booking engine is fully integrated into all three of the SiteBuilder packages and offers award winning and innovative solutions for hoteliers, small operators and self catering establishments. It offers real time booknigs with an easy to understand administration panel and powerful reporting tools linked to Google Analytics for unrivalled market analysis.

The three Sitebuilder packages - Lite, Standard and Pro - have been built to be fully upgradeable ensuring that if the accommodation providers needs or aspirations change, the site can change alongside.

For further information on Sitebuilder and how it combines with Bookassist contact the Scotland office on 01292 521404 or email scotland@bookassist.com

New Business Development Manager for Scotland

Bookassist Scotland are delighted to announce that James Kennedy has joined their team as Business Development Manager for Scotland.

James who is well known across the Scottish Tourism industry has been performing a similar role over the past four and a half years for VisitScotland.com and it is anticipated that he will bring both a wealth of knowledge and natural enthusiasm to the Bookassist role.

Ian McCaig, in charge of operations for Bookassist in Scotland, was delighted to have James on board. "We've been expanding very rapidly over the past twelve months with Bookassist performing exceptionally well across all accommodation sectors but we recognised that we needed to increase the reach as we go into a challenging period for Scottish tourism. James' understanding of the market place and most importantly the people in that market place made him easily the the number one person for this position."

James will now be reponsible for a raft of new marketing opportunities for Scottish tourism businesses including the rolling out of Bookassist's Web 2.0 tools, a new and exciting Sitebuilder product and the continuing growth of the Bookassist Trafficbuilder programmes.

Bookassist continues to offer accommodation providers and their customers unrivalled booking engine technology - multiple languages, multiple currency, SMS Text confirmations, detailed reporting, complete integration and - but this is now being supplemented by a marketing support pacakge which assists in bringing together all the elements of the accommodation providers online marketing to maximise site visits and conversion to booking.

James Kennedy was excited at the new challenges ahead, "I'm delighted to be joining the Bookassist team and look forward to working with clients old and new over the coming months and years. The Bookassist suite of products offers real and affordable solutions for all sizes of operators throughout Scotland and will be able to help many hotels, guest houses and self catering businesses get their product to the market more directly."

James will be based out of the Ayrshire offices of Bookassist in Scotland but will be making it a priority to be on the road across the length and breadth of the country. To arrange an appointment or just to discuss the Bookassist product you can contact James by email on james.kennedy@bookassist.com or call the office on 01292 521404.