Tripadvisor Direct with Bookassist

Bookassist continues its leading online strategy development through an exciting partnership with TripAdvisor to allow our client hotels to offer a direct booking link to their hotel website from their TripAdvisor page.

The new TripAdvisor Direct with Bookassist is one of the strongest third party calls to action you can avail of to drive more direct traffic to your website and generate new direct business today.

How It Works

With over 50 million reviews, TripAdvisor is the major source of influential user-generated content online and generates significant referral business for any hotel. When a visitor views your hotel profile on TripAdvisor, a list of providers or “partners” is provided underneath the “Show Prices” button. Bookassist has integrated with TripAdvisor to add your hotel website as a direct link on the list of providers. An additional feature of the show prices area is that it is always shown as a page banner even if the visitor scrolls down the page.

Pricing and Reporting

Actual clicks are charged by TripAdvisor on a cost per click (CPC) model. To avoid being charged for multiple clicks, Tripadvisor will only charge for the first click in any 24 hour period that comes from the same identified visitor to their site.

For existing Bookassist clients, Bookassist charges a single once-off set-up fee of €200 with no further management costs. This is by far the most competitive offering in the industry. Bookassist will report figures at the end of each month. The report will include details of the daily, weekly and monthly clicks for your property and the overall cost of the campaign. If you are not a Bookassist client, please contact us directly for pricing information.

Contact Us

Contact your local sales representative now and avail of TripAdvisor Direct with Bookassist - see the international contact details page or email sales@bookassist.com.

Julie O'Sullivan appointed Business Development Manager in Irish Office

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Julie O'Sullivan as Business Development Manager for Ireland, based in the Dublin office.

Julie has over 6 years experience in the tourism and hospitality industry and most recently held a senior sales role with the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) where she looked after the International association conference market. Julie was part of the pre-opening sales team and was involved in the high profile launch of The CCD in Ireland and throughout Europe. Prior to this she worked with Platinum One Ltd in sales and operations for corporate conferences, sports events and incentive groups. Julie holds a first class degree in Information & Communications Technology from Trinity College Dublin.

Kirsten Rhode Appointed Director of Global Distribution Services

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Kirsten Rhode as Director of Global Distribution Services for the organization.

Kirsten was previously a senior executive with Genares Worldwide Reservations. Her most recent position was as Director of International Business Development. Fluent in German and English, Kirsten has experience working in several European markets. Throughout her career at Genares, she gained a reputation for expanding customer relationships and developing advanced revenue management strategies for a client base from small boutique hotels to large property groups.  She has significant social media, sales, GDS, marketing and call center operational experience.

Kirsten hails from Dallas, Texas and has a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Texas Christian University.

Yauric Mercier Appointed VP Sales at Bookassist

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Yauric Mercier as Vice President Sales for the organization.

Yauric was most recently Vice President of EMEA Sales for Paris-based online reservations company FastBooking. He has had a strong career within the hotel industry throughout Europe including stops at the Richemond Hotel in Geneva, La Réserve Hotel in Geneva, the Hôtels et Résidences du Roi Group in Paris, the Montalembert Hotel Paris and the Bel Ami in Paris. He was trained at the Glion Hotel School and went on to obtain a Masters in Hotel Marketing.

Bookassist and MICROS-Fidelio announce certified OPERA Connectivity Solution for Hotels

Dublin, 18 August 2011

Bookassist, the technology and online strategy firm for hotels, has announced official certification of their booking engine software integration with the OPERA Property Management System (PMS) from the world's leading hotel solutions provider MICROS-Fidelio. The connection service allows hotels to automatically and seamlessly manage their online reservations from Bookassist via the OPERA PMS.

The connection service is the latest in a list of integrations between Bookassist's popular booking platform and the world's leading property management systems and channel managers.

Speaking about the advantages of the integration, Karen Moran, Sales & Marketing Director at Moran & Bewley's Hotels UK & Ireland said: "We're delighted to have direct integration between our online booking and our MICROS-Fidelio OPERA property management systems right across the group. It saves considerable time and effort, and more importantly makes sure that the reservations detail is end-to-end accurate. The automation allows our staff to get on with the more important business of running the hotel rather than worrying about technology."

Bookassist have collaborated with MICROS-Fidelio on the integration and client roll-out over the last 18 months culminating in official certification. A number of existing mutual clients have been using the integration since its first introduction in late 2010.

Discussing the official certification, Bookassist CEO Dr Des O'Mahony said: "A significant number of our clients in all the countries we operate in are also MICROS-Fidelio clients. This integration is a real advantage for them, reducing manpower, eliminating transfer errors, and improving efficiency. We expect a significant uptake of this new joint service."

"MICROS-Fidelio is pleased to offer connectivity between our hotel solution OPERA and Bookassist. The interface with Bookassist provides automated booking notifications directly into the OPERA hotel system," said Dr Peter Agel, Senior Vice President eCommerce and Strategic Solutions EMEA at MICROS-Fidelio.

Bookassist® (bookassist.org) creates and manages successful and proven online strategies for thousands of hotels and groups and is one of the leading hotel booking engine and online marketing providers in Europe. Headquartered in Dublin and with offices in 6 countries, Bookassist has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation.

MICROS-Fidelio International (micros-fidelio.eu), the global markets subsidiary of MICROS®, is the premier provider of enterprise-wide integrated information technologies for the hotel industry. MICROS-Fidelio has become "the standard" in the industry with over 25,000 installations worldwide. Its enterprise solutions include multi-property, fully integrated hotel systems encompassing property management systems, sales and catering systems, central reservation systems, customer information systems, revenue management systems, an Internet/global distribution system-based hotel reservation service called myfidelio.net, and installation and support services associated with the various software products.

Bookassist5 Confirmed Speakers for September 27th

Bookassist's fifth annual hotel strategy conference, Bookassist5, is scheduled for the Conrad Hotel, Central Dublin on September 27th next, with presentations from the Bookassist Team as well as keynote topics from Peter O'Connor, Oonagh Cremins, Krishna De, Giancarlo Carniani and John Fanning.

Places are limited, so register now at http://bookassist.org/seminars/bookassist5

Bookassist Partners with TrustYou to Bring Reputation Alert Service to Hotels

Dublin, Ireland.
Wednesday June 29, 2011

Technology and online strategy company for hotels Bookassist (bookassist.org) has launched Reputation Alert, a new service to allow hotels to continually track online customer comments and reviews across hundreds of social media sites and bring them together in one convenient place. Featuring TrustYou semantic analysis of reviews, the service helps hotels create effective positive action plans based on their customers opinions. Reputation Alert will dramatically simplify the burden faced by hotels today in monitoring what is said about them online and in managing their valuable online reputation.

The service is available this month to all Bookassist’s clients for a competitive annual fee and can be accessed directly through their existing Bookassist hotel administration system.

Bookassist has partnered with TrustYou (www.trustyou.com), the innovative semantic search and social media management specialists, for the provision of automatic online reviews monitoring that forms the core of the Reputation Alert service. In addition to TrustYou services, Reputation Alert will also automatically collect reviews from hotel guests who use the hotel’s web booking engine. As part of the service, Bookassist Account Managers for each hotel will additionally monitor online review data and work to create corrective action plans for hotel clients to actively improve online reputation.

“Online reputation is a critical influencer in decisions to book hotels", said Dr Des O'Mahony, Bookassist CEO and Founder. “With the proliferation of online review services and social media, it has become a daunting task for hotels to stay on top of their reputation, and to quickly act on that information. Reputation Alert solves this problem.”

“We are delighted to integrate TrustYou’s social data platform and semantic analysis into Bookassist’s systems to enrich their service. With our combined forces we are able to help hoteliers to collect, analyze and engage with customer reviews throughout the social web” said Benjamin Jost, TrustYou CEO and Co-Founder.

The service is not just about getting the volume of online information into manageable form. Hotels also need to act on this information and quickly correct issues arising. Bookassist Account Managers, as part of the Reputation Alert service, will work with the collected reputation data and with the hotels to create responsive action plans.

“No amount of online technology will make up for poor offline service”, says O’Mahony. “Hotels must use Reputation Alert as a monitor of their service levels and learn from what their guests are saying in order to begin the reputation improvement process”.

The service has already been in trial for a number of weeks and has received strongly positive reviews.

"It's challenging trying to monitor what is being said about our hotel. With Reputation Alert we can see everything on review and social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr. This will enable us to manage, respond and act very quickly" commented Denise Corboy, Director of Sales at Camden Court Hotel in Dublin (camdencourthotel.com).

"Bookassist’s Reputation Alert gives me a greater insight into what people are saying online about my property. I can also very quickly benchmark against my competitors and look for opportunities to differentiate myself from them. I particularly like the facility to respond to guest reviews directly from within system" said Martin Cassidy of Cassidy’s Hotel in Dublin (cassidyshotel.com)

"Reputation Alert is a very useful tool which will assist us in listening to what our guests are saying online. We gain valuable data allowing us to improve our overall service and product quickly", said Kim Murtagh, Sales and Marketing Manager at Stillorgan Park Hotel (stillorganpark.com).

Reputation Alert, incorporating TrustYou services, is rolled out this month in all of Bookassist’s key markets. For more information, see bookassist.org/reputation

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is one of the leading hotel booking technology and online marketing providers in Europe. Headquartered in Dublin, with offices in Madrid, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Prague, Bookassist is a Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company and Top 100 Deloitte Technology Company in Europe. The company has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Internet Entrepreneur Award.

TrustYou gathers and semantically structures opinions found online in reviews, posts, and comments, and makes them accessible through a range of applications and APIs. TrustYou-Analytics, the leading social media management tool worldwide, allows hoteliers, destinations, and travel companies to analyze and react to the quality and reputation of their hotels according to the data collected from reviews posted online. Current customers include hundreds of hotels and travel giants such as InterContinental Hotels, Best Western Hotels, Maritim Hotels, Worldhotels, Trust International, Micros-Fidelio, HolidayCheck and many more. TrustYou was founded in 2008 by Jakob Riegger and Benjamin Jost. In November 2010, PhoCusWright honoured and recognized TrustYou as one of the leading innovators in travel.

Bookassist completes pre-summer seminar series

Bookassist has completed a series of very successful seminars in Prague on 31.05.2011, in Karlovy Vary on 01.06.2011 and in Paris on 07.06.2011. Over 200 delegates participated overall with presentations on reputation management, social media integration and ecommerce, mobile opportunites for hotels and much more. See Bookassist's Facebook page on facebook.com/bookassist for some pictures of the events.

Bookassist Appoints Legal Counsel

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Elaine McCormack as Legal Counsel to the company, to be based in its Dublin Headquarters.

Elaine is a commercial solicitor with over eleven years experience working as a commercial lawyer before joining Bookassist. She has previously worked in a number of large commercial law firms and has also worked as a lawyer in the Irish Telecommunications Regulator and in Pioneer Investments. Elaine qualified as a solicitor in Ireland in 2003 and in England and Wales in 2010.

Elaine holds a Bachelor of Corporate Law and LLB from NUI, Galway and a Diploma in Commercial Law from the Law Society of Ireland. Elaine is also an Irish and European Registered Trade Mark and Design Attorney.

Bookassist's Rome team expands

Pietro Filippi has been appointed Director of Sales for Italy. Pietro comes to Bookassist with a wealth of experience in hotel contracting in big organizations around Europe. He has previously worked as Director of a CTS travel agency and in Transhotel as Sales Executive. He then joined Albatravel Group as Sales Manager, rising to Senior Contract Manager. More recently, he has been at Kuoni Group as FIT Contract Manager for Italy and Malta.

Fiamma Franceschilli joins Bookassist as Senior Account Manager for Italy. Fiamma has extensive experience in the online travel industry. She started and built a large part of the Venere.com affiliate network at the very early stages of that company's growth. She has since been in a business development role for GTA in Italy before moving to Booking.com as Account Manager for Distribution.

Lucrezia Pettinato joins Bookassist's existing team in Rome as Support Coordinator. Lucrezia has previous experience in a number of 5 star hotels in Rome and Edinburgh with responsibility for Online Marketing activities, competitive analysis and rate management. She holds a Masters in Hospitality and Hotel management.

Sales Manager Appointed for German-Speaking Markets

Wilhelm Pichler has joined Bookassist as Sales Manager for German speaking markets.

He has worked as Country Manager Austria for the well known B2B online platform Transhotel for more than 4 years being responsible for growth of the Austrian market, as well as for a property management software (PMS) company. Prior to that he was Business Development Manager for Orange Wings, a modern startup hotel group in the low budget segment, as well as managing a resort hotel in Kenya/East Africa as Hotel Manager. He has also in the past held many other hotel positions and has run his own travel agency. Wilhelm brings excellent CRM experience and sales know-how also from his experience as Product Marketing Manager for a CRM software company. He has a degree in Hotel and Tourist Management from the HLF in Krems.

Senior UX Designer Appointed at Bookassist

John Braine has joined Bookassist as Senior User Experience Designer, based in the Dublin office.

John has over a decade of experience in a variety of web roles. In page7media he developed a system to produce car dealer web sites from existing raw data to full working sites. He then moved to Palm, where he was responsible for the suite of European corporate web sites. More recently, John was with Green Island Interactive as both Art Director and Senior Web Designer, working on their custom built CMS and designing/building client sites. John also worked for the E-learning company Third Force as a script writer and process manager. He has a Master’s degree in Multimedia Systems.

Functional Analyst Appointed in Development Team

Oscar Reques Pérez has been appointed Functional Analyst at Bookassist, based in the Development Team in the Madrid Office.

Oscar was previously with Panel Sistemas Informáticos in Madrid where he worked as Functional Analyst on several big applications for Orange mobile company. As a Functional Analyst for the last four years he lead the migration, customer support manteinance and evolution of those systems.

Online Marketing Specialist Appointed for Austria/Germany Markets

Bernhard Böhm has joined Bookassist's Traffic Builder Team as Online Marketing Specialist for Austria and Germany, based in the company's Vienna office.

Bernhard previously worked as web analytics specialist focussing on e-commerce clients for the Vienna-based online marketing consultancy e-dialog and as online marketing manager for Strafinger Tourismuswerkstatt, where he managed web projects and online campaigns for destinations, marketing groups, and hotels. Bernhard studied Communication Science and Computer Science in Klagenfurt and Torino, specialising in usability, technology assessment, and e-business.

Technical Architect Appointed In Development Team

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Rafa Escolar to the senior development position of Technical Architect. The position is based in the Core Development Team in the Madrid office.

Rafa will have responsibility for XML/OTA interface technology between Bookassist systems and property management systems, and for connectivity to channel distribution systems. The role also entails connectivity solutions between Bookassist systems and social media platforms and ongoing research into new web technologies.

Suite of Hotel Apps for Facebook launched by Bookassist

Dublin, April 19, 2011

Bookassist, the leading technology and online strategy company for the hotel industry, has today launched an unique suite of apps for hotels on Facebook. The suite allows hotels to offer unprecedented ecommerce services to fans from right within Facebook. Existing Bookassist client hotels can install the apps immediately and upgrade their Facebook pages to offer full hotel booking capability and much more.

"The reality is that Facebook user habits are changing rapidly, and business use in Facebook is very much on the rise. The site is becoming a valuable additional promotional and selling opportunity for hotels and they need new tools to capitalize on that", said Dr Des O'Mahony, Bookassist CEO and Founder. "As a social media site, many considered Facebook irrelevant for business until recently, but the users have changed that with their clear engagement with advertising and ecommerce in Facebook."

No current solution for hotels on Facebook offers as broad a spectrum of functions as the Bookassist suite does. The four apps consist of a booking engine app, a special offers app, a customer reviews app and (in those countries where the service is available) a powerful voucher sales app for fixed priced vouchers or package vouchers. The apps can be installed individually or as a suite, depending on the hotel's needs or interests. All the apps automatically take information directly from the Bookassist extranet system that hotels already use for keeping their rates and availability updated and for managing their customer reviews online, and are therefore maintenance-free on Facebook.

The apps also allow hotels to offer specific pricing and offers to their Facebook fans only, through the use of Bookassist's successful promo codes. This ensures that hotels can offer something unique to their fans that the general public does not get, and encourages repeat visits to the hotel's Facebook page and hence repeat business opportunities.

According to Paul Ferry, Senior Social Media Strategist with Bookassist: "We've been watching web traffic statistics carefully for hundreds of our hotel clients. The trend we've seen is that Facebook has rapidly become one of the top 5 referrer sites, those sites responsible for sending traffic to hotel websites. This is a major change in just the last year alone".

The results show that Facebook fans of hotels are keen to engage more with the hotel The launch of the Bookassist Apps for Facebook will allow the hotel's fans to do just that, from right within Facebook.

Some early reactions to the Apps:

"We already have good take-up on special offers and promotions for our fans, so being able to book these directly on Facebook with Bookassist's apps will be a great feature for them and will certainly be a big seller"
Martin Grabner-Fröhlich (Managing Director - ARCOTEL Hotels & Resorts GmbH)

"After only 1 Day of going live with Bookassist apps our Facebook Fans are already making bookings. Being able to book directly on Facebook is a great feature for them and will certainly boost online sales"
Adrian Sherry (Group Marketing Manager Bewleys Hotels)

"It is very important for us that we can follow state-of-the-art technology not only within the hotel equipment but also through Bookassist applications on Facebook. Social media are becoming more and more popular and this great tool makes it even more attractive"
Kateřina Dvořáková (Sales Manager, Buddha-Bar Hotel Prague)

"Extremely impressed with Bookassist's new Facebook apps, it was unbelievably easy to activate and I can see this having a big impact on converting our fans to customers."
Carolynne Harrison (Sales & Marketing Manager - Mount Errigal Hotel)

"We are delighted that our fans can avail of all our booking services on Facebook. We know our fans want so much more than just news and this will definitely assist in driving more business to our website!"
Aileen Strachan (Director Of Sales & Marketing - Druids Glen Resort)

"Facebook is evolving so fast it crucial to keep up with the times and maximize what we can get from our fans. The Bookassist suite enables us to drive a higher return and also keeps our hotel ahead of the game on Facebook. With the booking app now on Facebook the hotel is automatically getting more exposure and makes it so convenient and fast for the customer, creating a ‘One Stop Shop’ for our fans."
Ailbhe Stephens (Sales & Marketing Manager - Stillorgan Park Hotel)

Bookassist Apps for Facebook are available now to Bookassist client hotels. For details on installation and features, see bookassist.org/facebook.

Bookassist® creates and manages online strategies for hotels and groups and is one of the leading hotel booking engine and online marketing providers in Europe. Headquartered in Dublin, with offices in Madrid, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Prague, Bookassist is a Deloitte Fast 50 Technology Company and Top 100 Deloitte Technology Company in Europe. The company has received numerous awards in Online Trade, Online Marketing, and Technological Innovation including the Irish Internet Association’s NetVisionary Internet Entrepreneur Award.

PMS Integrations from Bookassist

Did you know that you can save time, save money and avoid mistakes by integrating your Bookassist booking systems with your Property Management System?

Bookassist connects using open travel alliance XML standards to the major PMS suppliers including Micros Fidelio Opera, Protel, and Softbrands systems, and many others. We operate reliable and secure server systems dedicated to PMS integration, with PCI compliance, 24/7 support, and security monitoring so you can be sure that not only are you getting exactly the right information directly to your PMS when you need it, but nothing else is getting in or out also without our knowledge.

Convenient, fast, secure. Talk to Bookassist to get your booking system and PMS talking.

Bookassist integrates with Rate Wise

Bookassist has completed integration with the Rate Wise revenue management tool from Pulse Technology. Rate Wise is a Revenue Management System for hotels which calculates optimised room rates to ensure higher room sales at the best achievable rates.

The integration between Bookassist's booking engine systems and Rate Wise is currently being used by Castlemartyr Resort, for whom Bookassist also recently built a Sitebuilder content management-based website.

Bookassist Operations Team Expands

Bookassist doubled its Operations team across Europe during 2010, headed by Chief Operating Officer Yahya Fetchati. The expansion includes sales, account management and support staff in Bookassist's six European offices in Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Vienna and Prague.

Bookassist continued growth in all markets during 2010 despite difficult trading times in the hotel industry, helping its hotel clients to increase their total direct reservations value by almost 20% year on year to in excess of €100M of reservations.

Pictured at the annual offsite meeting this week for Bookassist's operations staff are Des O'Mahony CEO (front left) and Robert Whittle CTO (front right) with the international operations team.

(Photo Jason Clarke Photography)

Senior Social Media Strategist appointed at Bookassist

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Paul Ferry to the new position of Senior Social Media Strategist in the Traffic Builder (Online Marketing) division based in the Dublin office.

Paul will have overall responsibility for Social Media input into online marketing at Bookassist, and will contribute to its strategic use and integration into the booking process. Paul was previously online marketing specialist with Bookassist and in recent years has presented at Bookassist seminars and events on Social Media best practice for hotels.

Bookassist Booking Engine Tops Independent Quality Poll

The Bookassist Booking Engine has topped a study of international hotel booking engines with the highest score of 71.4% across categories such as ease of use, perceived quality and safety.

Bookassist and FastBooking, as well as FlamingoHotelier (who commissioned the study), jointly attained the top combined score of 35.7 out of 50, or a 71.4% satisfaction rating by non-professional users in the published data.

TravelClick, SynXis and Tradyso trailed at the lower end of the results with overall satisfaction scores among typical users of just 55%, 54.6% and 50.8% respectively.

The study, published on flamingohotelier.wordpress.com, details a subset of 35 different parameters in 5 categories that were evaluated by a group of independent non-professional users representing "typical" online users who might book a hotel. Twenty five hotel reservations systems were evaluated, including international players such as SynXis, TravelClick, FastBooking and Bookassist.

The study also shows that, despite the actual security and safety of the majority of booking systems not being in question, the perception of safety among typical users does not score highly enough and is the lowest scoring category on average across all systems. This indicates that the industry must do better at indicating and proving its security credentials. In particular, with industry-standard secure server connections and verifiable security procedures, independent professional assessment of Bookassist's security credentials have given the Bookassist Booking Engine full PCI-DSS compliance, a standard that has not been universally reached.

All user studies are reported to have conformed to the ISO 9126-1 standards for software quality, following the evaluation principles of the McCall model and other metrics.

Diego Núñez appointed Head of Software Development

Bookassist has announced the appointment of Diego Núñez to the position of Head of Software Development at Bookassist.

Diego will have overall responsibility for the Technical Support and Core Development teams based in Bookassist's Madrid office, reporting directly to CTO Dr Robert Whittle. Diego was previously Project Development Manager at Bookassist.

Bookassist appoints Yahya Fetchati as COO

Bookassist's Board of Directors has announced that Yahya Fetchati has been appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer with the company. He will directly oversee Bookassist operations heads in Ireland and in the company's subsidiaries in Spain, Czech Republic, France, Austria and Italy and will have responsibility for the business development of core Bookassist products.

Yahya Fetchati was previously Head of Business and Operations at Bookassist since 2007.

He is a former Director of Hotel Partner Marketing at Lastminute.com and former Managing Director of Hotels for Europe at Hotels.com.

Bratislava hotels discuss direct booking strategies with Bookassist

Bookassist hosted its first seminar for hotels in Bratislava, Slovakia on November 23rd, 2010 at the Hotel Arcadia, discussing the balance between direct and indirect booking channels, the requirement for hotels to engage in social media, and the ongoing mobile revolution in tourism.

The event, organised with the assistance of Enterprise Ireland, was followed by the annual Ireland-Slovakia Trade Dinner, hosted by Her Excellency the Irish Ambassador to Slovakia Kathlyn Coll, which Bookassist staff and guests also attended.

Mr Juraj Šimuchrast (Sales Manager Hotel Premium & Hotel Odevak), Mr Jaromir Pažout (Operations Manager Bookassist CZ), Mrs Iveta Pupišová (GM Skaritz Hotel & Residence), Mrs Alena Mošková (GM Hotel Set), Mr Jaroslav Tibitanzl (Director Sales & Marketing Bookassist CZ)

Dr Des O'Mahony (CEO Bookassist), Her Excellency Ambassador Kathlyn Coll, Mr Ladislav Müller (Enterprise Ireland)

Bookassist talks Mobile at BTO in Florence

BTO - Buy Tourism Online , Florence Italy.

Bookassist CEO Dr Des O'Mahony urged hotels to seize the fast-growing mobile opportunity at the BTO - Buy Tourism Online conference today in Florence.

Bookassist's webapp for hotels and hotel groups, featured on bookassist.tv, was demonstrated as an immediate solution for hotels to embrace mobile. Market research shows currently that mobile web access will surpass desktop web access by mid 2013 and hotels need to be prepared now for the change in online booking behaviour that this will bring.

Also speaking that the BTO's Mobile discussion panel were Fabrizio Pappalardo of Cisco, Massimiliano Ventimiglia of H-Art and Fiamma Petrovich of Commstrategy. The panel was chaired by Mirko Lalli of Fondazione Sistema Toscana.

Bookassist will also deliver a workshop on managing indirect sales channels at BTO tomorrow, Friday 19th November.

Bookassist successfully integrates with Millenium Othello property management system

Madrid, October 27

Bookassist has announced the successful integration of its booking engine technology with Othello PMS from hotel system provider Millenium Soft, a leading technology firm in the implementation of comprehensive management systems in hotels.

One of the first clients making use of the joint technology implementation is Spanish hotel group TRH Hotels. Bookings through the TRH website, handled by Bookassist's booking systems, can now be channeled automatically to Millenium Othello, improving efficiency for the hotel and reducing transfer errors.

The integration is one of many existing integrations between Bookassist's systems and the leading PMS providers worldwide designed to improve hotel efficiency in online reservations management.

See Millenium Soft.

Bookassist takes market-leading position in the Czech Republic

Bookassist third quarter figures for new client contracts have now put the company in the market-leading position in the Czech Republic in terms of number of hotel clients working with the company, compared to all other competitors.

Despite strong national and international competition in the direct booking business and in online marketing, Bookassist has consistently grown its presence in the Czech Republic and is now the company of choice for hotels who are seeking to improve their online strategy and deliver real customer service online and on mobile. The growth rate for new client signups is continuing to improve as the Bookassist team is expanded in the Prague office.

"There are many national and international competitors, but none is giving the full service approach that Bookassist has offered. We have held successful information seminars, we have helped educate the sector on new and emerging trends, and we have focused on strong strategic account management so that we work closely in partnership with our clients all the time to deliver real growth. This is the Bookassist difference, and the market has responded", said Jaromir Pazout, Operations Manager for the Czech Republic.

For further information on Bookassist, see bookassist.org (in English) or bookassist.cz (Czech). For information on the company's most recent seminar in Prague, see this blog entry on Czech Annual Seminar.

Kremslehner Hotels Vienna launches on mobile

Kremskehner Hotels Vienna has launched its mobile booking solution, powered by Bookassist's innovative multilingual mobile platform. The mobile webapp features all three Kremslehner group hotels, Hotel Regina, Hotel Royal and Graben Hotel as individual webapps, as well as a group webapp. Earlier this year, Kremslehner switched their web-based booking technology to the Bookassist platform.

The Kremslehner group has been family run for over a century and has a strong reputation for tradition and hospitality. As well as three hotels, the group also comprises four restaurants. Hotel Regina is home to the famous Emperor Franz Josef Cake.

The mobile webapp is available by visiting the standard web address on a mobile device: kremslehnerhotels.at

Moran Hotels the latest hotel group to adopt Bookassist's Mobile Webapp Platform

The popular Moran Hotel Group, with properties in Dublin, London and Cork, is now fully mobile accessible to their customers on-the-go with today's release of their mobile services.

The new Moran Hotel Group webapp is accessible at m.moranhotels.com and gives quick and simple access to customers using iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry Torch and other popular touchscreen devices.

With the advanced webapp platform from Bookassist, customers of Moran Hotels do not have to download apps from an appstore - instead, visitors to the Moran Hotel Group website on www.moranhotels.com who are using a mobile browser will be automatically redirected to the new mobile webapp, giving them an instant tailor-made interactive experience.

Speaking about the launch, Bookassist's Director of Client Services in Ireland, Paul Dooley, said: "Moran Hotel Group now joins its sister group Bewleys Hotels in delivering cutting edge mobile services to their customers. The success of the Bewleys Hotels webapp service is sure to be duplicated for Moran Hotels, with these two key brands being strong internet performers and already attracting significant mobile traffic. Clearly there is customer demand, and Moran Hotel Group has moved fast to meet that demand."

The Bookassist mobile webapp platform is currently the most advanced solution for hotels in the marketplace, featuring a location-aware, cross-platform-compatible webapp with languages, reviews, mapping and destination routing, photo gallery and of course the leading booking engine with secure PCI-compliant booking. For more information about Bookassist's webapp platform, see http://bookassist.org/mobile

The Moran Hotel Group webapp can also be accessed using the QR code shown here from any smartphone with a QR scanner app installed.

Join Bookassist at Hospitality Exchange 2010

Hospitality Exchange 2010 will take place on the 19th & 20th October, 2010 in the Ramada Hotel Belfast. The event, which is in its 11th year, is Northern Ireland's largest tourism and hospitality conference.

Bookassist CEO and Founder Dr Des O'Mahony will be talking on Future Trends in Mobile and Social Media for Hotels on Tuesday 19th, and Bookassist staff will also be on hand throughout the whole event at Stand 28 - do come and visit any time.

This year’s line-up also includes acclaimed chef Tom Kichin, one of the youngest recipients of a Michelin star in the UK. Local chefs Niall McKenna and Brian McCann will be reunited by their old adversary from Great British Menu Matthew Fort in the Tuesday Kitchen. The team will take part in an interactive session using the best local produce, cooking up a storm and no doubt enjoying some banter along the way. The trade exhibition will feature some of the province’s best know suppliers including a dedicated a food and drink area. A number of new products are set to launch over the two days.

It is impossible to predict the future but after one of the most challenging trading periods in decades an awareness of changing trends and customer demands has become increasingly important in hospitality businesses. Keeping the industry informed is central to the success of Hospitality Exchange and this years Business Clinic seeks to address some of the big issues: Marketing and getting return on your spend, building a winning team and developing a good on-line presence, all feature in the programme. Consumer knowledge and customer service are covered in a seminar entitled “ Voice of Visitor” which includes an insight into the mighty Tripadvisor recognized as one of the most powerful tools in the travel industry.

The Tourism Forum will be hosted by Jim Fitzpatrick and features an experienced industry panel. This is your opportunity to hear what people think and find out what issues the industry is currently experiencing and more importantly what people are doing to address them. Another Fitzpatrick, namely John Fitzpatrick, New York-based Hotelier and recently voted Irish American of the year will speak about his experiences in running and surviving a family business. The conference will end with a gala ball rounding of what promises to be an excellent two days.

Full details or the event are available at www.hospitalityexchange.co.uk or by contacting 02890 776635. Bookings can be made on-line or by phone.