Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Ayrshire based EGM launch new online store


Ayrshire based supplier of Environmental and Gas Monitoring products, EGM Ltd, has this week launched their new eCommerce website.

EGM operated their own website for a number of years which was successful at providing visitors with product information but the availability of new technology and a more demanding marketing strategy dictated that a new website was required.

Following meetings to discuss the overall business strategy and the part the website would play in this our proposals were accepted and timescales agreed.

The new website is fully eCommerce enabled allowing EGM to sell products to new and existing customers worldwide. The online store software allows visitors to change the currency display on the website and the advanced shipping system allows EGM to specify the shipping costs to any country.

One of EGM's new innovations is to make equipment available for hire and customers can arrange this with online payments.

As well as control of all products and descriptions on the website th online store software also gives EGM full control over the text and images of all the additional pages. This means they can react quickly to any situation ensuring the website is always up to date and new products and information is immediately available for customers.

Embracing Web 2.0 technology and some clever coding from The Edge allows EGM to run a Blog and Newsdesk simultaneously.

Finally, the icing on the cake was provided by giving the slightly dated looking EGM logo a new look.

Ayrshire based EGM launch new online store


Ayrshire based supplier of Environmental and Gas Monitoring products, EGM Ltd, has this week launched their new eCommerce website.

EGM operated their own website for a number of years which was successful at providing visitors with product information but the availability of new technology and a more demanding marketing strategy dictated that a new website was required.

Following meetings to discuss the overall business strategy and the part the website would play in this our proposals were accepted and timescales agreed.

The new website is fully eCommerce enabled allowing EGM to sell products to new and existing customers worldwide. The online store software allows visitors to change the currency display on the website and the advanced shipping system allows EGM to specify the shipping costs to any country.

One of EGM's new innovations is to make equipment available for hire and customers can arrange this with online payments.

As well as control of all products and descriptions on the website th online store software also gives EGM full control over the text and images of all the additional pages. This means they can react quickly to any situation ensuring the website is always up to date and new products and information is immediately available for customers.

Embracing Web 2.0 technology and some clever coding from The Edge allows EGM to run a Blog and Newsdesk simultaneously.

Finally, the icing on the cake was provided by giving the slightly dated looking EGM logo a new look.

Darkstar Scotland has the Edge


The Edge are pleased to announce the launch of the new website for their latest client Dark Star.

This dynamic, energetic and youthful pub, club & hotel group is based in Glasgow and is probably best known for it’s Budda bar's in the city centre of Glasgow. Since 2007 the group has been evolving by acquiring many new sites across Scotland, stretching from Ayr to Aberdeen.

This evolution has seen the creation of a powerful brand identity which Dark Star were very use to create an online space which their clientele would view as an extension of their customer experience.

To make this happen they needed to work with a web development company who would pick this concept up and run with it. This is where The Edge came in, using the latest social media tools to create picture sharing galleries, blogs, video channels and even online restaurant and hotel bookings.

The end result is a website which showcases all of the Dark Star properties and lets customers interact with the brand in a variety of ways, and by harnessing the power of Web 2.0, the customers can actually create content for the site itself.

In selecting The Edge, Sarah Mazzone, the On-line Marketing Manager said

"We know our customers enjoy the experience when they are in our pubs & clubs, and with the help of The Edge, we have created a unique online space where they can share their great times with their friends whenever they want"

Dark Star and The Edge will continue to push the boundaries to ensure that the online Dark Star experience is as exciting and fun as the real thing.

For more information on how to give your online strategy the Edge, contact James Kennedy on 01292-521-404, info@getheedgeonline.com.

Darkstar Scotland has the Edge


The Edge are pleased to announce the launch of the new website for their latest client Dark Star.

This dynamic, energetic and youthful pub, club & hotel group is based in Glasgow and is probably best known for it’s Budda bar's in the city centre of Glasgow. Since 2007 the group has been evolving by acquiring many new sites across Scotland, stretching from Ayr to Aberdeen.

This evolution has seen the creation of a powerful brand identity which Dark Star were very use to create an online space which their clientele would view as an extension of their customer experience.

To make this happen they needed to work with a web development company who would pick this concept up and run with it. This is where The Edge came in, using the latest social media tools to create picture sharing galleries, blogs, video channels and even online restaurant and hotel bookings.

The end result is a website which showcases all of the Dark Star properties and lets customers interact with the brand in a variety of ways, and by harnessing the power of Web 2.0, the customers can actually create content for the site itself.

In selecting The Edge, Sarah Mazzone, the On-line Marketing Manager said

"We know our customers enjoy the experience when they are in our pubs & clubs, and with the help of The Edge, we have created a unique online space where they can share their great times with their friends whenever they want"

Dark Star and The Edge will continue to push the boundaries to ensure that the online Dark Star experience is as exciting and fun as the real thing.

For more information on how to give your online strategy the Edge, contact James Kennedy on 01292-521-404, info@getheedgeonline.com.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Homecoming Advert Will Go Abroad...

According to this morning's Scotsman, The Scottish Government have refuted claims the advert for the Year of Homecoming, which features Sir Sean Connery, will be broadcast only in Scotland.

The James Bond actor, and Sports Personality of the Year Chris Hoy, are among the famous faces who feature in the minute-long advert, which also stars actor Brian Cox, golfer Sam Torrance and singers Lulu and Amy Macdonald. The advert, which also features Scotland rugby players Kelly Brown and Thom Evans, was broadcast across Scotland for a week from the end of November but there has been criticism that the advert is not being televised outside Scotland, particularly in countries such as Canada and Australia.

There was also some concern raised by the more cynical that it was actually going to escape from Scotland...

Anyway, it appears that the advert for Scottish tourism (because that is apparently what it is) will screen in UK cinemas from January.

The more worrying statement comes from "a source close to the First Minister" who stated without a hint of irony apparently, "Thanks to the hard work of this administration, Homecoming will now be a fantastic series of over 300 events, engaging the entire Scots Diaspora and the whole array of our international connections, giving us a huge tourism boost in 2009."

Nothing to do with the private sector, or councils or partnerships all over the country then?

Not a political intent anywhere on the horizon...

Monday, December 8, 2008

Online Marketing IS Marketing..


So says, Proffessor John Lennon of the Moffat Centre for Travel & Tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Professor Lennon was amongst a number of speakers 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"
    "Your website strategy needs to keep moving"
Both Prof John Lennon and Neil McLean from Smallmedialarge 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.

Overall this was a really useful event, however one key question remains unanswered, so I ask it here and welcome your comments...

Who is going to support the already stressed out, time poor, small and medium accommodation providers in Scotland to take advantage of these new opportunities.?

Many of them already feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload from third party distribution websites and spend too much time constantly updating their rates and trying to gain a competitive advantage on their neighbours.

Does this really help ? No, all it does is help to keep the third party distribution websites content nice and fresh, with their customers coming back time and again to make a booking..... and, here's the crunch, the small and medium operators are paying upwards of 15% per booking for this. Who is really winning here ?

What if they spend as much time updating their own website's booking engine and investing time in learning about how to take advantage of Web 2.0? I know that once a small business starts to see a volume of bookings coming from third party websites, it can be difficult to give it up, but in the long run it is truly a false economy, but the tools are out there if only someone can lead the way....

And here at The Edge, we are doing just that, we already have many customers whom we have created online strategies for, built around Web 2.0 best in breed applications such as Picasa, Flicker, Youtube, Facebook and Blogger. Contact us today on info@gettheedgeonline.com to find out how to give your business the Edge.


Online Marketing IS Marketing..


So says, Proffessor John Lennon of the Moffat Centre for Travel & Tourism at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Professor Lennon was amongst a number of speakers 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"
    "Your website strategy needs to keep moving"
Both Prof John Lennon and Neil McLean from Smallmedialarge 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.

Overall this was a really useful event, however one key question remains unanswered, so I ask it here and welcome your comments...

Who is going to support the already stressed out, time poor, small and medium accommodation providers in Scotland to take advantage of these new opportunities.?

Many of them already feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload from third party distribution websites and spend too much time constantly updating their rates and trying to gain a competitive advantage on their neighbours.

Does this really help ? No, all it does is help to keep the third party distribution websites content nice and fresh, with their customers coming back time and again to make a booking..... and, here's the crunch, the small and medium operators are paying upwards of 15% per booking for this. Who is really winning here ?

What if they spend as much time updating their own website's booking engine and investing time in learning about how to take advantage of Web 2.0? I know that once a small business starts to see a volume of bookings coming from third party websites, it can be difficult to give it up, but in the long run it is truly a false economy, but the tools are out there if only someone can lead the way....

And here at The Edge, we are doing just that, we already have many customers whom we have created online strategies for, built around Web 2.0 best in breed applications such as Picasa, Flicker, Youtube, Facebook and Blogger. Contact us today on info@gettheedgeonline.com to find out how to give your business the Edge.


Friday, December 5, 2008

Online Marketing is Marketing...


So says, Proffessor John Lennon of the Moffat Centre for Travel & Tourism as Glasgow Caledonian University.

Professor Lennon was amongst a number of speakers 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"
    "Your website strategy needs to keep moving"
Both Prof John Lennon and Neil McLean from Smallmedialarge 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.

Overall this was a really useful event, however one key question remains unanswered, so I ask it here and welcome your comments...

Who is going to support the already stressed out, time poor, small and medium accommodation providers in Scotland to take advantage of these new opportunities.?

Many of them already feel totally overwhelmed by the information overload from third party distribution websites and spend too much time constantly updating their rates and trying to gain a competitive advantage on their neighbours.

Does this really help ? No, all it does is help to keep the third party distribution websites content nice and fresh, with their customers coming back time and again to make a booking..... and, here's the crunch, the small and medium operators are paying upwards of 15% per booking for this. Who is really winning here ?

What if they spend as much time updating their own website's booking engine and investing time in learning about how to take advantage of Web 2.0? I know that once a small business starts to see a volume of bookings coming from third party websites, it can be difficult to give it up, but in the long run it is truly a false economy, but the tools are out there if only someone can lead the way....

Monday, December 1, 2008

The St Andrews X Factor

Did you see the X Factor on Saturday then? The moment we'd all been waiting for finally arrived. And what was it all about?

A good song mangled by a mix of too clever camera work, over editing, poor sound quality, disjointed choreography, a lack of passion and quite clearly some very bad attempts at lip synching all the way through.

And then the Homecoming Scotland 2009 advert was over and it was time to watch Britney...

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Truck Hoodz Website Launched

Truck Hoodz, the UK importer of a unique folding rear hood for pickup trucks, launched their new website this week. The Edge developed a small website driven by our Claymore Project Content Management System. This allows Truck Hoodz to update text, images and downloads on demand. It also allows Keywords and other important meta data to be managed and comes with Google Analytics built in.

The website features the company branding also developed by The Edge and matches their other marketing materials including leaflets and magazine adverts.

The website also provides video examples of the Truck Hood in action via YouTube.

You can visit the Truck Hoodz website at www.truckhoodz.co.uk.

Truck Hoodz Website Launched

Truck Hoodz, the UK importer of a unique folding rear hood for pickup trucks, launched their new website this week. The Edge developed a small website driven by our Claymore Project Content Management System. This allows Truck Hoodz to update text, images and downloads on demand. It also allows Keywords and other important meta data to be managed and comes with Google Analytics built in.

The website features the company branding also developed by The Edge and matches their other marketing materials including leaflets and magazine adverts.

The website also provides video examples of the Truck Hood in action via YouTube.

You can visit the Truck Hoodz website at www.truckhoodz.co.uk.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Great Scot Tours Website Refresh

The team at The Edge have refreshed the design layout of greatscot-tours.com to improve useability and to highlight a new side to Gordon Ross's Personal Tour Guide business - Whisky Talks.

Useability has been improved by increasing the size of navigation links and improving the contrast between link colours and their backgrounds and an additional section Whisky Talks promotes Gordon's whisky tasting tours and seminars throughout Scotland.

Great Scot Tours Website Refresh

The team at The Edge have refreshed the design layout of greatscot-tours.com to improve useability and to highlight a new side to Gordon Ross's Personal Tour Guide business - Whisky Talks.

Useability has been improved by increasing the size of navigation links and improving the contrast between link colours and their backgrounds and an additional section Whisky Talks promotes Gordon's whisky tasting tours and seminars throughout Scotland.

Friday, November 7, 2008

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."

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

We Have A Dream En Route To Stores

Less than a week until the release of the Tartan Army's second single and the CD's are winding their way as we speak to ASDAs, Tescos, Sainsburys, Woolies and some other stores around the country.

So as of Monday you can drop one or five in your shopping basket...


The Edge designed not only the CD artwork but also the posters and Counter Display Units for the stores. So watch out for the displays next week when you're doing the shopping and remember to buy one for Children in Need!

We Have A Dream En Route To Stores

Less than a week until the release of the Tartan Army's second single and the CD's are winding their way as we speak to ASDAs, Tescos, Sainsburys, Woolies and some other stores around the country.

So as of Monday you can drop one or five in your shopping basket...


The Edge designed not only the CD artwork but also the posters and Counter Display Units for the stores. So watch out for the displays next week when you're doing the shopping and remember to buy one for Children in Need!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Reviewing October

Sometimes months just vanish...October was one of them!

From start to finish it has been non stop for all of the team at The Edge. From design and print jobs, new website developments and some interesting project management; so with apologies for the retropsective nature but we thought it worthwhile giving a brief overview of the past few weeks - and where better to start with our now annual Children in Need project!

Last year we had the idea with The Tartan Army to record a single for Children in Need - with only six weeks to plan it we ended up with an unbelieveably succesful result, culminating in a Top Ten UK chart hit and almost 50,000 single sales of Loch Lomond with Runrig.

So having done it once we thought we'd try it again!

This year we approached BA Robertson and the BBC to come up with a re-recording of We Have a Dream - the famous 1982 World Cup song.

The track will be released just before Children in Need but the work leading up to perhaps showcases many of our strengths - Project management in pulling the whole thing together; website redevelopment; Web 2.0 tools in the form of a dedicated blog; big screen graphics for half time at Hampden for the Scotland vs Norway game; design of the CD cover and original artwork; production of Point of Sale materials for supermarkets and stores; copy writing, press and PR campaign for a plethora of related Tartan Army stories; TV and Radio interviews, design and production of t-shirts; database development and emarketing campaign and even dressing up as Pudsey on one or two occasions.

We Have A Dream... could The Edge help you with yours?

Reviewing October

Sometimes months just vanish...October was one of them!

From start to finish it has been non stop for all of the team at The Edge. From design and print jobs, new website developments and some interesting project management; so with apologies for the retropsective nature but we thought it worthwhile giving a brief overview of the past few weeks - and where better to start with our now annual Children in Need project!

Last year we had the idea with The Tartan Army to record a single for Children in Need - with only six weeks to plan it we ended up with an unbelieveably succesful result, culminating in a Top Ten UK chart hit and almost 50,000 single sales of Loch Lomond with Runrig.

So having done it once we thought we'd try it again!

This year we approached BA Robertson and the BBC to come up with a re-recording of We Have a Dream - the famous 1982 World Cup song.

The track will be released just before Children in Need but the work leading up to perhaps showcases many of our strengths - Project management in pulling the whole thing together; website redevelopment; Web 2.0 tools in the form of a dedicated blog; big screen graphics for half time at Hampden for the Scotland vs Norway game; design of the CD cover and original artwork; production of Point of Sale materials for supermarkets and stores; copy writing, press and PR campaign for a plethora of related Tartan Army stories; TV and Radio interviews, design and production of t-shirts; database development and emarketing campaign and even dressing up as Pudsey on one or two occasions.

We Have A Dream... could The Edge help you with yours?

Sunnybrae Website Goes Live

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 The Edge 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 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.

Sunnybrae Website Goes Live

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 The Edge 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 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.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Music Kitchen Website Launch


Having been introduced to The Edge by The MacDonald Bros of X Factor fame, The Music Kitchen had no hesitation asking us to develop an online store integrated with our Claymore Content Management system when it became time redevelop their website.

These facilities along with a redesign of the website layout addressed the areas in which the old website was lacking and ensure the website can be maintained in house well into the future.

Our Online Store software allows The Music Kitchen to sell their artist's abums world wide and have card payments authorised in real time. Claymore integration means all important content can be updated on demand with our easy to use Content Management system. Also integrated with the website is a YouTube Channel allowing music videos, sample tracks and TV adverts to be uploaded.

Visit The Music Kitchen Website at www.themusickitchen.co.uk

Music Kitchen Website Launch


Having been introduced to The Edge by The MacDonald Bros of X Factor fame, The Music Kitchen had no hesitation asking us to develop an online store integrated with our Claymore Content Management system when it became time redevelop their website.

These facilities along with a redesign of the website layout addressed the areas in which the old website was lacking and ensure the website can be maintained in house well into the future.

Our Online Store software allows The Music Kitchen to sell their artist's abums world wide and have card payments authorised in real time. Claymore integration means all important content can be updated on demand with our easy to use Content Management system. Also integrated with the website is a YouTube Channel allowing music videos, sample tracks and TV adverts to be uploaded.

Visit The Music Kitchen Website at www.themusickitchen.co.uk

Friday, October 24, 2008

Dunnikier House Hotel Launch New Website

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."

Monday, October 20, 2008

Do Hotels Understand Their Credit Card Responsibilities?

Over the past few weeks we've had a number of comments about online reservations companies providing Credit Card details complete with the CVV number to ensure that hotels can charge guests accounts for bookings made on their behalf. We've even had a couple of irate hoteliers suggesting that this number must be provided to them by their online booking service provider. It would appear that any number of their third party booking engines provide them with fax copies of this information to secure the booking.

Whilst this has been going on for some time it is only a matter of time before someone gets their fingers very badly burnt. Hoteliers should check their merchant agreements; it will somewhere or another expressly forbid the storing of certain information.

A Card Verification Value code, CVV, (CVV2 for Visa, CVC2 for MasterCard and CID for AMEX) is the (usually) three digit number located either on the front or back of a credit or debit card. Merchant’s can request the CVV code from card holders as another way to screen fraudulent transactions - increasingly, almost universally in the UK it is now necessary for "customer not present" transactions. The idea is that someone using a stolen credit card is less likely to have this code so they will be unable to complete the transaction. With most payment systems, you can adjust settings to automatically reject transactions where the CVV code does not match the card number.

The effectiveness of this code is limited to the ability to keep it out of the hands of hackers and thief’s, which is why it is prohibited by PCI Standards from being stored. For merchants who charge customers on a recurring basis, the CVV code can be used with the initial transaction but cannot be stored for future transactions.

The table summarises what is and isn't allowed and under PCI compliance the penalties are likely to be punitive. Can you really afford not to be able to take Credit and Debit cards from your clientele? Search any number of PCI (Payment Card Industry)compliance sites and check what is and isn't allowed; it is your repsonsibility and not knowing is going to be little comfort when the chargebacks start flowing in or the credit company unplugs your PDQ machine without any warning.

Earlier this year ecommerce consultant Alex Bainbridge highlighted the issue in his blog pointing out that two well known hotel online travel agents (OTAs) were allegedly maintaining lax security on their customer credit card data. We've not mentioned the OTA's here but the full article is available to read here.

"The problem outlined is a process problem not unique to how the two named agents operate. In essence the business process is as follows:

  • Customer makes online booking on an online hotel reservation website (or partner site)
  • The end customer gives their credit card information to the central website
  • The credit card details are transmitted (sometimes by fax) to the end hotel. The hotel can then use these credit card details in order to charge a customer in the event that they cancel or “no show” their reservation.
  • The detail that is transmitted to the hotel contains all information required to charge a card, including the ID number found on the back of cards.

So what is wrong with this? All companies that handle credit card information have to comply with the PCI (Payment Card Industry) credit card standards. Adherence to these standards isn’t voluntary - but mandatory. They are agreed by both Visa and Mastercard and are the industry standard.

  • Some of the expected standards can be found in the PCI Compliance document
  • The CVC2/CVV2/CID numbers are not permitted to be stored
  • Sensitive information must be encrypted during transmission over networks that are easy and common for a hacker to intercept, modify, and divert data while in transit (this includes fax machines)
  • Identify all users with a unique user name before allowing them to access system components or cardholder data (NOT generic usernames or one username per hotel)
  • Change passwords at least every 90 days
  • Physically secure all paper and electronic media (including computers, electronic media, networking and communications hardware, telecommunication lines, paper receipts, paper reports, and faxes) that contain cardholder data
  • Maintain strict control over the internal or external distribution of any kind of media that contains cardholder data including the following:
  • Classify the media so it can be identified as confidential
  • Send the media by secured courier or other delivery method that can be accurately tracked (this onus is on the sender, not the recipient - so the hotel booking agency can’t say that it is down to the hotel how they secure their incoming faxes)
  • Screen potential employees to minimize the risk of attacks from internal sources (unless the employee is a store cashier who only have access to one card number at a time)

If cardholder data is shared with service providers, then contractually the following is required:

  • Service providers must adhere to the PCI requirements (i.e. hotels must adhere)
  • Agreement that includes an acknowledgement that the service provider is responsible for the security of cardholder data the provider processes

The last standard is an interesting one…. it seems to put the onus on the hotelier to adhere to PCI standards…. so perhaps this is what the hotel OTAs are relying on.

Hoteliers and their service providers really need to take care to ensure that credit card security is taken seriously.

A more recent and UK based article by the same ecommerce consultant Alex Bainbridge, highlights two further areas of breach.

"PCI is a set of standards that define how you are permitted to hold and transmit credit card data. If anyone tells you their system is secure just because they have an SSL certificate they demonstrate that they don’t really understand how security works. PCI is much more than just an SSL certificate. Compliance is mandatory for any company handling credit card details (unless you decide not to handle credit card data - e.g. by using a 3rd party payment gateway).

Here are two more processes that travel companies do that will require the agent to be PCI audited:

  1. Agent takes credit card details from customer over the phone and, while customer is on the phone, places the card details into a supplier website
  2. Agent takes credit card details from customer and instead of charging the card they give the credit card details to a supplier (for charging directly at a later time)

The first process has become “common” (or acknowledged to take place, at the least) by agents who have been banned from selling Ryanair flights. Instead of using the agency credit card the customer’s details are placed on the Ryanair website - making it difficult for Ryanair to see that the booking is an indirect booking. However, this process would require the agent to be PCI compliant (which they are unlikely to be, for this situation)…..

The second process is common in the hotel industry. The card details are often transmitted to the hotel for charging. This would require the agent and the hotel to be PCI compliant. e.g. you can’t just “email” the card details to the hotel. Faxing is also problematic.

The onus on the 3rd party. If you are a travel company that uses agents to send credit card data to you (on your behalf) then it is down to you to ensure your agents are PCI compliant.

The above is something which our tourism bodies really should be taking seriously with e-commerce workshops being funded by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Tourism Forum across the country should we not be ensuring that PCI is placed firmly at the core of this training. It is not enough to get business e-commerce ready; they must do it with best practice and legally.

Is anyone grappling with the fact that much or the recommended e-commerce procedures being showcaseda re operating outwith PCI standards? It has become the norm and therefore no-one knows what to do about it - the result is nothing proactive happens."

As Alex states in finishing "It will just have to take a “big breach event” to bring this to everyone’s attention."

The hotel industry in Scotland need to recognise their responsibilities before one of the number is made an example of, and it will happen, sooner rather than later.

Open Rooms Website Updates - new templates and keyword control

Open Rooms website customers can now take advantage of new search engine features and a choice of three different template designs.

Open Rooms offers small hotel and bed and breakfast owners full control over their website with our extensive content management system, The Claymore Project, which offers an RSS enabled news system, gallery, room rates and this integrates fully with our online booking engine Bookassist.

Control over Search Engine Optimisation has been advanced and full control over your Meta Tags is offered viayour control panel.


You can see an example Sitebuilder Hotel Website by The Edge at www.golfviewhotelnairn.co.uk.

Open Rooms Website Updates - new templates and keyword control

Open Rooms website customers can now take advantage of new search engine features and a choice of three different template designs.

Open Rooms offers small hotel and bed and breakfast owners full control over their website with our extensive content management system, The Claymore Project, which offers an RSS enabled news system, gallery, room rates and this integrates fully with our online booking engine Bookassist.

Control over Search Engine Optimisation has been advanced and full control over your Meta Tags is offered viayour control panel.


You can see an example Sitebuilder Hotel Website by The Edge at www.golfviewhotelnairn.co.uk.

Online Store and New Content Management for Pebbles Spa and Leisure

Pebbles Spa near Girvan, Ayrshire have just updated their website to reflect a new range of treatments and to expand their market by offering products for sale online.

Following an in depth consultation Pebbles accepted our proposal to install our online store software which offers full management of the system via an easy to use control panel as well as:
  • Unlimited category levels
  • Multiple display layouts
  • Cross selling and other promotion tools
  • Voucher and multi buy discounts
  • Fully customisable shipping zones and pricing
  • Search Engine Optimisation and Integration with Google Base
Pebbles chose to go live with their range of spa breaks and vouchers with a view to adding their full range of beauty and relaxation products at a later date.

The existing Pebbles website was seamlessly integrated with our Claymore Content Management System which allows easy update of text, images and search engine keywords on the website. This allows the company to take control of their website and ensure it is up to date with weekly changes.

In support of the website updates The Edge produced a number of updated brochure inserts allowing Pebbles to provide detailed and up to date information about the main products and services they wish to promote to enquiring customers.

Other supporting work was carried out including the creation and management of Google Sitemaps which are submitted to Google for inclusion in their index.


You can visit the Pebbles Spa and Leisure website at www.pebblesspa.com.

Online Store and New Content Management for Pebbles Spa and Leisure

Pebbles Spa near Girvan, Ayrshire have just updated their website to reflect a new range of treatments and to expand their market by offering products for sale online.

Following an in depth consultation Pebbles accepted our proposal to install our online store software which offers full management of the system via an easy to use control panel as well as:
  • Unlimited category levels
  • Multiple display layouts
  • Cross selling and other promotion tools
  • Voucher and multi buy discounts
  • Fully customisable shipping zones and pricing
  • Search Engine Optimisation and Integration with Google Base
Pebbles chose to go live with their range of spa breaks and vouchers with a view to adding their full range of beauty and relaxation products at a later date.

The existing Pebbles website was seamlessly integrated with our Claymore Content Management System which allows easy update of text, images and search engine keywords on the website. This allows the company to take control of their website and ensure it is up to date with weekly changes.

In support of the website updates The Edge produced a number of updated brochure inserts allowing Pebbles to provide detailed and up to date information about the main products and services they wish to promote to enquiring customers.

Other supporting work was carried out including the creation and management of Google Sitemaps which are submitted to Google for inclusion in their index.


You can visit the Pebbles Spa and Leisure website at www.pebblesspa.com.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Allstons BC Online Catalogue Website

Alstons BC of Cumnock approached Ayrshire based website developers The Edge to redevelop their existing website. The original had been written in house and whilst it was functional and kept up to date it was time to introduce some new features and redesign the layout to give a professional feel without being overly comple

Alstons are the main Valtra Tractor dealer for Ayrshire and Lanarkshire and their agicultural engineering business also provides maintenance and repair, used equipment sales and stores.

We advised installing our online store software and enabling the special catalogue mode which turns off the shopping cart and online purchase features. This solution allows Alstons to use the software's extensive content management capabilities and search engine promotion features and in the future simply enable the built in shopping cart to take orders with live online payments.

The news system is powered by Google Blogger which as well as integrating seamlessly into the website provides significant search engine benefits. Other Web 2.0 website features include submission to Google Base and Google Local.


You can visit the Alstons BC website at www.alstonsbc.co.uk.

Allstons BC Online Catalogue Website

Alstons BC of Cumnock approached Ayrshire based website developers The Edge to redevelop their existing website. The original had been written in house and whilst it was functional and kept up to date it was time to introduce some new features and redesign the layout to give a professional feel without being overly comple

Alstons are the main Valtra Tractor dealer for Ayrshire and Lanarkshire and their agicultural engineering business also provides maintenance and repair, used equipment sales and stores.

We advised installing our online store software and enabling the special catalogue mode which turns off the shopping cart and online purchase features. This solution allows Alstons to use the software's extensive content management capabilities and search engine promotion features and in the future simply enable the built in shopping cart to take orders with live online payments.

The news system is powered by Google Blogger which as well as integrating seamlessly into the website provides significant search engine benefits. Other Web 2.0 website features include submission to Google Base and Google Local.


You can visit the Alstons BC website at www.alstonsbc.co.uk.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Open Rooms Upgrades Software

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.

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 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
  • 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

Monday, September 15, 2008

New Sales Manager for Bookassist Scotland

Bookassist Scotland are delighted to announce that James Kennedy has joined their team as Business Develpoment 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 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@bookassistscotland.com or call the office on 01292 521404.

New Sales Manager for Bookassist Scotland

Bookassist Scotland are delighted to announce that James Kennedy has joined their team as Business Develpoment 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 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@bookassistscotland.com or call the office on 01292 521404.

James Kennedy Joins Bookassist Scotland

Bookassist Scotland are delighted to announce that James Kennedy has joined their team as Business Develpoment 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 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@bookassistscotland.com or call the office on 01292 521404.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Royal Dornoch Promote Online Video

We always get a whole load of marketing mail through featuring this and that on golf. Some of it proves to even be useful!

One of the better ones came into today from renowned golf photographer David Whyte who is involved with a company Go-Golf TV, producing videos for golf courses.

Given that the Highland Golf Classic is later this month we thought you might like to see the video thay have produced for Dornoch - simply follow the link through to Royal Dornoch Video and have a look at what's in store for the Highland Golf Classic's players later this month.

You could always sign up and play!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Nairn Hotel Embraces Web 2.0

The Claymore House Hotel in Nairn has today gone live with their new Web 2.0 website. The site which features online availability, a fully updateable content management system and recognises the need for accommdaotion providers to grasp the current and future potential of Google Mapping, image galleries, Blogs and RRS News Feeds.
The site was designed and published by Ayrshire based The Edge using their new 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 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 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 Bookassist contact The Edge on 01292 521404 or email info@GetTheEdgeOnline.com

Royal Troon - A Visitor perspective

Anyone who has even a small involvement in the golfing sector in Scotland knows the cache that courses such as Carnoustie, Muirfield, Prestwick The Old Course and Turnberry have and the impact their products have on the local economy and on a more personal level the local pride these iconic courses can generate for the residents of the area.
However is it the case that some of these "icons" ("a symbol that is universally recognised to be representative of something") really need to recognise that they have some responsibility, if not accountability, for how they portray themselves to the wider world?
Here's an illustrative tale - and not an apocryphal one - passed to us this week by a well know Scottish Golf Tour Operator.
Eight well heeled American clients have been staying at Turnberry and playing golf and are now setting off on their way to Fife to add Kingsbarns and The Old Course to their collected list. En route the guys decide that it would be fun to pop into Royal Troon and buy some momentoes of the Open Championship course from the Pro Shop. They'd seen it again most recently on USTV.
(And anyone with a knowledge of private golf clubs in Scotland now knows where this story is going...)
On arrival at the opulent new clubhouse, on a designated visitor's day, the eight gentlemen from The States were asked if they had a reservation for today and on stating no, and explaining the reason they were there, they were asked in no uncertain terms that as they were not members and not visiting guests they would have to leave the premises immediately. No polite conversation about how the trip to Scotland was going, no experiencing the history, no visit to the gents. Simply NO. And as a direct result no purchases in the Pro Shop either.
Now this can be seen from both sides. Well to a degree at least. Royal Troon is like many in Scotland, it is a private members' club and therefore have no need to fling it's doors open; in fact legally they have certain rules that must take legal precedence but you can't help but feel that there must be a better way than this. There must be a way to get it across to Royal Troon that they could actually be more beneficial to the local economy by providing a little better service, become, dare we say, a little more appealling financially, increase their communications with the local accommodation providers, open up their course access throughout the year and perhaps just perhaps recognise that politeness and common courtesy should not be restricted to those who are paying the annual subs.
The result of those visiting Americans leaving? Well for sure they won't have Royal Troon on next year's itinerary; that has already been stated. They will tell the story to others and, you know what, someone may even include the story in a blog criticising them publicly for an attitude that does not in any way reflect the positive nature of the hospitality product across Ayrshire. Every time our visitors are mistreated there is an impact and it can have a very long tail. No play at Troon for that group; a loss of green fees sure but they can handle it (can't they?); loss of two bed nights in the area; no food and beverage spend no merchndising, no fuel purchased; no opportunity for the local businesses to make amends for a simple lack of Scottish hospitality.
And you know the worst aspect of this article? It is quite likely that they simply won't care...

Monday, August 25, 2008

BAA Sell Off - Good News For All?

I've taken a little time to reflect on the announcement regarding the recommendation that BAA sell off of one of it's threee Scottish airports.

It is almost universally accepted that Glasgow would be most likely to be the preferred sell off option if BAA are indeed forced to sell.

Tom Dalrymple, chairman of the Flyglobespan airline, was quoted in The Scotsman and said he was firmly in favour of a break-up and would like to see two of the three Scottish airports sold off, particularly Edinburgh."This is the only way we can guarantee competition and the most competitive prices for our customers," he said. "If there is to be an airport sold it should be Edinburgh as Glasgow already has a measure of competition on its doorstep from Prestwick. Competition will be of benefit to passengers."

He certainly has a good point with regards to competition in the west coast. Prestwick in Ayrshire has provided an increasingly competitive edge over the past ten years and whilst Globespan chose Glasgow eventually as its preferred departure point over Prestwick the competition has meant and increase in flights from Prestwick with Ryanair and undoubtedly increased the sharpness of Glasgow's pencil when it comes to negotiating with other operators.

The catastrophic scenario for the Ayrshire economy would be the releasing of Glasgow from BAA's hands into an aggressive operator resulitng in a direct challenge to Prestwick Airport's existence. Doomsday scenario? Well yes but not the impossible scenario that some in ayrshire seem to think. Ryanair have been responsible almost single handedly for the increase in tourism numbers in Ayrshire over the past decade - it has not been destination driven; the growth has been access driven. The problem with Ryanair now is that their methods are well known and whilst they undoubtedly enjoy being the main player at Prestwick they have expereince of shaping strategy at larger airports - see Dublin and Stansted - and I can see a whole host of reasons why the could (not would) transfer the whole shebang up the M77 to Glasgow. It will certainly be high on the agenda of any of the prospective purchasers of Glasgow Airport from the BAA.

Is it worrying business in Ayrshire? Well that depends on who you speak to. The local papers ignored the annoucnement completely with a journalist indicating that should something actaully loom then it may then cover it. Non story from that point of view.

Bob Leitch from the Chamber of Commerce was at some odds with his Edinburgh and Glasgow colleagues (who are currently opposing the sell off) when he stated, "That anything which increases competition is good for business. The possibility of another Scottish Airport being sold to another company I think as much increases the prospects for Prestwick as it does deter. Over the past five years and more remarkable progress has been made by Prestwick and greater competition will only lead to greater opportunity as there are many other airlines flying to those other airports who might consider Prestwick in a more competitive environment. Changing market conditions always creates new challenges and I am sure Prestwick and Ayrshire will be ready to deal with such a situation if and when it happens."

However, one prominent hotelier in the area sees it potentially differently and understands from airline insiders that there is a genuine worry about the reliance on Ryanair and any potential loss of that business to Glasgow. It was felt that while Ryanair can exert real influence at Prestwick and they recognise other benefits such as landing fees, two runways and greater reliability of weather these still may not be enough in the long term to ensure their tenancy.

So here's hoping that the optimism of the Ayrshire Post journo is not unfounded but perhaps, and without scaremongering, business in Ayrshire should be looking a little more strategically at the proposed sell off and deciding whether a more pro-active, less laissez faire attitude may be required to ensure that one of its most influential economic drivers continues to flourish. The management of Prestwick Airport are to be congratulated for what they've done over the decade for the local economy often without the recognition of those they've benefitted and it really is pretty critical to the economy of South West Scotland that it continues to flourish and that Ayrshire fights to maintain its excellent accessibility for both tourists and business.

By coincidence, the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce are hosting an open forum on September 4th in Kilmarnock to examine the key performance indicators for the Ayrshire economy and the structures needed for growth for the future. It's an agenda free afternoon so putting forward discussion topics maybe defeats the purpose but on access could the following be worth being rasied from the floor?

Accessibility to Ayrshire - Maintain and increase accessibility
Air
- based on the above Ayrshire business and public sector should actively campaign for the sell off by BA of "Edinburgh not Glasgow." This will truly make Scotland's three central airports more competitive and have a generally bigger impact on competition for the flyer and airlines. It may help avoid displacement. From a purely Ayrshire perspective the sell off of Edinburgh is a potentially "less worse" option than the sell off of Glasgow and therefore the interests of business and residents in the Ayrshire should be sacrosanct.

Sea - refocus on the Irish markets with the ferry operators coming into Troon; examine development of creative seasonal routes such as Troon - Campbeltown - Ballycastle.

Road - continue the campaign fro further upgrading of routes from the south on the A77.

Rail - examine increased integration and highlight the plusses of integrated rail ticketing with the good practice at Prestwick Airport.

The subject of why doesn't a county with the population of Ayrshire have a single council instead of the triplication of North, South and East must surely be raised but maybe that's for another post...

Arisaig Hotel Launch Online Booking

The Arisaig Hotel in Inverness-shire has gone live today with their new booking engine. The wonderfully located hotel overlooking Arisaig Bay towards the Isles of Eigg and Muck dates back to the Jacobite era, and was originally built as a Coaching Inn around 1720. Set on the scenic Road to the Isles, Arisaig is 35 miles from Fort William, and 8 miles from Mallaig (the ferry terminal for Skye) and attracts visitors from all points of the compass because of its location.
The hotel is now using Bookassist to offer these visitors direct bookings from their own website thereby both increasing traffic and reducing the cost of the room sale.
Steven Timpson, from the Bookassist Scottish office explained further, "We've uploaded the availability checker into the hotel's current website as an immediate improvement and will now work with the hotel's sales and marketing team to develop the site structure, content and conversion rates. We'll also discuss cost effective options regarding upgrading of the website's design."
Bookassist are committed to providing full account management support to all their accommodation providers with the view of building traffic and direct room sales. This account management support extends to unique Trafficbuilder programmes and even Sitebuilder development and integration of Web 2.0 tools such as Blogs, YouTube, Picasa galleries and even integration of Google Analytics report with Google Adwords. For more information on the Booking Engine and how you can get your rooms online visit Bookassist in Scotland

Booking Engine Combines with Google Analytics

Bookassist, the leading reservation software and online marketing provider for hotels, has announced a major innovation in its Traffic Builder search engine optimisation and marketing services.
Clients of its award winning Booking Engine software can now use Google Analytics to track usage throughout their websites and specifically to trace clicks on individual adverts right through to a specific booking by a specific person in the Bookassist system via a direct integration between both systems. This allows for website visitor statistics as well as advertising revenue tracking in unprecedented detail.
Client hotels can now "drill down" into any pay per click (PPC) advert campaign and determine instantly the return on investment, in booking revenue terms, for each accommodation package they offer online. This allows for immediate feedback on the perceived value by online customers of special offers, discounts and other offerings the hotel has online, giving the hotel valuable instant intelligence on what is working online and what is not, rather than having to wait to analyse returns at a later date."What we now have is a complete integration between our Booking Engine system and our Traffic Builder [online marketing service] system, all rolled together in Google's Analytics. So in one place you can view user patterns throughout your site and track every single cent spent on PPC to see if a particular advert is generating real booking revenue, what part of the world your booker is coming from, what kind of package was booked and whether any add-ons or additional services were bought", said Mary Collins, responsible for Traffic Builder strategy at Bookassist.
Bookassist's integration of Traffic Builder with Google Analytics leaves no room for doubt and is the most powerful analysis of online marketing available to hotels today. Hotel clients using Traffic Builder can respond instantly to the marketplace based on real data, not on supposition. It is another in a string of tie-ins with Google technology for Bookassist.
Early in 2008, Bookassist was first in the industry to adopt the then-new Google Charts technology for the generation of innovative real-time graphics in its Booking Engine reporting. As far back as 2005, Bookassist integrated its entire database of hotel information with Google Maps. Bookassist is a Google Adwords Qualified Company and works closely with Google and has had access to early technology releases. In 2007 the company was a beta tester of the Google Local service on Google Maps where it now features prominently.
Traffic Builder with Google Analytics is available now, exclusively to hotels using the Bookassist Booking Engine on their websites.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Crusoe Hotel Launch New Site

The Crusoe Hotel in Lower Largo has arguably one of the finest locations of any hotel on the east coast perched above the beach and harbour in the pituresque East Neuk village.
It has today just published its new website which is driven by an all new Sitebuilder Pro package developed for Scottish hospitality businesses.
Sitebuilder Pro includes a full content management system as standard which allows the hotel the ability to not only update their content but manage their images, metatags (for search engines) and add news features, events and even vacancies.
The new website also includes a number of Web 2.0 tools to help get the message across to potential site visitors and includes a complementary Crusoe Hotel Blog which allows guests to subscribe to.
Sitebuilder Pro was itself built around the award winning Bookassist booking engine and therefore offers state of the art online reservations to the guest visiting the site. The booking engine allows The Crusoe site visitor to check availability in multiple languages and currencies, add extras such as chocolates, wine or even a round of golf to their room reservation.
The administarion of the website and availability is easy to manage and even allows Stuart and his team at The Crusoe to update their web 2.0 tools such as their Blog, Google Map, Analytics tools and even their Picasa Photo Gallery all from the same admin panel.
Sitebuilder Pro is now available (along with its partner products Lite and Standard) from Ayrshire based tourism web developers The Edge .
Visit the website for more information on The Crusoe Hotel or to find out how online reservations can work for your business visit http://www.bookassistscotland.com/

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Aviemore Hotel and Restaurant Puts Bookassist on Menu

Aviemore restaurant with rooms, International Starters have chosen Bookassist to drive their online reservations. For those who know Aviemore, the new business has risen from what used to be the Alt-na-Craig. Some of us even remember the "Altna" as our home as students working at The Stakis Coylumbridge earning our tax free Christmas and Easter holiday monies to supplement the next three months term time drinking. I recall six of us (rising occassionally to eight or ten) sharing a room for three weeks and doing sixteen hour split shifts over New Year!
Fortunately, Fraser Coyle who owns and operates the new premises has promised not to achieve such high levels of occupancy for the new rooms!
The whole premises offers a superb new experience for the visitor to Aviemore - something totally different to the chain hotels and smaller B&Bs in the area - with a cosmopolitan dining area and menu and some really well finished bedroom accommodation.
The site now has Bookassist running and with the demand for accommodation in that part of the Highlands still running strong it can expct to secure an impressive share of online bookings through its own website. Visit International Starters in Aviemore and book your room now!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Online Booking for Ayr Guest House

Dunlay House in Ayr with its six bedrooms has this week gone live with online reservations on their website.
They have chosen to use Bookassist as it integrates with their website design easily. The web developers were provided with a bit of CSS code and the site went live within three days of signing up.
It's essential now that all accommodation providers of any size recognise the need to offer theior rooms online. It's neither impersonal not difficult to manage; it's now become an essential offer that many potential visitors now take for granted. To find out more about how online reservaitons can work for your accommodation have a look at www.bookassistscotland.com

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Badenoch and Strathspey Buck Tourism Trends

According to an on-line tourism business barometer conducted by Aviemore and the Cairngorms Destination Management Ltd looking at the current situation and business confidence in the area's most important industry "Badenoch and Strathspey is bucking the national picture of doom and gloom caused by the credit crunch and soaring petrol and energy prices."
The results point to a feeling that summer business levels should hold despite reports elsewhere in the UK of a slump in visitor numbers. Local businesses are much more cautious what the next 12 months has in store for them, however.

Mr Alan Rankin, boss of ACDM Ltd, said: "Businesses predict that they will see a slight increase in customers this summer and a slightly greater increase in turn-over indicating that we may see consumers spending that little bit more when in the area." He said that room occupancy levels was a good measure of the health of local tourism. For April to June, this year, 45 per cent of accommodation providers reported occupancy levels between 30 per cent and 50 per cent.

"Indications are that this is holding with levels perhaps higher than would have been expected when considering all the doom and gloom reported nationally in recent weeks," said Mr Rankin.
"Concerns over general tourism trends have increased by some 17 per cent amongst local businesses since the last quarterly survey. The much greater uncertainty about prospects for the coming years is understandable, given the difficulties in the wider economy and the squeeze on family budgets. Much needs to be done to set the economy on the right track.

Mr Rankin is hopeful that local tourism businesses can weather the storm. He said: "Consumer trends all point towards more activity orientated environmentally responsible leisure breaks taken nearer to home. The area is well placed to make the most of this change but to do so we need to up our game, invest in and support quality products and service along with co-ordinated marketing and promotion."

The full article is available from The Badenoch and Strathspey Herald

Scottish Tourism Forum Weekly News

The excellent weekly news digest has just come in from STF - if you don't already receive it here's the latest...

"The continued concerns on the impact of the credit crunch on tourism in Scotland are now showing a real slow down highlighted by low advanced bookings. Concerns have increased with the news of cuts to the number of flights into Scotland by BA and other operators adding to predictions of a longer term slow down. The accommodation sector has seen numbers reduce noticeably in Glasgow and with the start of the Edinburgh Festival seeing accommodation still available. Bucking the trends however, the Caravan Club are reporting a good season as are top end self catering market across Scotland looking encouraging. We would ask you to feedback your reports from around the country so we can share this with Government.

Thanks to all of you who have replied to our previous requests for feedback on the impact of the new alcohol licensing. With up to a 40% reduction in licence application, mainly from the rural areas, a loss of service to our visitors is certain. We have had examples of B&B's who provided a decanter of whisky for guests after dinner to sample the local malt, attractions who unable to cross sell between items, high lawyers & architects costs, village pubs closing, self catering cottages who provided a welcome pack of local produce including a bottle of wine - all examples of the issues experienced by the tourism trade.

The Fire Legislation is also affecting numerous smaller accommodation operators with the enforcement of the new guidance instructions varying from area to area. We are again gathering information on this to demonstrate the impact of new legislation on an industry already under pressure. Please continue to email us your examples to ruth.greig@stforum.co.uk and we will advise you of the feedback we get from Government on your behalf. "

You can find out more about STF at http://www.stforum.co.uk/