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BookIt has launched in Australia with top Holiday Rental Accommodation website Stayz.com.au. Holiday seekers are now able to pay directly online through Stayz, and property owners can use the system to simplify the management of their booking payments.
This new system ensures Stayz meets consumer demand for online transactions and will boost consumer confidence in holiday rental bookings.
Benefits for property owners include quick and easy collection of funds, the ability to manage their own amendments, cancellations and refunds at the touch of a button, and prominence of the online payment facility.
Kirsty Shaw, General Manager for Stayz, explains.
"We researched a range of different technology options for providing online booking and payments on our website. When selecting BookIt we were confident that we had found not only the right software, but the right team and expertise to deliver the solution."
The site upgrade launched prior to Christmas with immediate success.
"It's great to see guests and property owners embracing the new system to transact." explains Jon Harrison, Product Manager for Stayz.
The team at BookIt are looking forward to other opportunities in the Australian travel space.
"This foothold is a great chance for us to assess the market in Australia." explains director Ryan Baker. "BookIt is working really well for our New Zealand clients, so it is a logical next step to look to offer the service in Australia."
Plans for the next phase of the Stayz project are underway with further releases due to go live in the first quarter of 2010.
About Stayz:
• The number 1 website in Australia for online holiday rentals, with over 20,000 property listings from over 1,400 locations throughout Australia
• Ranked 3rd in Australia for online accommodation
• Visited by over 590,000* unique browsers each month and has over 200,000 subscribers to its fortnightly e-newsletter (*Source: Neilsen//Netratings, Market Intelligence, total audience average 2009)
• Offers Australian home owners an opportunity to list their rental property online and make the most of their investment.
In this Newsletter:
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BookIt makes Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific
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Tourism Auckland launches BookIt system
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New BookIt suppliers getting great feedback
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BookIt Xmas support information
Click here to read the newsletter...
We are thrilled to announce that BookIt has been ranked on the 2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific - one of the region's most comprehensive and respected rankings of fast-growing technology companies.
The Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program is now in its eighth year. The program recognizes technology companies that have achieved the fastest rates of annual revenue growth in Asia Pacific during the past three years. It includes companies based in Australia, China, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau SAR, Malaysia, Philippines, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The awards luncheon was held at the prestigious Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong on Thursday, 10 December 2009, and was attended by hundreds of CxO’s and senior management from winning companies across Asia Pacific. Immediately following the awards luncheon was the regional media conference, which was attended by key regional and press/media.
“Making the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific ranking is a testament to a company’s commitment to technology,” Ian Thatcher, partner in charge of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific program. “With its 150% growth rate over three years, BookIt has proven that its leadership has the vision and determination to grow in difficult conditions.”
BookIt ranks 293rd on the index with growth of 150% percent during this period. It is excellent to also see 51 New Zealand businesses making the index this year, compared to 31 in 2008 and 38 in 2007. Go Kiwi!
To read more, visit the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific website.
BookIt has been selected to provide the online booking system for Tourism Auckland's website. As New Zealand's largest city and the main gateway to the country, Auckland is the biggest contributor to the New Zealand tourism sector. "We are proud to play our part in providing the best possible online booking experience to this key market." says Andrew Schofield, director of BookIt Ltd.
The website leverages BookIt's complete product suite including the last minute booking, cross-selling and dynamic packaging tools.
"As an ongoing part of enhancing our service, the AucklandNZ.com website now offers a complete one-stop shop allowing travellers to book everything from hotels and motels, to rental cars, campervans and local tours and activities." explains Hayden Bairstow, Online Marketing Communicator at Tourism Auckland.
"Phase 1" of the BookIt powered AucklandNZ.com website launched in October with strong early sales and customers making bookings for accommodation, rental cars, bus tours and attractions. Additional features for "Phase 2" are under development.
Five years ago, on the 21st of September 2004, an unsuspecting Japanese chap by the name of Yusuke booked 2 nights accommodation at the Novotel hotel in Queenstown. Little did he know, a small team in Dunedin, New Zealand were anxiously awaiting the moment. Completely unaware was this man that his booking had generated the first $10.80 of revenue for a fledgling internet start-up.
Thanks Yusuke! :)
And thanks to those who popped around on Friday night to share a birthday drink with us. It was great to see you all.
The main objective of the E Tourism Conference is to create awareness, educate and update the travel industry with the latest e-travel strategies. This will enable tourism providers to achieve maximum return on their advertising investment and teach them how to do this effectively in the minimum time necessary.
Andrew and I are really looking forward to meeting delegates and fellow exhibitors at the conference. It will be a great chance to catch up and we'll have demos of the booking engine available from our booth. If you are attending the conference and would like to arrange an appointment please contact ryan@bookit.co.nz. Otherwise feel free to play it by ear and come and see us any time that works for you.
For more information on the conference, or to book conference accommodation (powered by BookIt of course!), visit www.etourismnz.com.
In a media release yesterday, the Ministry of Tourism Research have confirmed that New Zealand travellers are increasingly using the internet to book more than just accommodation. The report comes as a result of the latest Regional Visitor Monitor (RVM) survey.
“We’re seeing a real trend to domestic travel being booked online across a range of travel purchases,” said Bruce Bassett, Ministry of Tourism Research Manager.
Mr Bassett said that these findings show that tourism operators in all areas of the industry needed to get their inventory web-ready and keep their web content fresh and relevant.
“This data sends a clear message to operators that domestic travellers, who account for 56% of tourism spend in New Zealand, are expecting to be able to plan and book as much as they can online. It’s important for operators to make sure their website meets this expectation.”
If it is not done well, online bookings can be a complicated, costly & unproductive exercise. The really good news for NZ tourism operators, is that BookIt makes online bookings easy and accessible for everyone. Since 1999 we have been building online booking systems for the travel and tourism industry and for over 5 years we have packaged this knowledge into our BookIt online booking engine.
With clients that range from NZ's largest tourism organisations and RTO's, through to family run B&B's, BookIt can plug into your website for FREE to capture this growth in online booking activity.
Contact us, or register for free today!
BookIt suppliers will soon find themselves squarely on the map with the announcement by Yellow™ that it has chosen BookIt to deliver live rates and booking functionality for the recently re-launched Yellow™ Maps site.
"We are delighted to have been selected", explains Ryan Baker, Director of BookIt Ltd. "The team at Yellow evaluated the different options available to them, and we were always confident that BookIt was the right solution."
Working with Auckland based Marker Studio, BookIt will provide live feeds of product rates and bookings availability within a new dedicated accommodation search feature on Yellow™ Maps. Visitors to the new website will be able to search, locate, compare and book from a range of available options.
Campbell Brown, Senior Product Manager for Yellow’s Digital Media team, will head up the project.
“The partnership with BookIt is a great fit for us”, explains Campbell. “Yellow Maps is a key component of our digital strategy and providing accommodation search is a natural progression for this site. Along with the fundamentals like maps, driving directions, and business listings we needed the best possible solution for accommodation search. With the BookIt solution we are able to directly access the data that we need and present this on a map specific to the user’s requirements.
“BookIt’s software also gives us a full, out of the box, online booking engine that we can plug directly into the Yellow Maps website.“
If you are a tourism operator and have not yet signed up for a free BookIt account, we have a simple piece of advice for you, do it now! Any operator, large or small, whether accommodation, transport or activity, can register with BookIt and have their products advertised on a range of leading travel websites, soon to include Yellow™ Maps.
The new look Yellow™ Maps site launched on April 10th 2009 with another release that will include the BookIt function set for mid June 2009.
APPLICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION ARE NOW CLOSED
We are seeking an experienced, junior to intermediate .Net developer to join our Dunedin team. This is an excellent opportunity to work as part of one of New Zealand's most innovative IT companies in an exciting and fast growing Software as a Service (SaaS) application team.
This is a challenging role and you will need to be well organised and have a strong sense of initiative. You will be able to demonstrate the following abilities:
• ASP.Net, C#, .Net Web Services & SQL Server databases
• A well rounded knowledge of general web technologies such as HTML, CSS & XML
• Object oriented programming and multi-tier application development
• Excellent communication, both verbal and written
• Time management skills and an ability to work to deadlines and work unsupervised
Experience in the following areas is also an advantage:
• SQL Reporting Services
• Knowledge of the travel and tourism industry
• Production e-commerce and financial systems
• Requirements engineering and experience with the full SDLC
This is a perfect role for a first-rate software engineer who is looking for a chance to grow to the top of their field. You will be working in a development capacity and contributing to the development of high profile, high volume e-commerce systems for a range of clients including some of New Zealand's largest organisations.
If you know you've got what it takes, send your CV and covering letter to ryan@bookit.co.nz.
You must be eligible to work in NZ to apply for this role.
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