Bridging the techno gap for accommodation bookings

NELSON Mandela Bay Tourism is taking bold steps to ensure that the city gets tourist bookings in the future. They have recently negotiated with Nightsbridge to give all NMBT members free access to the Nightsbridge software.

This is a room management system installed at the accommodation venue’s computer which automatically sends the accommodation establishments’ availability to NMBT’s website.

“The great advantage is that it gives real-time availability to people browsing the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism website,” said Doné Louw, co-ordinator of visit reservations and call centre at NMBT. “This is a great way to synchronise information about bookings, availability and it makes it easier for visitors to the site to find the accommodation that is right for them.”

Louw added that previously when the organisation got a query about accommodation they had to physically call around the city. “This system makes things a lot more efficient, it benefits our membership and creates a stronger technological link between us, the members and tourists,” said Louw.

NMBT marketing manager, Titus Chuene also noted that it would benefit the organisation from a statistical point of view. “This system will assist us with research as we will have an idea of how many bed nights were sold in the city. Currently we don’t have that information and this makes life difficult for us as we do not always have accurate statistics. The system will revolutionize the accuracy of our stats and help define our target markets better.”

In addition to the Nightsbridge campaign NMBT is offering their members, for a small monthly fee, linkages with availability on other web booking portals and websites.

This includes live booking links to local websites like SA Places, Sleeping Out, SafariNow, RoomsforAfrica, Kulula; and top international sites like Booking.com, Venere & Expedia; as well as more than 6000 travel agents via Travelport and Flightcentre.

“It can also list your property on corporate booking tools like MyMarket. You then also get a booking button on your own website, where guests can check availability and make online bookings with no commission charged,” said Louw.

He also noted that if members use the following room management systems they can also send their availability through Nightsbridge:

• Semper v5.5 and up.
• Hotelier v7.062 up and v8 up.
• Hotelier Lite is not able to integrate.
• Inn Keeper - (PSD in Touch) any version if it has been upgraded in the last year; Guest House Manager; Guest Manager; Lodge Control; LodgeMan; Merchant; Odyssey; Power Guest; Panstrat; Lodge Manager; Room Master (some versions); SAP Rapide; Blutrac; Hope; Sky Software

Author: Amy Shelver