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On the Road Again Quokka Systems was priviledged to join in the BC Lodging and Campgrounds roadshow this year. Robert Ford was able to give a short presentation to BCLCA members about online booking. Both Trant Lee-Amies and Robert Ford had the opportunity to visit Hills Health Ranch outside of 100 Mile House. The photos speak for themselves! Below is an edited transcript of the presentation. ———————————————
Quokka
Systems is the official online booking engine for the BC Lodging and Camprounds
Association. This May we are celebrating 3 years
of having
our online booking system in the market.
One thing we've learned is that the Internet can be a bewildering place. During this presentation, I am hoping to clarify taking bookings for hotels, motels, B&Bs and campgrounds. I want to give some clarity to how people with computers behave when the book a room or a site. Let's follow the course of a booking. First, there is the need. For example, why go to 100 Mile House? For me it's business, for others a vacation. But something narrowed it down to this town. Whatever the reason, some people choose to book a room or do research about accommodation using a computer at the home or office. Why? Often it is the comfort of being at the home or office and with the Internet all the information is in one place. How do they find your property? Nick [of Sage Internet] has discussed search engines and of course there is advertising. What else do you do? Once someone has found your property, what do they do? The one thing they aren't able to get in many of your sites is availability. When this happens the odds of them going and comparison shopping is high. If you have online booking, they have the opportunity to book on the spot and not go shopping elsewhere. Today, what are you expecting people to do to book? Most of you expect them to phone you or email you. Phoning may not be convenient and email creates and unknown delay. By the time you respond, the booking could be lost. And why be a slave to your email? When comparison shopping, rate and availability are the determining factors for staying somewhere. Those that provide this information through an online booking engine have an advantage. If we think in terms of Marketing and Sales, there are a variety of marketing
vehicles. But for sales, online booking is your sales capture machine. People are expecting this now. BC Parks for camping has set the standard by sites booked online. Not having online booking is like not answering your 1-800 line. Online booking is also service. The Internet shopper expects automated booking. You may think this as being impersonal and not providing service. For the people that use computers, they want the service of self service. They want to come to your property and talk to you, not watch you answer the phone when they are checking in! I'm running out of time now, so here's my quick plug. Quokka Systems provides service to you in order that you can provide automated service to your guests who shop with a computer. We can set you up in hours with information you already have. You don't have to worry about software. We handle security, databases, backups, upgrades, etc. You all have Internet connections so that's covered and your web master can put a book now button on your page in minutes. Best of all, we don't abandon you. We monitor your account, call you and
try to make sure everything is OK. Robert Ford,
President |
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