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AddaJet.com unveils booking engine for Facebook, smart phone and TV

Pieta, 04/11/10 - As online booking for travel products is constantly on the increase, so is the need to offer cross-platform solutions for hotels and online travel portals to better reach their audience.

In light of the fast growth of addaJet.com, the internet booking engine developed by Booking & Co, the company's Malta-based research and development unit has announced three plug-ins to be unveiled at this year's edition of World Travel Market in London.

Over the past two years Booking & Co developed cutting edge internet booking engine solutions for the tourism industry. Through its research and development unit, the company behind addaJet.com has been offering innovative e-business products with its software applications; addaJet.com Hotel Edition, addaJet.com Travel Portal Edition, Travelsuite Pro and TourDynamics.

The last few months were focused on bridging the gap between the web as an e-commerce platform and other channels and devices. Particular attention was given to social networks and their potential in furthering the reach for hoteliers, online travel portal owners and tour operators, increasing direct online sales whilst maintaining costs at sustainable levels.

The company will be unveiling its mobile version of the internet booking engine for hotels that works on all major smart phones; iPhone, Blackberry and Android-driven phones. These apps will be available free for users.

Andrew Ransley, business development director at Booking & Co, says "addaJet.com will enable hotels to be bookable not only through Facebook and mobile, but we will also show how one can browse, choose and book the next desired destination, hotel, excursions together with the family from the comfort of one’s own living room”.

Ransley added that the new generation platform will be the television, were more will be unveiled on Stand TT230 at World Travel Market between 8 and 11 November.

MHRA and BeeGuides launch F&B site

Floriana, 28/06/10 – The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) has teamed up with Mark Bugeja’s BeeGuides to produce a website that lists all restaurants, snack bars and wine bars on the islands.

The site, www.dineinmalta.com, provides information according to cuisine, type of outlet, location and ethnicity – but don’t bother looking for Maltese cuisine, there is no search option for it.

The criteria for inclusion on the site is simple – only Malta Tourism Authority licensed eateries are listed, nevertheless that is some 1,100 outlets of which only 270 are MHRA members.

“The need to have a comprehensive website featuring all catering establishment, has long been felt", explains MHRA president George Micallef, “as dining out is becoming increasingly more popular”.

This site, adds Micallef, “also serves as a platform for the MHRA to reach out to the catering trade and to encourage and recognise quality service”.
BeeGuides, meantime, own and manage the site.

Luggage Limits introduces universal baggage allowance calculator

Mosta, 24/06/10 - A new web widget can now be downloaded and installed for free by any travel site. The Luggage Limits website (www.luggagelimits.com) easily allows visitors to evaluate the costs of often-changing baggage fees and policies of more than 170 airlines, including Air Malta.

Its widget can be downloaded and displayed on any other website, thus offering airline travel websites, such as travel agents, airports, and baggage shipping companies, with the same extensive baggage information database that is available on the Luggage Limits site.

A web widget is a stand-alone application that can be embedded into third party site by users on a page where they have authorship rights. The Luggage Limits’ application works on third party sites much like a currency calculator, were simple airline and airport input menus allow users to quickly find the cost of baggage fees of an airline on a specific flight. Because these fees and policies can vary greatly between different flights and tickets classes, the service the widget provides can be a major help to travellers who are deciding which is the most cost efficient airline to fly.

Like the widget, there are no hidden fees or membership/registration catches involved with using the website. Luggagelimits.com has received up to 11,000 visits or hits per day since its launch in August 2009. The site is updated daily and also allows visitors to compare baggage fees between airlines by displaying all relevant baggage information side by side through its new compare feature.

To access and download the freely available coding for the widget, visit www.luggagelimits.com/referral

“Almost from the time Luggage Limits was launched, I was asked whether I’d be developing a widget that could be installed on other travel websites”, said website founder Luke Dudley. “I’m pleased that in less than 10 months, we’re able to provide it for free and share the benefits with many more travel businesses and their customers”.

Free listings facility launched on ChooseMalta.com

Msida, 01/06/10 - More and more consumers turn to the internet on a daily basis to search for a local service or business. ChooseMalta.com, one of Malta’s leading booking engines has just launched a listings facility which allows tourism related attractions and other local services to be list for free.

‘’Our online users are mostly foreign, wanting to book a hotel online and researching what other activities one can do”, commented co-founder Jonathan Shaw, “nonetheless, we also have a substantial amount of local users who book weekend breaks or research valuable information like restaurants and other services’’, Shaw added.

Whilst listings are available for free, ChooseMalta.com is also offering users the chance “to upgrade their listings to silver or gold thus maximising their exposure online with a negligible added cost starting from over €5 per month.

‘’In today’s online environment, consumer generated content and reviews have become a vital tool for everyone involved online. This listing facility is a brilliant opportunity for most businesses in Malta to take advantage of our high traffic and favourable Google rankings”.

InterConti launches rewards iPhone app

Atlanta, 01/05/10 – The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced the global launch of its Priority Club Rewards iPhone app.

The app complements IHG’s worldwide strategy which includes its enhanced mobile websites that provide customers with the functionality to find and book hotel rooms, check rates and view or cancel reservations for all seven of its brands.

IHG was an early pioneer in the mobile space with the hotel industry’s first wireless reservation system in 2001. Today, the company’s mobile strategy and platform continue to expand. The iPhone app is the latest entry into the mobile space from IHG following the release of its enhanced mobile websites more than a year ago. These websites are currently generating more than $1 million per month in revenue for IHG’s hotels globally – growing by more than 600 per cent over the past year.

As part of the iPhone app launch, IHG is offering users 1,000 Priority Club Rewards bonus points for all bookings and stays until 15 June 15 made using the iPhone app.
IHG’s Priority Club Rewards iPhone app is available in English at the iPhone app store.

InterContinental concierges trial Apple iPads

Mosta, 06/04/10 - InterContinental Hotels & Resorts is the first hotel brand to supply its concierge staff with Apple’s new iPads (right), released today.

As part of a global trial, guests staying at the InterContinental New York Barclay, the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta, the InterContinental London Park Lane and the InterContinental Hong Kong, can look forward to receiving “enhanced local destination advice from hotel concierge teams, guided by mobile, multi-touch, content-rich Apple iPads”.

The chain says that the iPad is perfect for common tasks such as providing directions - rather than jot directions on a foldable paper map, a concierge will be able to provide exact directions, through interactive maps with high-resolution satellite imagery, close-up street views and detailed walking routes; giving restaurant advice and making reservations for guests. Although it insists the devices will serve merely to enhance the traditional concierge services.

“We are also preparing to pilot state-of-the-art Google Maps technology as well as other enhancements, and the Apple iPad will be a revolutionary way of showcasing some of these features”, a company spokesman says.

25 MTA podcasts available for download

Valletta, 01/03/10 - The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) is continuously searching for new ways to promote Malta. And at the end of last year it launched two podcasts - taped broadcasts that can be listened to on either a computer or a mobile device, such as an IPod Touch or an iPhone.

The first two dealt with Valletta and Malta’s main archaeological sites. Now, 25 are available covering subjects as diverse as beaches and the coast, the knights of Malta, Gozo, Mdina, Rabat and Naxxar, Caravaggio in Malta and the more controversial Reno Piano’s project for Valletta.

The podcasts – which, incidentally, are excellent - serve a “myriad of purposes, such as a PR item and give away at fairs, conventions and conferences; an informative and handy quick guide to Malta pre and post arrival; as a source of specific information for journalists and as a working tool for MTA staff presenting Malta to the trade”.

All the podcasts are available from the MTA’s website (www.visitmalta.com/Podcasts) from iTunes and, shortly, from YouTube, “thus increasing Malta’s visibility and reaching out to a new audience who may not necessarily be targeted by the more traditional advertising channels”.

Westin launches 3D planning site

St Julian’s, 18/02/10 - Take the worry out of planning your next big business event - the Westin Dragonara Resort “provides everything you need with its newly launched interactive meeting and conference portal, ideal for easy event planning”.

The new portal helps organisers by planning all the details required for a successful meeting, including the actual room set up. The meeting planner can also visualise the room in 3D as well take a virtual tour of how the room will look like including table linen, particular set ups as well as staging. For more information visit www.westindragonaramalta.com/en/meetings.

Kempinski launches new website

San Lawrenz, 02/01/10 - The Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz and its 60 sister properties around the “globe concluded an extensive rebranding exercise of the luxury hotel group with the worldwide relaunch of Kempinski hotel web sites”.

The new look and feel of Kempinski hotels has been translated into a completely revamped website offering a fresh and modern interface. A picture says more than a 1,000 words, as the adage goes; hence photography is by far the most important element in the new internet presentation of Kempinski, while text content has been drastically reduced. The new website of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz can now be found at www.kempinski.com/gozo.

Secure online booking remains a prominent feature of the new website.

Recognising the importance of giving prospective visitors visual impressions not only of the accommodation but also the destination, the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz has recently established an innovative destination blog, www.discover-gozo.com. It offers weekly articles about things to do and places to see in Gozo, in an attractive, advert-free environment.