By: Pedro Colaco, CEO, GuestCentric Systems

“Reprinted with permission by www.hotelexecutive.com”

Many independent hotel managers are unhappy with the small amount of business generated by their websites. This should come as no surprise as these websites have poor visibility, and often less than 20 visitors a day. Simple techniques like being present in a few online channels and registering for Google Local Business can dramatically increase the level of visibility of an independent hotel’s website. This article suggests 5 simple and 5 advanced tips to dramatically boost the visibility of an independent hotel’s website as a first step to create a structured online strategy to ensure e-commerce success.

Read full article: 10 Success Tips on Online Visibility for Independent Hotels

Pedro Colaco GuestCentric’s president and CEO talks about GuestCentric Systems

Enjoy!

GuestCentric unveils New Customer Engagement Platform at the PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit

By: Pedro Colaco, CEO, GuestCentric Systems

“Reprinted with persimssion by www.hotelexecutive.com”

Many independent hotel managers are unhappy with the amount of business generated by the websites. This should come as no surprise as only 14% pursue a structured online strategy. Yet, embracing e-commerce is the best opportunity for independent hotels in the downturn of 2009/10 as online bookings continue to grow and travelers show a healthy appetite for booking directly at the hotel’s official website. This article tackles the issue of how independent hotels should create a structured online strategy to ensure e-commerce success for their official websites.

Read full article: Three Key Success Factors for an Independent Hotel’s Website

Stamford, CT – GuestCentric Systems, the premier Software-as-a-Service provider for the independent hotel industry, today announced it has completed a $4 million round of institutional financing led by new investor InovCapital, participated by Turismo Capital and all its major seed investors. This round of funding will be used to accelerate GuestCentric’s growth and market share worldwide and increase investment in product innovation related to e-Commerce optimization and customer intimacy for independent hotels.

“We are delighted that InovCapital decided to join the GuestCentric team. Their investment as well as the total amount raised in this financing round is the ultimate validation of the progress to date and the significant market opportunity that GuestCentric is addressing” said Pedro Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric.

GuestCentric is leading the way in revolutionizing the online presence of hundreds of thousands of independent hotels and is presenting a real challenge to traditional hotel software companies by providing innovative e-Commerce optimization features in an unbeatable Software-as-a-Service model. The closing of the Series A round follows GuestCentric’s highly successful product introduction in 2008 and the rapid growth of its customer base during the past six months, showing an unprecedented 100% customer success ratio of free trials performed in 2009.

The innovative GuestCentric platform comes as a response to independent hotels that want to boost revenues and save on commission costs, by capitalizing on the trend that customers seek a personalized experience and prefer booking directly with the hotel. Hence, hoteliers that relied almost solely on distribution through Online Travel Agents like Expedia are now increasingly choosing GuestCentric for a strong direct online presence, e-Commerce optimization and customer intimacy.

“GuestCentric enjoys that rare combination of an opportunity with ground breaking potential and great momentum.” said Joao Fernandes, Vice President at InovCapital. “The distribution paradigm of the multi-billion market for online hotel sales and marketing is undergoing a wave change. We believe GuestCentric is poised to become the star in this emerging market by providing unique e-Commerce optimization features and a break-through business model. We are delighted to work with GuestCentric’s team in expanding the company’s presence globally and further rounding out its product and service offerings.”

To support its efforts, GuestCentric is recruiting for multiple positions. For more information visit http://www.guestcentric.com/about-us/careers

About GuestCentric Systems

Headquartered in Stamford, CT with offices in UK and Portugal, GuestCentric Systems (http://www.guestcentric.com) is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider that revolutionizes the way independent hotel operators compete for customers. GuestCentric’s Hotel e-Commerce Optimization is a one-stop-shop solution that offers simple and cost-effective ways for hoteliers to create a professional web display, integrate direct online booking and online marketing capabilities to boost revenues, lower expenses and develop long-standing relationships with customers. GuestCentric has a growing customer base in the United States and leading tourism markets like the United Kingdom and Spain.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Karla Martinez
GuestCentric Systems
+1 (203) 989 0173
karla.martinez@guestcentric.com

We’ve just released on our website the “US GAP Report”. This study is based on the results from a survey that shows that the online presence gap is widening between smaller, independent hotels and larger hotel chains in the US. The survey was conducted by GuestCentric in February 2008 and 300 hotels located in the US were polled showing dramatic differences in terms of leveraging their online websites to book consumer and business travel online between independent hotels with less than 80 rooms and branded chain hotels.

This gap is revealed in all of the main aspects analyzed in this survey: website and ability to receive online reservations, presence on internet distribution systems and average occupancy rate.

The content of this report was widely publicized due to the nature of the numbers, where for instance, the GAP between independents and chains regarding having a booking engine on their website stands above the 50% mark.

In the next couple of weeks we will release the “Independent Hotels and the Online Channel”, UK and Spain Reports, so stay tuned.

During the course of the last year we executed several surveys of hotel managers in the US, UK and Spain. As part of the feedback that you provided to us it became clear that different hotels are in different stages of adopting online as a marketing and distribution platform:

• You have a website and a booking engine
• You would like to improve your online presence
• You have a website but don’t believe in online booking
• You don’t have a website

Based on this knowledge, we have created a campaign that explains what the GuestCentric platform can do to address your specific concerns. The campaign is available onour page on YouTube or you can watch the videos here. As always, we would like to have your feedback.

I have a website and a booking engine

I would like to improve my online presence

I don’t believe in online booking

I don’t have a website

Thanks to our marketing department we are now on YouTube. We created a page where we will post relevant videos. The first one is the invite to the launch webinar we are doing with Henry Harteveldt, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research and according to Travel Weekly magazine one of the 33 most influential people in travel in the World. Take a look at the video:

As President and CEO of GuestCentric I would like to officially welcome you to our new blog. The GuestCentric blog will be the place where you will meet our growing team, hear about what we are up to, get updates on our service available on www.guestcentric.com and discuss industry trends that may or may not impact your business.

If you are one of the twenty-odd independent hotels that have been working with us for the past year and have tested our platform for the past six months, we thank you. Your input has been the single most valuable contribution to the success we have had to date. You have embraced our vision to enable a truly guest-centric (hence, the name…) travel experience and to provide this through an easy-to-use and affordable tool.

Your input has allowed us to created an exciting Software as a Service platform that enables smaller independent properties to compete with larger properties and chains using tactics where size and spending matter less and creativity and innovation matter more. And we believe that by aggregating the buying power of lots of smaller hotels we can create a new level of service to guests.

As our first contribution we have organized a webinar with leading industry experts that dissects the state of the industry today and provides practical recommendations that you can start implementing in your hotel right away. Please register for our newsletter to have access to the webinar video and a library of other best practices that we will be developing over time. And if you want to try our service free for 30 days, don’t hesitate to sign-up.

Again, welcome to this blog and stay tuned for more posts about GuestCentric and the industry. Now the adventure starts!

Pedro