2nd largest tourism market in the World adopting all-in-one hotel digital marketing solutions to combat OTA dominance

GuestCentric, the award-winning provider of hotel digital marketing solutions continues its worldwide expansion and announced today the launch of its Barcelona office in Spain. Spain is according to the World Tourism Organization the 2nd largest tourism destination with over $50B in annual revenue from international tourists alone.

Spain’s hotel market is highly fragmented and led by independent operators that have traditionally relied on a few distribution channels to promote their properties to consumers. It is critical for these hotels to have access to a centralized tool that allows them to publish their digital content to as many online, mobile and social channels as possible so that they can provide extraordinary service to their guests wherever they may be.

“An all-in-one solution that provides easy and intelligent access to hotel digital marketing can change the way independent hotels do business in Spain,” said Pedro Colaco, GuestCentric’s CEO. “Leading the way with opinion leaders like Casa de Madrid in Madrid and El Palauet in Barcelona is the first step to change the landscape in Spanish hotel digital marketing.”

Explosive adoption of the GuestCentric digital marketing solution in the second half of 2011 anticipated the need for a permanent presence to provide local support and meet the demand of an exciting hospitality market. The Barcelona office will host GuestCentric’s Spanish sales and support team, and will be led by Pedro Gomez as e-Commerce director. The office is expected to grow to 8 full-time headcount by the end of the year.

“The need to diversify from the growing dominance of OTAs in Spain is providing a huge increase in demand for GuestCentric’s digital marketing solutions,” said Pedro Gomez. “We felt that it was the right time to increase our presence with the new office space here in Barcelona and am honored to lead the team. I expect to achieve significant market share in the country in the coming year just like we have done in other markets where we have a local presence.”

GuestCentric, the award-winning provider of digital sales and marketing solutions for boutique hotels announced today the launch of its QuickBook Mobile booking engine. Based on intensive usability testing, QuickBook Mobile is a breakthrough innovation that is bound to dramatically increase bookings by providing mobile-optimized information to travelers on cell phones.

When booking a hotel with QuickBook Mobile, consumers are displayed a multi-touch calendar with the best rates and availability for tonight, tomorrow night and the following 4 nights. The next 6 nights cover 90% of all mobile bookings according to a study of mobile consumers performed by GuestCentric with 300 hotels over a period of 3 months. Some other highlights of the GuestCentric study:

• 60% of mobile consumers book for tonight or tomorrow night.
• 90% of mobile consumers book between one and three nights.
• 95% of mobile consumers book just one room.

Travelers looking to book other dates are walked through a more traditional availability check workflow.

“I was surprised at how many mobile bookings were for the same night or the night right after,” said Omar Casasola at Hotel Maria del Carmen Motel in Merida, Mexico. “GuestCentric understood this trend and launched the QuickBook Mobile booking engine. This ability to read what is important to consumers is the reason why we selected GuestCentric in the first place, and QuickBook mobile just reconfirmed our decision to go with GuestCentric.”

QuickBook Mobile leverages the latest HTML5 and CSS3 techniques to provide a fast, interactive experience to consumers. In addition, QuickBook Mobile takes advantage of GuestCentric’s leading all-in-one hotel revenue generation platform that includes its multi-device booking engine, award-winning website solutions, channel management and social marketing.

“We spend a very large amount of time looking at consumer patterns and anticipating where online travel is going. Providing innovation that adds value to the consumer is what keeps GuestCentric ahead of the competition,” said Pedro Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric. “QuickBook Mobile is part of our continued effort to provide our hotel customers with the strongest solution possible to grow their brand, visibility online and ultimately, increase their revenue.”

The QuickBook Mobile booking engine is immediately available for all GuestCentric customers and the upgrade to QuickBook Mobile is free of charge.

A few examples of customers that have deployed QuickBook Mobile:

• Hotel Aiken
• Glassdrumman Lodge
• Liss Ard Estate
• Chiado 16

Boutique and economy properties with less than 120 rooms adopting mobile technology at unprecedented speed

Fairfield, NJ — Jun 08, 2011 / (http://www.guestcentric.com/) — GuestCentric Systems, the all-in-one cloud provider of commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry announced today the launch of leading-edge mobile features that advance small independent hotels’ web presence way beyond those of many larger competing properties. Mobile traffic has been growing explosively, with Google claiming that 19% of all hotel queries come from mobile devices.

Mobile in one tap

For the first time, properties with less than 120 rooms can enter the World of mobile with no extra effort. The new mobile commerce feature is included for all GuestCentric customers, and enabling it is just one click.
“I got an email from GuestCentric saying that a new mobile commerce feature was available.” said Kristi Steiert at the Pony Express Motel in Jackson Hole, WY. “It took me literally one minute to get the upgrade request in, and once I republished my website I got my first mobile reservation the very next day!”

GuestCentric’s mobile commerce puts independent hotels’ websites in the pockets of always-on warriors, allowing them mobile-optimized access to content wherever they are. With a simple multi-touch interface, hotel guests can be serviced on the road, whether trying to book, or getting information en-route to the hotel. Hotel address and phone numbers are prominently displayed on the hotels’ mobile websites. Two of the most used features are tap to call and directions at fingertip leveraging the power of Google Maps in Android and iPhones.

Even though they are on the road, mobile users can still experience the properties’ look and feel as GuestCentric’s mobile sites display high-quality pictures optimized for mobile devices.

“The GuestCentric mobile site and booking engine have an application quality to them that I had never seen before.” said Heleen Uitenbroek at Chiado 16, a small luxury guesthouse that recently won a Hermes and an IMA award. “I was actively looking at a mobile strategy for my property. Now that I have a wonderful mobile site from GuestCentric it does not make sense to build a mobile application for iPhone or Android any longer.”

Across GuestCentric’s user base, mobile devices like smartphones and iPads represent already 3% to 8% of visitors, and traffic is growing exponentially every month.

“We have seen tremendous growth of mobile usage across hundreds of our customers’ sites since November 2010. Once we spotted this trend we set out to build the best possible mobile experience that a hotel can provide to its users.” said Pedro Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric. “Reception by our boutique and economy customers has been overwhelming. Over 20% of GuestCentric’s users enabled the new feature on their websites just in the first three days of the feature being available.”

Additional pricing information and details on signing up for a 14 day free trial, available at: www.guestcentric.com/pricing

Fairfield, NJ – GuestCentric Systems, the social cloud provider of e-Commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry, announced today that the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association (BLLA), http://www.blla.org will offer GuestCentric’s integrated e-Commerce platform as part of its distribution solution to optimize online bookings for BLLA member properties who choose to use the system. This opportunity for properties opens new markets and showcases GuestCentric as cloud solutions provider for the boutique hospitality segment.

GuestCentric’s innovative technology offers independent properties the opportunity to provide a rich online and offline experience to demanding guests, without entering in time-consuming and expensive customization projects.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer the GuestCentric platform which will assist members in optimizing their online business. This new relationship will provide our members who choose to utilize the program, with new, easy to use technologies that will contribute valuable information to enable them to be more competitive,” said Frances Kiradjian, CEO and Founder of BLLA.

Through the new consumer BLLA website, boutique hoteliers will have the means to distinguish their properties and brands and easily communicate their offerings directly to travelers. Thanks to GuestCentric technology, boutique hotels are going to be able to expand their guests online activity by allowing them to find a hotel based on experiences. In addition, the one screen-booking engine simplifies the transaction process and provides a fluid shopping experience to guests.

“There are very few initiatives designed to level the playing field for this emerging segment and BLLA has demonstrated to be a natural leader.” said Pedro Colaco President & CEO of GuestCentric. “The integration of modern e-commerce tools and innovative social marketing with BLLA best practices will give boutique properties the ability to differentiate their online presence and immediately capitalize on new trends that travelers search for.”

About the Boutique & Lifestyle Lodging Association (BLLA)

BLLA is the first and only hotel association dedicated to uniting the world’s boutique and lifestyle properties. Created to be the unifying voice of this distinctive subset within the hospitality industry, its goal is to unite the world’s collection of boutique & lifestyle properties and the suppliers that sustain them, offering them the opportunity to successfully compete on a level playing field with major hotel companies, as well as market themselves to meet the ever-increasing demand from discerning boutique-seeking clients.

About GuestCentric Systems

GuestCentric Systems develops and markets cloud solutions that revolutionize the way independent hotels work. GuestCentric provides a fast and easy way for hoteliers to take control over their online business and adopt the right mix between direct sales and distribution. By using GuestCentric’s next-generation hotel e-commerce and social marketing solutions, independent hotels can develop long-standing relationships with guests; improve online revenues and lower expenses associated with online distribution.

Premier award recognition program validates that smaller independent hotels can modernize their online business and deliver top-notch results

GuestCentric Systems the social cloud provider of e-commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry announced that the Web Marketing Association (WMA) – the premier award recognition program for Web developers and marketers worldwide – awarded Casa de Madrid’s website with the Hotel and Lodging Standard of Excellence award in the 2010 WebAwards competition.

Each WebAward entry was judged against a standard of excellence and then against other entries in the category. Entries were judged on the following seven criteria: design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, navigation and ease of use. This award reinforces GuestCentric’s compromise to deliver their customers with solutions that enable them to create an outstanding online presence in a fast and easy way.

“Together with GuestCentric, we’ve been working hard over the past 6 months to build a world-class website for Casa de Madrid.  Being a small luxury guesthouse competing with big budget traditional hotels, it is vital for Casa de Madrid to have a cutting edge e-commerce system to leverage our online marketing strategies.” Said Ashley Usiskin, Business Development Consultant at Casa de Madrid “Partnering with GuestCentric has meant we have been able to thrive in the current tough economic climate and we look forward to continuing to benefit from their expertise and services.  We’re delighted to be involved in this award and congratulate GuestCentric on this great achievement.”

GuestCentric provides e-commerce solutions that provide a fast and easy way for independent properties to develop their online business and engaging guests on social media outlets.

“To have one of our websites recognized with an award by the Web Marketing Association is an important milestone for GuestCentric as it reinforces our vision that smaller independent properties are capable to compete at the same level as branded properties.” Said Pedro Colaco President and CEO of GuestCentric Systems “This award represents GuestCentric’s team hard work to provide the most innovative e-commerce platform of the hotel industry.”

The competition was judged by a team of independent Internet professionals representing a variety of relevant disciplines of Web site development. Judges included members of the media, advertising executives, site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters. The best are recognized with a WebAward which helps interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world.

The platform fosters collaborative development and distribution of new and innovative social cloud applications for the hotel industry

GuestCentric Systems http://www.guestcentric.com the social cloud provider of e-commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry announced the launch of the Developers Cloud to independent web designers and software developers around the world at http://developers.guestcentric.com. By joining the Developers Cloud, independent web designers and developers are going to be able to provide an end-to-end solution to their customers based on a leading hotel e-commerce cloud.

“Opening our cloud to web designers and developers around the world provides them the opportunity to take advantage of GuestCentric’s leading web-based platform tailored to the hotel industry, This unprecedented access to the cloud will allow designers and developers to come up with new ideas and innovations that may not have been previously considered or thought possible.” Said Filipe Machaz, VP of Product Management at GuestCentric “The launching of the new developer’s cloud community reinforces GuestCentric’s position as a leading force in driving e-commerce and social marketing innovation in the hotel industry.”

The opening of GuestCentric’s cloud will not only bring enhancements to GuestCentric’s platform, but it will also give web designers and developers the opportunity to deepen their market share in the hotel industry by adding top-notch e-commerce solutions to their offer. For the first time, web designers are going to be able to deliver fully integrated hotel websites with e-commerce included, without having go through a tedious requirements gathering and development process.

The launch of the Developers Cloud is the second step in opening the GuestCentric community for designers and developers and follows the successful launch of the WordPress booking engine plug-in and Joomla! booking engine module.

“Since we moved our website development to the GuestCentric cloud, we were able to deliver top-notch solutions to our customers with very limited effort, since GuestCentric provides a complete e-commerce and social marketing platform, and have been able to focus on what we do best: innovate.”  Said Rodrigo Costa, managing partner at Monday Interactive Marketing. “We are now in the process of developing a mobile reservations application based on the GuestCentric API that will provide our customers a powerful way to engage guests on the day of check-in and GuestCentric already showed interest in potentially reselling it to their growing customer base of properties around the world.” finished Rodrigo

Joining the Developers Cloud will enable designers and developers to:

• Integrate GuestCentric’s social distribution platform into existing or new sites via readily available snipplets, widgets and plug-ins;
• Develop custom websites based on GuestCentric’s award-winning Content Management System and host them at SAS 70 Type II facilities.
• Develop web and mobile applications and plug-ins customer engagement and reservations management via GuestCentric API.
• The Developers Cloud will also provide extensive access to technical documentation, news and resources, namely:

• Access to a sandbox to test GuestCentric’s snipplets, widgets and plug-ins;
• Submission of web design templates for sale through GuestCentric and other cloud members;
• Submission of applications for sale through GuestCentric and other cloud members;
• An open forum that discusses best practices in hotel website design and development;
• Support from GuestCentric’s web design and engineering team.

“As a digital communication agency focused on innovation, we are pleased to see that leader companies like GuestCentric allow us to take our work to the next level by providing us with powerful, yet easy-to-use tools. Delivering solutions based on GuestCentric’s integrated e-commerce and social marketing Cloud will clearly contribute to the expansion of our brand and allow us to enter a new market segment with a strong and differentiated offer.“ Said Nuno Silva Partner at Wiz Interactive  – 2010 Digital Agency of the year and multiple web award winner.

To ensure that GuestCentric’s services are used appropriately and productively GuestCentric will approve interested web designers and developers. Learn more at: http://developers.guestcentric.com

Aware of the new online searching patterns of travelers, StayinEstes.com a 9-loft independent property located in Estes Park, CO was committed to create and control a successful e-Commerce strategy. At the same time they were concerned about how to provide a professional looking website that increased their direct bookings.

Integrated e-commerce platform design for independent properties

After a long search among different providers StayinEstes.com found in GuestCentric Systems the only easy to use integrated platform that could meet the needs of properties like theirs. The property was equipped with powerful marketing and distribution tools that focus on the development and management of direct online bookings:

• A new professional website design
• Powerful booking engine
• Reservation and revenue management platform
• Automated Guest CRM
• Integrated user reviews and user generated content
• Social networks integration

With a professional web design, the new hotel website transmits the look and feel of the property and provides relevant information to visitors that increases conversions. Thanks to GuestCentric’s Instant Hotel Technology, StayinEstes.com now has full control of their website. They can update and change the content anytime without having to worry about additional charges.

Customers love the simplicity, speed and safety of the booking engine

StayinEstes.com is very pleased with the ease-of-use of their new online reservations system and the one screen-booking engine that provides a calendar overview of up to 550 days with real time availability and pricing. The booking engine provides simple and complete information about rooms and booking restrictions. This means that customers have all the necessary information to make a purchasing decision without having to exit the booking engine.

The reservations platform is a time saving tool that simplifies the management of the online and offline reservations. Now the property can focus in creating strategies to increase business. With the complete hotel analytics provided by the back-end, finally the property has a clear view on the website’s performance, number of visits, visits per country as well as detailed information on revenue.

Monetizing social media

Aware of the rapid changes in the searching preferences of online travelers, StayinEstes.com integrated GuestCentric’s portable booking engine to their Twitter account and Facebook page. This technology allows them to sell their rooms, simplify booking transactions by providing direct access to the property’s booking engine through Facebook and Twitter in fewer clicks.

Outstanding results, one secret: Look, Book, Interact

Look – Two months after the new website went live, StayinEstes.com experienced an increase of 230% in unique number of website visitors. By having control of their website StayinEstes.com can immediately react to the demand and preferences of their visitors and guarantee the best offer available online. “The website and booking engine not only provide visitors with the best available rates but we also try to provide them with a wider offer where they can choose based on their needs and wants” Said StayinEstes.com manager Mark Despain

Book – The increase of the website traffic increased the booking engine visibility and thanks to GuestCentric’s easy to use powerful e-Commerce tools, the direct online revenue of the property had an outstanding growth of 700% in four months. “We couldn’t be happier with the results of our e-commerce. Our previous online system was not user-friendly and lacked the necessary tools to optimize direct online revenue. As a small independent property we are happy to have GuestCentric as our online partner, because it is guarantee that we will always have the latest technology available to manage our e-commerce” continued Despain

Interact – Satisfied online customers provide and share good reviews and comments about the property. To potentiate the interaction with new customers through social networks, StayinEstes.com integrated GuestCentric’s Portable Booking Engine to Twitter and Facebook. This allows the property to expand their visibility in new distribution channels. Now StayinEstes.com has all the necessary information to create strategic viral marketing campaigns to increase market share. Online reservations through these channels account for 5% of their overall online revenue.

It is not easy for a small independent hotel to succeed in such a crowded and demanding environment. GuestCentric’s Look-Book-Interact Cycle pushes new customers into the hotel network as a result StayinEstes.com numbers keep on increasing month after month.

GuestCentric Systems the social cloud provider of e-commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry just launched the ultimate pricing plan for its customers. New and existing customers can now choose from the new fixed fee pricing that includes all platform features or continue to enjoy the pay-as-you-go model that brought unrivaled adoption of the platform by smaller properties.

“After two years of contributing to the online success of independent hoteliers, GuestCentric’s platform is now becoming essential to a vast number of properties. We are experiencing enormous traction with boutique hotels looking for a modern and easy-to-use solution that can integrate with their social marketing efforts.” said Pedro Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric. “In order to advance our mission of offering top-notch solutions at reasonable prices for boutique hotels that have higher revenue volume, we introduced a fixed price package for as little as $400 per month for hotels up to 100 rooms.”

GuestCentric provides top-notch solutions that provide an easy and affordable way for mid-sized independent hotels to develop their online business and engaging guests on social media outlets. With GuestCentric’s solutions, independent hotels can finally level the playing field against chains by leveraging the power of the Internet.

“We have very much enjoyed working with a professional company like GuestCentric, they have been able to fully understand the needs and opportunities for a small boutique property like Casa de Madrid. The design of the website matches the look and feel of the property and the technology has provided a perfect solution for Casa de Madrid. Most importantly, the online bookings revenue the property receives has delivered a substantial return on the investment made into the GuestCentric product and services.” said Ashley Usiskin, Business Development Consultant at Casa de Madrid

With the new fixed fee packages independent properties can use GuestCentric’s integrated platform to its full potential, without having to pay any extra or hidden costs:

Powerful e-commerce

• Hotel booking engine – This best-in-class booking engine provides a unique shopping experience with unparallel speed and convenience for guests willing to book online. GuestCentric’s booking engine is the only portable booking engine in the market that can be directly integrated to different websites, like Facebook or partner websites.
• Hotel analytics – The backend dashboard allows you to keep track of the property’s online progress, check hotel visibility, sales focus, bookable offers, and overall performance.
• Guest CRM – The system automatically collects a complete guest profile with the guest’s stay history. This information is crucial to create successful marketing campaigns to promote special deals and loyalty.

Social customer engagement

• Twitter center – Send, track, monitor and schedule messages on Twitter and easily monitor what people are saying about the property.
• Follower specials – Increase the brand exposure, create a loyalty program and easily reward social media followers with special deals created and available exclusively for them.
• Customer intimacy – Provide a more personalize service to your guests and learn more about who they are, what they want, need or think. Twitter profiles as well as last post are fully integrated with guest’s profile.

Time saving tools

• Set and forget setup – The easy-to-use interface of the platform allows a quick setup process. After 45 minutes training session you can start discovering the potential of the platform.
• Multilingual support – Increase brand presence and reach other regions by offering the booking engine and website in up to 5 languages in a fast and intuitive manner.
• Picture manager – the most sophisticated and intuitive picture manager in the industry that allows you to easily upload and display images as you wish on your website.

Sign up for a 14 day free trial

About GuestCentric Systems

GuestCentric Systems develops and markets web services that revolutionize the way independent hotels work. GuestCentric has built a cloud-computing platform that allows independent hotels to develop long-standing relationships with guests, improve online revenues and lower expenses associated with online distribution. Through use of Web 2.0 technologies, GuestCentric provides easy-to-use tools at reasonable prices that up until now were only available for hotels with big budgets.

The challenge

The Hotel Cuatro Naciones is an independent property of 55 rooms located in the heart of La Rambla, the most visited street in Barcelona. Like many other hotels all over the world, Cuatro Naciones experienced a dramatic drop of 50% on their reservations at the beginning of 2009. Aware of the changes in preferences of the travelers towards online services, the hotel had to look for online solutions to help them overcome the economic crisis, provide exceptional services for demanding travelers and increase their direct online booking. After an exhaustive search with different providers, the manager of the hotel found in GuestCentric Systems the solution that best fit their needs; a company that focuses primarily on independent properties and provides a one-stop-shop online solution at affordable prices.

Solutions

Hotel Cuatro Naciones adopted GuestCentric’s full-feature platform, which provided them with powerful online marketing and distribution tools. Quickly they were able to deploy a brand new hotel website design powered with an innovative booking engine, a reservation platform and direct social media integration with Twitter and Facebook.

Based on the industry best practices and intensive usability tests, the new interactive website provides visitors with all the necessary information about the property and surroundings, focusing on performance, i.e. improving the visitors-to-booking ratio. Taking advantage of the multilingual website feature, the hotel expanded their target markets and now attracts visitors from Italy, France, United Kingdom and United States. With GuestCentric’s unique InstantHotel Technology, Cuatro Naciones can now take full control of their website, update, add and edit information whenever is necessary, forgetting about external programmers or designers.

Because GuestCentric’s platform is fully integrated, The Cuatro Naciones website comes with GuestCentric best in class hotel booking engine that provides a truly interactive shopping experience for visitors. This innovative one-screen booking engine has an interactive calendar that displays up to 550 days of real-time availability and pricing. Due to its ease-of-use Cuatro Naciones was able to reinvent its online offers and target more sophisticated visitors.

With its unique double security certification with security shields from VeriSign Secured and McAfee Secure, customers are ensured that all personal information submitted stays private.

In addition, the Hotel Cuatro Naciones can now simplify the management of the online and offline reservations through GuestCentric’s reservation platform, avoiding controversial issues like overbooking and double booking. The platform also simplifies guest and contacts management by creating an automated database with all the relevant information to help in the optimization of marketing campaigns.

“The analytical information provided by the dashboard helped us understand the importance of the international market for our property. The international traffic of the website accounts for 80% of the visits and more than 50% of our online reservations, after learning this information it was crucial for the hotel to simplify the searching process. That is when we decided to add another language to our website.” said Aurelio Saiz Hotel Cuatro Naciones e-commerce

The interaction with the BackOffice dashboard has helped the hotel manager better understand the behavior of their online visitors and measure the website success. With access to easy graphical information that was not available before, the hotel manager can now take timely actions like create and test different marketing campaigns to increase visitors flow and direct online bookings. And through the use of cost effective advertising campaigns combined with the latest trends of the market, Hotel Cuatro Naciones was able to adapt new ways to improve brand awareness and increase market share.

Results

The results for the Hotel Cuatro Naciones exceeded all expectations. Within a month and a half of launching their new website and booking engine, the hotel experienced a 190% increase on their direct online reservations. And in the middle of an unfavorable economic period, within 3 months of deployment the online reservations alone were responsible for an increase of 180% on the overall hotel business.

Especially important for independent hoteliers, the simplicity of the integrated platform allows the hotel managers to spend more time in strategically planning and taking care of their customers rather than only managing reservations.

“The old website provided basic information about the property, so it was never part of our sales tools strategy. The first time we saw the new interactive website, we immediately saw the benefits of using it as our primarily sales tool.” Continued Aurelio

The new module allows Joomla!’s developers to have easy and simple access to GuestCentric’s premier e-commerce solutions

GuestCentric Systems (http://www.guestcentric.com), the social cloud provider of e-commerce solutions for the independent hotel industry today announced the launching of yet another extension. The new module allows the seamless insertion of GuestCentric’s booking engine on any Joomla! website.

Finally web designers using Joomla! will be able to provide hotel customers a modern booking experience and distribute online promotions to Twitter and Facebook. The booking engine provides guests a unique secure shopping experience with a Rates+Availability map that allows increasing conversion rates, maximizing revenue-per-stay and generating satisfied guests. GuestCentric provides the only booking engine in the industry that provides two security shields that guarantee that the customer’s information remains private. The shopping experience is uniquely interactive, allowing key features like deal shopping or one-click checkout for returning guests.

This innovative module further extends the lead of GuestCentric’s booking engine as the most portable in the industry. Just recently GuestCentric announced a plug-in for WordPress, this new Joomla! module is available for any Joomla! website and supports different languages and layouts. The plug-in is available at: http://www.guestcentric.com/booking-engine-module-for-joomla/

“The insertion of the module is extremely easy, in a matter of minutes Joomla! developers can offer their customers a website with professional online bookings”. said Rolando Isidoro author of the booking engine module for Joomla!. “The module provides freedom to Joomla! users to customize their booking engine by selecting from a wide range of languages and layouts. Joomla! users with basic CSS knowledge can optimize its look and feel by customizing simple properties like fonts, colors and buttons.”

Joomla! is a community-back open source CMS with a large and active fan base. The default system includes an assortment of basic extensions and templates, but many more are available for installation. Joomla! has a large installation base and enjoys wide developer and third party support.

“By adopting GuestCentric’s cloud computing platform, Joomla! developers will gain access to a cost-effective web-based e-commerce management solution”, said Filipe Machaz, GuestCentric’s VP of Product Management. “Independent hotel managers can finally fight their increasing dependence on online travel agents by marketing their properties online and leveraging new customer engagement techniques like social commerce.”

About GuestCentric

GuestCentric Systems develops and markets web services that revolutionize the way independent hotels work. GuestCentric has built a social cloud solution that allows independent hotels to develop long-standing relationships with guests, improve online revenues and lower expense and dependence on online distribution. GuestCentric also provides hoteliers with a professional hotel website design. Through use of Web 2.0 technologies, GuestCentric provides easy-to-use tools at reasonable prices that up until now were only available for hotels with big budgets.