HOSPITALITY
25
HOTEL GIANT
HOLIDAYBREAK OPENS
CONFIRMS
E-MARKETING
UP ONLINE
SUCCESS
E
uropean holiday specialist group,
Holidaybreak comprising some of the
biggest brands in the leisure industry,
Accor Hospitality has extended a deal for such as Superbreak and Eurocamp wanted to
electronic marketing and market intelligence maximise the opportunities of the web and
software to over 4,000 hotels in 100 turned to Vialtus Solutions to host a resilient
countries. and reliable transactional website.
The hotel group, with brands including Previously using a non-transactional
So� tel, Novotel, Ibis, Formule 1 and website, Holidaybreak Camping Division
Motel 6 brands, has renewed its global wanted to give its customers the capability
agreement with hotel e-commerce provider to book holidays and trips online at each of
TravelCLICK for an integrated suite of hotel its companies’ individual sites. Holidaybreak Division has seen numerous bene� ts of the
distribution management, market intelligence Camping Division needed to implement a Vialtus solution. The engineering skills that
and global distribution system (GDS) media secure and resilient hosting solution that the staff at Vialtus have for supporting the
software to all of its hotels worldwide. would ensure customers had access to the Holidaybreak system have been particularly
As part of the agreement, hotels can latest information from the company. bene� cial, ensuring maximum uptime and
select from a range of TravelCLICK market Working closely with Holidaybreak to availability of the site.
intelligence solutions to benchmark bookings ensure that all objectives were met, Vialtus Flexibility of the system has also been key
performance against competitors on both implemented a web hosting solution, housed for the holiday company. Due to the very
the chain and individual hotel levels, as well in one of Vialtus’ secure data centres in nature of the business, demand for the site
as travel agent media to ensure maximum Leeds. Providing connectivity into a virtual varies depending on a number of factors,
share on the GDS channel, which delivers private network (VPN), Vialtus provides with volume of traf� c increasing dramatically
over one third of hotel bookings worldwide. an IT infrastructure that is scalable, giving during holiday seasons. The capability to
“Our relationship with TravelCLICK Holidaybreak the � exibility to increase increase the amount of bandwidth has meant
provides strategic competitive advantage bandwidth required during busy periods, such that even when demand is high, Vialtus can up
across our diverse portfolio of hotels all over as summer and autumn. the amount of bandwidth to the site so other
the world,” said Patrick Mendes, vice president Responsible for the full management of the users can still browse the website and book
of global sales for Accor Hospitality. “We gain servers, hardware and operating system, Vialtus holidays online, which is business-critical for
insight into the performance of our entire also provides the necessary measures to keep Holidaybreak.
portfolio and can act on that information with the system secure. Managed Cisco � rewalls Andy Twigg, network manager at
distribution marketing strategies that impact and software load-balancing ensure the 18 Holidaybreak Camping Division said: “We
revenue quickly and cost effectively. Particularly servers that store all the vital information for have an excellent relationship with the team
useful is TravelCLICK’s ‘Corporate Report the Holidaybreak Camping Division site are at Vialtus and the solution that they provide
Card’ highlighting the performance of selected secure and free from viruses and attacks. to us is not only competitively priced, but
properties across the Accor portfolio.” Following a smooth and trouble-free has enabled us to offer a whole new online
implementation, Holidaybreak Camping service to our customers.”
HOTEL GETS ENTERTAINMENT EDGE
The Ellington is the � rst new-build luxury the facility to plug in DVD, CD or MP3 was as easy as possible to use and by making
boutique hotel in a group owned by portable player. And the hotel provides it complementary there‘s no complicated
renowned hotelier David Pantin. The 35- complimentary X-Box 360, Wii, Wii Fit and logon. You open your laptop and it just works.
room hotel in the � nancial district of Leeds, PS3 games consoles to use in the rooms, all “In the rooms, we wanted to offer
opened this September, is one of only six of which just plug into the entertainment something a bit different that would add
properties in the UK to be a member of centre. Or guests can plug in their own units. value. The entertainment centre has proved
The Leading Small Hotels of the World and There is also complimentary Wi-Fi and hugely popular and both business and
features IT services and in-room technology plug-in laptop access in every room. Sally leisure travellers have been asking for the
provided by LYNDOS. Rouse, director of sales and marketing at complimentary games consoles. They love
Every guest room has an entertainment Pantin Hotels said: “Wi-Fi is vital not only for the idea of having a go on a Wii Fit in their
centre that includes an LCD screen, satellite corporate guests but increasingly the leisure room and are pleasantly surprised that we
television and a ‘media hub’ that gives guests market too, but we wanted to make sure it offer it.”
NOVEMBER 2008 RETAIL TECHNOLOGY
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