Open Rooms Lite Making the Most of Your Online Presence

As we move into another year filled with uncertainties, there are still some things we can be sure of.

The consumer will continue to seek value for money for their business or short break accommodation

A professional online presence will increasingly be the most cost effective marketing tool at the disposal of all hospitality providers.

2012 will see continued growth in the number of rooms booked online with accommodation providers in Scotland

It is therefore of critical importance that even the smallest of accommodation providers have a professional website presence that offers the online browser the opportunity to experience what your property has to offer and then book it.

Manage Your Website More Effectively

The small hotelier, Guest House, B&B or self-catering owner is bombarded with website options and phenomena such as Twitter, Facebook, online travel agents, flash sales sites or Blogging understanding the best move is increasingly difficult. However, as we move through a challenging period we’ve been very closely looking at what is needed by the hospitality operator online.

What are the requirements for Content Managed sites? Can hotel website be “over-designed”? How much can I benefit from online reservations? How can I promote my special offers? How do I know if my site’s performing? What is social media and am I large enough to be able to use it?

We’ve been asked all of these questions and a hundred more over the years. It is a minefield and leads quite often to a scenario where the hospitality operator starts off on one route only to be wooed by some wonderful offer to their problems and they start all over again. We believe that straightforward explanations are the key and an understanding of what is required by both parties to make an internet strategy work is critical.

An audit of your requirements is our first step. If you need online reservations we’ll give you it. If you need Facebook set up let’s go for it. If you have time to manage social websites then let’s look at a blog. However, for many it is a website that’s the primary requirement and one that achieves three key objectives

It must be attractive enough to hold the attention of the visitor It must be able to be found by the search engines It must be able to easily convert enquiries to booking.

Our entry level package, Open Rooms Lite, offers the independent accommodation provider all of the flexibility required. Start with what is needed and then add on as required and with our purpose built hospitality database, The Claymore Project, you can control as much of your website as you wish. Manage and update your content, add image galleries even integrate your social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter and offer integrated online room availability.

Open Rooms Lite Profile

The smaller independent operator who has limited experience of Content Management and online

reservations but knows that they need to have a professional and easily managed presence online. They may have a website such as VisitScotland's

Web in a Box, or have had a static website designed three or four years ago and now need to

improve the ease of use and take control of the content on a more regular basis.

On signing up for an Open Rooms Lite website we will take your logos, printed materials, images and content and turn it into a search engine optimised, online availability ready, fully content managed website - and often in less than a fortnight. Whatever your size, whatever your location you can establish a professional and growing presence on the internet at a competitive cost and with the assured support of hospitality professionals behind you.

But it doesn’t stop at launch, on-going online support is available to Open Rooms users to help them progress and keep up with changes in distribution channels, technology and online marketing; throughout the two year period there is full online support available through our websites, blogs and social media channels to ensure that your business continues to move with the changes to tourism marketing.

What Does Open Rooms Lite Come With?

Bulleted lists are always useful!

The following summarises just what you get from an Open Rooms Lite website. We are certain that it represents not only superb value but tremendous added value. Our commitment to growing Open Rooms also means you will benefit from continual upgrades and new functions free of any additional charges.

Website Structure Choice of Fully Personalised Templates Ten Updateable Pages Full Content Management System Initial Content and Copywriting Support Upload Files and Documents Image Gallery Online Contact Form Google Maps Integration Social Media Share Buttons Online Reservations Integration

Booking Engine Availability and Rate Management Detailed Reporting Tools Multiple Language and Currency Guest Comments Module SMS Text Confirmations Channel Distribution Upgrade Modules available

Business Development Support Regular Online Briefings Free Social Media Promotion Free Scotland’s For Me Entry Access to online B2B support Free publication of offers Access to email promotions

Search Engine Optimisation Search Engine Page Titles Editing Updateable Meta Tags Search Engine Submissions Google Site Map Google Analytics Set Up including Goals Search Engine Reporting

Administration and Communications Hosting Package & Database Licencing Domain Registration or Transfer Online Account Support Three E-mail accounts E-mail forwarding & Webmail

Costs

The cost of setting up and maintaining an Open Rooms Lite website won’t break the bank and provides exceptional added value and given the current climate you can even spread the payments over 24 months. For full details of current offers and live examples of Open Rooms Lite websites simply visit www.openroomsscotland.co.uk

Year One - Design & Development £695.00 + VAT

Year Two - Monthly Charge £20.00 + VAT

Booking Engine Commission Variable

Monthly Payment Option 24 x £45 plus VAT

Term of Contract Two Years