Dublin-based GolfSwitch International has completed a portal site for the UK Marriott organisation to enable golfers to book real-time tee-times on the hotel chain’s UK courses 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week.

GolfSwitch, the largest online golf reservation network in the world, already powers around 1,500 courses worldwide and drives around four-million tee times to the courses.

There are 11 Marriott Golf Hotels & Country Clubs situated in some of the most idyllic locations throughout the UK. Many of them have hosted prestigious professional and amateur events such as the Solheim Cup and European Tour events.

Alison Ainsworth, Marriott’s senior director of golf, leisure and spa operations Europe, said: “Our search to find the right solution to power online golf bookings has finally paid off with GolfSwitch. “From the start they showed they understood the business and had the desire to work with us to provide our golfing clients the right tools to book their rounds of golf online. The new portal site, at Marriottgolf.co.uk, which was launched at GolfLive at Stoke Park, will be promoted through all our marketing channels. We want to drive as much traffic as possible through the online engines so we can improve our customer service and accept bookings 24/7 on all our courses.”

With the launch of the portal site, golfers from across the world can look at available tee times and book their rounds of golf on Breadsall Priory (Moorland and Priory course), Tudor Park, Worsley Park, Sprowston Manor, Meon Valley (Meon and Valley Course), Forest of Arden (Arden  and Aylesford Course), Hollins Hall and soon  the recently opened Lingfield Park. In Scotland, Marriott operates the Dalmahoy West and East Courses and in Wales, Marriott St Pierre’s Mathern and Old Course, and all these are ready to accept live tee-time bookings.

Jo Maes, European director for GolfSwitch, explained: “We’re obviously delighted that Marriott, after a long search, has concluded that GolfSwitch is the best solution for their online golf bookings. Convincing such a professional organisation that we are the best in the market today demands complete attention to detail and total flexibility, all values GolfSwitch holds dear. With such a varied range of courses and resorts and the particular Marriott set-up, we again used this opportunity to improve our products. Although we are confident these products and engines are already superior, we learn from each client and are able to improve with every particular case we come across. This makes GolfSwitch the most sought-after solution in the online tee-time marketplace today. We are making moves in many countries across Europe, with Spain and Portugal particularly keen to get online. It is unfortunate that it took a recession for golf courses to realise the power of an online golf marketing platform, but we can see now that they fully embrace online solutions as an integral part of their future marketing strategies.”

He added: “With GolfSwitch it is always the course which determines the business rules regarding availability and rate, allowing them full control over their own inventory. Currently, GolfSwitch is in the process of concluding some major agreements in the marketplace which will establish the company at the forefront of online tee-time marketing both in the USA and in Europe.”

Marriott is also running a promotion to entice golfers to book online by offering a free Strokesaver yardage book to every player who books a round of golf booked online through marriottgolf.co.uk during June, July and August 2010. All Marriott golf hotels have a wide range of golf facilities to help players of all levels enjoy and improve their game.