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The micro- designed online booking engine, Accommodation Guru – created by one of the original founders of travel.com.au – has partnered with international channel manager, SiteMinder. The move allows accommodation providers to list their inventory on the dozens of geographically themed and independently licensed booking sites powered by the Accommodation Guru online reservation system, which was established by travel software developer and website entrepreneur, Dave Upton, in 2005.
Mr Upton, who was one of the founders of travel.com.au before they floated on the Sydney Stock Exchange for $23 million in 2001, has created more than 70 regional websites around Australia and overseas such as www.bookbarossa.com.au, www.booktasmaniaaccommodation.com.au and www.nationalparksaccom.com.au – all of which rank highly in internet searches for accommodation in those regions. Accommodation Guru is planning to create and license many more sites, which are ‘micro’ designed to allow site owners to include all property types including smaller local properties such as B&Bs, with just one room that are often overlooked by major international accommodation portals.
SiteMinder Managing Director Mike Ford said: “SiteMinder’s online distribution platform would enable accommodation providers of all sizes to reach Accommodation Guru’s range of new websites”.
“Properties can use SiteMinder to manage all these websites and many other leading online portals around the world that SiteMinder already connects with such as Expedia, Booking.com and Agoda,” Mr Ford said. “We help hotels effectively manage their availability and pricing across a multitude of online booking sites from one single, easy-to-use SiteMinder web page. SiteMinder also automatically captures bookings and drops them back directly into hotels’ reservation systems, saving time, hassle and money.”
Accommodation Guru Director, Dave Upton, said SiteMinder’s growing channel management system would help expand his network of regional and privately licensed accommodation websites around the world. “We are expanding quickly along with the rapidly growing proportion of rooms booked on the net so SiteMinder will power that growth and boost the number and variety of properties we feature on our sites,” Mr Upton said.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
