Julius Baumann

Aviation and Tourism Editor

TRAVEL company Global Online Hospitality Holdings’ (GOHH’s) new Iris software, which allows guesthouses to compete head-on with hotel chains in international markets, has attracted the attention of tourism group Thebe Tourism.

This month Thebe Tourism acquired a 25,1% stake in GOHH’s holding company Online Travel Group.

Godfrey Morley, executive director of Thebe Tourism, said Iris would for the first time allow the travel group to offer its international travellers accommodation outside the formal hotel industry.

“Previously it was logistically impossible to source inventory from the informal sector. Iris, for example, now allows us to offer a traveller a room in a guesthouse in Kimberley and not only a hotel room in a major urban centre,” said Morley.

Until now the biggest hurdle facing guesthouses and B&Bs entering the mainstream travel market was that their inventory was not readily available to travel operators, with bookings often handled manually.

The software would enable hotels to manage reservations better while allowing customers to view available rooms anywhere in SA and book and pay for them online.

Morley said that Iris and Online Travel Group would go a long way in helping Thebe Tourism source the needed room inventory ahead of 2010.

Fraser Gregg, MD of Online Travel Group, said that there were about 6500 graded guesthouses and 3500 non-graded establishments in SA and the group had begun signing up these establishments.

The guesthouses are given the Iris software free of charge and were provided with training. Online Travel Group also provides a marketing and e commerce strategy tailored specifically for the smaller players in the hotel industry. For its efforts the company takes an inclusive 10% commission on any rooms booked online.

The company has already signed up about 600 guesthouses and is in talks with the Northern Cape government to put the province’s informal hotel industry online.

Gregg said that informal sector was completely fragmented and Online Travel Group provided guesthouses the opportunity to work together.

“We have created sub-clusters, grouping establishments together by location, grading or type. Therefore a customer looking for accommodation in Umhlanga will now be able to see what rooms are available in the area and then choose which room in which guesthouse they want to book. This also allows the guesthouses to work together without having to fight for the same customer.”

The guesthouses will be marketed through their own websites, major booking engines, Online Travel Group’s websites and Thebe Travel.

Gregg said that the group would make available several focused websites each month. “The idea is to focus on specific interest groups such as birders or kite surfers.”

Morley said that Thebe Tourism had several tour companies that served different geographic markets and through its association with Online Travel Group could offer these markets accommodation tailored to their specific needs.

He said that Thebe would also grade the establishments it booked to ensure that they met the standards its customers had come to expect.

Source: Business Day