LESLEY STONES

Information Technology Editor

Small guesthouses in quaint villages or quiet coastal towns could be marketed to a global audience under a scheme designed to put whole communities online.

Even if the owners are not technologically savvy or have no marketing budget, their rooms will be advertised and booked online if a venture launched by businessman Fraser Gregg succeeds.

Gregg has invested more than R10m so far after selling 34% of his business to private backers who share his vision.

One of his companies, Global Online Hospitality, has developed the core software, and the other, South African Online Travel Solutions, is marketing the idea across SA.

The business has run at a loss for three years as it gives its software away for free. The company bears the costs of installing the system in exchange for a 10% commission on bookings made online.

Thousands of guesthouses could boost their business if they had a better way of marketing themselves, Gregg said, particularly since foreign or domestic tourists planning a trip are increasingly booking online.

It is a simple — and at the moment, costly — concept. The company is working with tourism authorities, tourist offices and trade associations rather than with individual guesthouses. It does that for the sake of scale and so an entire community can potentially benefit.

Nor does it charge the organisations it works with, as it is investing now to reap the financial benefits in the future.

“We are inviting whole towns to participate in these travel portals,” said Gregg. “We want to create a national grid of networks where consumers will have access to accommodation they have never had access to before, and where the whole economy can grow.”

First the company creates or optimises an existing website and installs a live booking engine. Then it visits local guesthouses to install the software and train the owners.

The company has worked on five sites in the Eastern and Western Cape, and www.kentononsea.co.za now had the most sophisticated online booking service for guesthouses anywhere in SA, Gregg said.

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Source: Business Day