New,website,award,scheme,offer travel,insurance New website award scheme offers a way forward for small tour
Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chiles national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w
When searching online for holiday accommodation and lookingat individual hotel websites theres a lot of variety out there. Some providelots of good information about the type of accommodation, facilities and thingsto do in the area, while some will just give a phone number and a few time-wornphotographs.People looking to spend hard-earned money on hotels shouldexpect minimum quality standards, information they can trust and an ability tobook online quickly to secure their choice of accommodation before it becomesoverbooked for the dates required.So at a time of uncertainty over the future of the nationalstar grading scheme and a greater dependence on online user reviews forquality assurance comes the logical and timely launch of the WelcomeWeb Award scheme for websitesthat can be trusted and relied on to deliver a welcoming experience.It marks a turning point in the way holidaymakers find andthen book their accommodation and gives smaller tourism businesses theopportunity to place themselves on an equal internet footing with large hotelchains and online travel agents.Not least of all it will help small business in the UK savemillions of pounds a year by adopting good online marketing practice andknowing which half of their advertising spend works before saving the otherhalf. With tools like GoogleAnalytics freely available to small businesses there is no excuse not knowany more.But the biggest savings will come through new, zerocommission-based channels to market such as Google Places, TripAdvisor, and HolidayLettings for self-catering accommodation, and saving substantial amounts spenton property inspections that holidaymakers themselves are now carrying out andreporting back onlineWith so much dependence now on social media and theworldwide web for finding accommodation, assuring its fitness for purpose,determining availability, then booking and paying online, the focal point isnow the propertys own website. The welcome it affords holidaymakers is everybit as important as the welcome given on arrival or they may never arrive atall!So, how does it work? Tourism websites will register forBronze, Silver then Gold Awards (with a Platinum Award coming soon). Each awardwill show a certain degree of website excellence that visitors can rely on forinformation and ease of use. The first thing WelcomeWeb does is provide asimple checklist of distance-selling good practice for self-assessment and aBronze Award that assures users they are dealing with a legal entity and businessto be trusted.At the same time a website assessment for Silver will reporton any technical faults that might affect website performance and provides aWebsite Performance Manual to help businesses deal confidently with webdevelopers and to know what they are paying for. The £25 +VAT for thisassessment is the only cost of engagement with the WelcomeWeb Award scheme fromstart to finish but is likely to save website owners considerable amounts ofmoney as well as helping generate new business.Gold is also a matter of self-assessment with a checklist ofitems that help improve a website's usability. Once the checklist has beencompleted, Gold is awarded automatically given the criteria for Bronze andSilver has already been met.And finally, an Platinum Award will be announced this yeardealing with good practice in the use of social media, user reviews and gueststestimonials to complement whatever might come along to replace the stargrading scheme.So why is this scheme available now and to whom? WelcomeWebis a not-for-profit organisation established to help raise the performance andmarketability of independent property owners websites and gain the trust ofusers. The cost savings available to small business through using onlinemarketing and information tools correctly will enable them to adjust their room/ unit rates to be more competitive with other destinations; fill up weeks inthe shoulder seasons, and increase their bottom line profit.The emergence of new social media channels to market; TripAdvisor user reviews as a de-facto quality assurance scheme, and theverticalisation of Google Places will disinter mediate the online bookingmarket with small businesses needing to up their game to fill the space. Itseems that the WelcomeWeb Award scheme has come along at exactly the right timein this new digital era to help businesses achieve this.
New,website,award,scheme,offer