News
We have two winners!
We would like to congratulate all the winners of the UK Top 25 TripAdviser hotels who have worked so hard to generate great reviews from their guests.
Special congratulations to both the Tremarne Hotel who are rated number @ 15 and CharterHouse who have been rated 5th in the UK!
Both hotels are valued CaterBook clients and we trust that having CaterBook enabled both hotels to concentrate on giving thier guests the attention that won them these well earned awards.
Booking.com connection
We have now completed the next stage of our connection with Booking.com and this is proceeding very well. We will make a full announcement soon, however as a preliminary, CaterBook will be enabled to update Booking.com, the largest and in our experience most respected agency in the UK.
Here's the BIG plus, there will be a set up cost, but after that, no extra commission charges. Any existing relationship you have with Booking.com will remain the same.
You just wont need to enter all your availability and prices anymore- CaterBook will do it for you!
VisitBritain under fire
At CaterBook towers, we completely support our tourism industry- we are part of it after all. VisitBritain and its regional partners SWT, ONE Northeast etc, are also part of the industry and the stated job of VB is to promote the UK to the UK and the rest of the world.
That is great, and here, we're four square behind that. However VisitBritain appear to be using their position and public money, managing and taking control of the UK tourism industry.
These actions are clearly anti-competitive. They are upsetting a lot of sectors within the tourism industry, questions are being asked in parliament and it's starting to get noticed:
CaterBook the movie!
We thought our site was a little dry and lacking in humanity so we went out with a camera crew and asked some clients to talk about CaterBook as part of our marketing. Richard Beaman and Gary Waters agreed to chat with us and you can see the results here:
Very boring but important.
PCI requirements are becoming more stringent all the time and any business that handles credit card information are required to be compliant. CaterBook handles this information very carefully and securely with automatic deletion and very strong encyption routines. However all the details are here is you need them.
New CaterBook Forum
You may have noticed a minor re-design of our site. We started out nicely but as it has continued to grow, the navigation became a little scrappy so we have modified how you get around now. We have also put together a forum for CaterBook users to get together and share tips, suggestions and even gripes (if you must!). Visit and sign up (it's free).
Good Weather News for UK
After the washouts of the last two years that have adversely affected tourism in the UK, we can expect a much better summer season this year with a hot and dry forecast. So with a weak pound and high expectations of great weather we could see a rise in visitors from abroad seeking out bargains and enjoying some fantastic UK scenery.
Budget let down for hospitality
It's not really news when we have heard it all before but we will flag this one up anyway! The best project we have come across for tourism has to be the honey and honeyII projects in Cornwall. This has ended now but we think it should be extended as a model for the UK. Having thrown our tuppence in, we'll let you read the article...
The Integrity of the AA is being questioned.
In an article on CatererSearch, recent activity at the AA, appears to have devalued the status of the once impressive AA gradings. The article questions the commercial activity now required of hotel inspectors and highlights internal wrangles with long standing staff members and the requirement to change their terms of employment.
New program functionality
A new alphabetical ordering routine has been added to CaterBook enabling a new viewing method for clients.
Booking note diplays have been added to the shuffle chart.
Hidden agency payments functionality added.
Visit Scotland Going into public ownership
The controversial VisitScotland.com website is being taken into public ownership after several years of losses amounting to more than 12 million pounds of public money.
The long term effects of this are unquantifiable, however the ReclaimVS campaign is hailing this as a victory for common sense.
Our view at CaterActive is the hope that the publicly financed tourism agencies in the UK will recognise the need for inclusive strategies as opposed to monopolistic & exclusive partnerships.
Head of VisitBritain steps down
Tom wright, the cheif executive of VisitBritain is to leave after six years. Full story is here.
Hotel insolvencies on the rise.
More negative 'crunch' journalism talking down the economy! Oddly enough, our clients are generally reporting business as usual, completely anecdotal and unscientific of course, but it's nice to know that not everyone is down. Caterersearch.com
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