Digital Rez and JetPay Merchant Services Partner for Payments Processing
AUSTIN, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 11/30/2005 -- JetPay Merchant Services, LLC and Digital Rez International Inc. have entered into a client referral agreement to promote the JetPay™ suite of payment transaction processing solutions to users of the Digital Rez property management, reservation, call center, and online booking system.
Announced at this week's National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds' InSites Convention, the agreement provides for Digital Rez to refer customers using its reservation system to JetPay Merchant Services for credit card merchant account processing. Digital Rez has integrated JetPay's real-time processing interface into its reservation system enabling rapid real-time authorization via Internet connection.
"The integration of the JetPay module adds a meaningful payments component to the Digital Rez system," said Trent Voigt, chairman of JetPay. "Digital Rez clients will now be able to access all system features and perform payment transactions via a single interface. The addition of the JetPay module will drive faster and more cost-efficient payment transaction processing."
Highlighted Links
JetPay Merchant Services
Digital Rez International Inc.
"Digital Rez is always investigating new technologies that will improve our product offering to the camping industry," said Ken Lahoda, founder of Digital Rez. "Once we examined JetPay's technology we considered it to be another one of the essential elements needed for Digital Rez to continue to produce a best of breed product. We are sure our campsite operators will agree that the efficiencies offered with the integrated payments processing will improve customer service and decrease operating costs."
About Digital Rez International Inc.
Established in 1993 and now serving over 2200 campgrounds in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Digital Rez International is the world's leading provider of software and IT services to the camping industry. With over 40 staff serving its clients from offices in Barbados, British Columbia and Australia, Digital Rez International also serves over 2,000 businesses in other sectors of the travel/accommodation industry. For more information visit www.digitalrez.com
About JetPay Merchant Services, LLC
Dallas-based JetPay Merchant Services, LLC is "Setting the Standard in Payments Delivery"® by providing transaction processing products and Visa and MasterCard merchant account support that enable its clients to convert payments acceptance technologies into business solutions. JetPay Merchant Services is an industry specialist in merchant account acquisition and management, and deploys its recommended payments acceptance solutions, services, software & strategies for credit card, debit card, prepaid/gift card, and electronic check acceptors across North America. For more information visit www.jetpay.com or www.jetpayms.com
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Monday, November 14, 2005
Camping in the UK Takes a Tech Step UP
Coventry, United Kingdom - Digital Rez International (DRI) - Nov 8, 2005 - DRI announced today that Coventry, UK-based Camping and Caravanning Club (CCC) has completed their first full year of activity using ClubRez®, a real time, online central reservation and property management system powered by RezExpert®, DRI’s flagship product.
The new system, unique in Europe, brings world-class cutting technology to the oldest and largest camping club in the world.
ClubRez processed over 92,000 advance reservations with an unprecedented 38% (35,000) of those being handled online. Including drive-up, check-in services the system processed over 294,000 bookings in total, on a real time basis.
“We’re especially pleased with the high percentage of online, advance bookings as this represents a significant saving for the club.” stated Ken Lahoda, founder and CEO of DRI.
“ClubRez, powered by RezExpert, remains the world’s largest centrally managed reservation and property management system in the camping industry for the second year running. With that said, the RezExpert system is now capable of providing central booking, property and membership management services to any accommodation market.” Lahoda continued.
This year, the Camping and Caravanning Club will be enhancing the system to accommodate all of its long-term cabins and cottages and camping storage as well as its national camping jamboree, the National Feast of Lanterns, which hosts over 10,000 attendees each year.
Along with almost 100 front desk locations throughout the UK, the system provides centralized master setup, central pricing control, call center, property management, client web services, loyalty points program, online reporting and centralized employee security and system control. It presently supports over 200 Citrix® thin-client systems running on a Microsoft® SQL Server 2003 / IBM SAN central storage platform. The enterprise accounting system is provided by Great Plains®, a Microsoft® company.
About The Camping and Caravanning Club:
Founded in 1901, The Camping and Caravanning Club is the world’s largest and longest-established club for all forms of camping. It has over 400,000 members all of whom have access to nearly 100 award-winning UK Club Sites, over 1200 hideaway Certificated Sites, Carefree overseas travel and a range of special interest sections and Club related services. www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk
About Digital Rez
Established in 1993 and now serving over 2200 campgrounds in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Digital Rez International is the world’s leading provider of software and IT services to the camping industry.
With over 40 staff serving its clients from offices in Barbados, British Columbia and Australia, Digital Rez International also serves over 2,000 businesses in other sectors of the travel/accommodation industry.
The new system, unique in Europe, brings world-class cutting technology to the oldest and largest camping club in the world.
ClubRez processed over 92,000 advance reservations with an unprecedented 38% (35,000) of those being handled online. Including drive-up, check-in services the system processed over 294,000 bookings in total, on a real time basis.
“We’re especially pleased with the high percentage of online, advance bookings as this represents a significant saving for the club.” stated Ken Lahoda, founder and CEO of DRI.
“ClubRez, powered by RezExpert, remains the world’s largest centrally managed reservation and property management system in the camping industry for the second year running. With that said, the RezExpert system is now capable of providing central booking, property and membership management services to any accommodation market.” Lahoda continued.
This year, the Camping and Caravanning Club will be enhancing the system to accommodate all of its long-term cabins and cottages and camping storage as well as its national camping jamboree, the National Feast of Lanterns, which hosts over 10,000 attendees each year.
Along with almost 100 front desk locations throughout the UK, the system provides centralized master setup, central pricing control, call center, property management, client web services, loyalty points program, online reporting and centralized employee security and system control. It presently supports over 200 Citrix® thin-client systems running on a Microsoft® SQL Server 2003 / IBM SAN central storage platform. The enterprise accounting system is provided by Great Plains®, a Microsoft® company.
About The Camping and Caravanning Club:
Founded in 1901, The Camping and Caravanning Club is the world’s largest and longest-established club for all forms of camping. It has over 400,000 members all of whom have access to nearly 100 award-winning UK Club Sites, over 1200 hideaway Certificated Sites, Carefree overseas travel and a range of special interest sections and Club related services. www.campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk
About Digital Rez
Established in 1993 and now serving over 2200 campgrounds in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Digital Rez International is the world’s leading provider of software and IT services to the camping industry.
With over 40 staff serving its clients from offices in Barbados, British Columbia and Australia, Digital Rez International also serves over 2,000 businesses in other sectors of the travel/accommodation industry.
Monday, October 31, 2005
CEO Questioned On Camping Industry's Online Future
FROM: Jeff Crider
SUBJ: Q & A with Ken Lahoda, President and CEO of Digital Rez International
Crider - One of the biggest innovations to hit the campground sector in recent years is the ability to process reservations online.
But while campgrounds and RV parks have been relatively slow to adopt this technology, companies that specialize in online reservations technology are forging ahead, forming strategic partnerships that will ultimately give park operators a variety of options from which to choose whenever they decide to make their campsites and rental cabins available online.
One such partnership involves Barbados, West Indies-based Digital Rez International Inc. and the Affinity Group Inc. (AGI) of Ventura, Calif., whose holdings include the Woodall’s and Trailer Life campground directories, the largest directories of public and private parks in the North American campground business.
The partnership, first announced last summer, will soon provide campgrounds and RV parks listed in both directories with the ability to offer online campground reservations to the roughly 3 million unique consumers who annually visit the Woodalls.com and TLDirectory.com websites. “The potential is huge,” said Ann Emerson, associate publisher of Woodall’s Publications Corp., “because of the kind of traffic that the Trailer Life and Woodall’s websites can bring to a park. Nobody else has that kind of traffic.”
Digital Rez is currently working to develop a website called RVTripSetter.com, which will process reservation requests made by consumers who visit the Woodalls.com and TLDirectory.com websites. Consumers who click the campground reservation tabs on either website will be automatically directed to the RVTripSetter.com website to process their reservation requests.
Campground operators, for their part, will be able to allocate however many campsites or rental units they want to make available online by using the same RVTripSetter.com website.
The new online reservation system is expected to come online in early 2006. And campground operators will have a chance to get a sneak preview of the new system Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 during the InSites 2005 Convention & Expo in Austin, Texas, which is sponsored by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC).
Emerson said the cost of the online reservations service has not yet been determined, but would likely be a percentage of the nightly reservation fee. “We really think that this will be a new business opportunity for the parks,” she said.
The Digital Rez-AGI partnership, of course, isn’t the first strategic alliance in the campground reservation business. And campground operators have a growing range of options when it comes to deciding which vendors they’ll use to market their inventory online, if they do so at all.
Many private park operators, in fact, still wonder where online reservations technology is headed and what it means for them, not only from a marketing standpoint, but from the standpoint of managing their cash flow on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Moreover, what risks do campground and RV park operators face when they place their inventory online and how does the online reservations system being developed by Digital Rez and AGI differ from other online reservations systems that are already currently available to campground owners?
In an effort to find answers to these and other questions, Woodall’s Campground Management recently interviewed Ken Lahoda, who founded Digital Rez International with his son, Chris, 12 years ago and helped build it into a leading provider of central reservation and property management software and IT services for campgrounds and RV parks and other tourism businesses in North America, England, Australia and New Zealand. Digital Rez’s clients include campgrounds and RV parks affiliated with Coast to Coast, Thousand Trails as well as the Camping and Caravanning Club in the UK. Following are highlights of the interview:
WCM - A number of strategic alliances have been formed in an effort to provide campgrounds with the ability to market their inventory online. Campground operators, on the other hand, have been slow to embrace online reservations technology. What do you see happening in the online reservations marketplace and how should private park operators respond to these emerging opportunities?
Lahoda - What you’re looking at now is the industry is moving forward to centralize these (reservation) processes. There are a lot of organizations thinking that they can provide (reservation) services by using the Internet solely, by using the Internet alone. But the critical issue there is that the campground operator ultimately loses control of their own data and we feel that it is very essential that the individual campground maintain their independence and their autonomy. They should own their own data locally because it is their own bread and butter. It is their client base. It is their information. And in many ways, you still can’t depend on the Internet to deliver service on an extended basis.
WCM - Do you mean that some online reservation systems are being put in place where a private campground owner could lose control of his inventory?
Lahoda - Well, there’s a possibility. It’s not so much control over his own inventory. But he puts a great deal of risk in the fact that his data is somewhere else other than a PC or a server of his own.
WCM - What is the risk with that?
Lahoda - Well, the Internet goes down, your business stops. Somebody with a backhoe digs through a line, your business stops. Somebody runs into financial difficulty, your business is in jeopardy. It’s the heart of your business. You’re also depending on (Internet security systems) on a regional basis. And identity theft is a major issue these days. So you’re very dependent on the level of skill and the abilities of the other operations that you’re depending on to maintain that security.
WCM - So, what’s the solution?
Lahoda - We believe the campground should continue to control their information. We see the inevitability of (online reservation) centralization. And so what we believe is the next phase here is allowing the campground to maintain control and yet be able to share their information with central (online reservation) facilities, thereby optimizing or increasing their revenues.
WCM - It sounds like there is a fundamental philosophical difference between your company and others in the online reservations business. Others seem to recommend that private parks make all of their inventory available online, whereas it sounds like Digital Rez recommends taking a “go slow” approach.
Lahoda - The only place I would make all of my inventory available would be on my own website. And I would allocate to others. This gives the campground operator control and the ability to see which marketing methods work best for that business.
WCM - So by slowly allocating their inventory to online reservation service providers, campground operators would essentially have the ability to test the waters and get a feel for online marketing before committing too much of their inventory?
Lahoda - Exactly. We feel that there is a lot to be watched over here until the industry really sees the direction it’s going.
WCM - What exactly does Digital Rez offer campground and RV park operators in terms of reservations technology?
Lahoda - The packages that we deliver are basically a solution all the way out to call centers and what not, but the individual campground still wants us to manage the front desk processes very well, and we’ve been doing that consistently. Up until now, we’ve been serving over 2,000 campgrounds in North America with a (reservation management) product called ROS2000. Were about to upgrade that in this coming season to our brand new product called RezExpert, which will have the ability to tie seamlessly with these central (reservation) operations and yet still allow the campground manager to maintain their own data locally and thereby ensure his client security and his business’s foundation.
WCM - Then how should a campground go about selecting an online partner to market its campsites or rental units to consumers?
Lahoda - What we’re saying is it’s better to consolidate around a much larger user group.
WCM - Such as the RVTripsetter website now being developed by Digital Rez for campgrounds listed in the Woodall’s and Trailer Life directories?
Lahoda - That’s the whole secret to this. It’s wonderful having an online presence. But if you don’t have a whole heck of a lot of traffic, you don’t receive the benefit. The big hype in the industry right now is everybody can go online. But if you don’t have significant volumes of traffic, you’re not going to be able to reap the benefits of that to a significant degree.
WCM - So what you’re saying is that it isn’t enough to be able to process reservations online. You have to have the thousands of people regularly coming to a website to check out your inventory.
Lahoda - Exactly, and have the marketing strategy to drive people to that product. If you look at the dot.com revolution, what you’ll see is basically people were spending billions of dollars on advertising to draw the eyeballs in. And a lot of it was hype. Almost all of it was hype. But the situation created the user base that stuck around even after the fad wore out and all of the companies went broke because they ran out of money. Essentially, they didn’t have substance. Essentially, there was no substance plus traffic. Then you turn around and start looking at eBay, Amazon, Expedia – operations that had invested heavily in marketing – but all of the sudden people started realizing the opportunities within the environment and started contributing more inventory. Both elements have to be in place: Inventory and traffic. And we think the big thing right now is there are people who are hyping the Internet, but until the big marketing players come into the scene and put their information out there so that the general public can digest it, (online reservation) traffic is going to be light to the individual campground.
WCM - Does this explain why campground operators have been slow to adopt online reservations technology?
Lahoda - The camping industry is extremely independent. These people are free thinkers. And they’ve been told a number of stories along the way. But the situation is that the strategies for online bookings have not delivered a lot of substance in terms of real reservations. And where we find our strength is that we’ve been preparing the system for the past five years now for this next major thrust. There were several essential elements that had to come into place for all of the security systems that are out there to make sure that your information is not stolen. You also have to have true substance.
WCM - So what’s needed to make campground operators more successful with online reservations?
Lahoda - What has to come together is a much greater level of traffic.
WCM - So what should campground and RV park operators do right now?
Lahoda - We feel the secret to this is establishing a very strong presence at the front desk so that you’re in control of this. And then, in turn, exercising the patience waiting for the major players in the industry to step up and do what they’re best at.
WCM - So is it your thinking that campground operators would be best off developing an online reservation system through Woodall’s and Trailer Life, using the new RVTripSetting.com website?
Lahoda - The system we're putting together is independent of us. The situation we see is that should the owner opt to use our technology at the front desk, we can make the connection more seamless. We’ve left the doors open for all of the property management providers to join in on this system.
WCM - Do you foresee other companies joining you in this endeavor?
Lahoda - It’s up to the developers on the other side. Everybody’s trying to do their own online process. You can get people to hook up to the Internet. But can they hook up their inventory to a significant volume of traffic?
WCM - How many online service providers should a campground or RV park operator use?
Lahoda - In the hotel industry, there are usually no more than three to five online (reservation service) connections because it represents an inventory management issue. You can’t manage what you’ve said if you allocate to any more than three or four operations. The problem is people think they have to choose one where they can choose two or three. What they need is better management at the front desk because if they’re not taking care of their own inventory, then it all of the sudden means they’re locked into one process, which I think is a vulnerability.
WCM - Let’s talk a little about money. Right now, when consumers book their campground reservations, in many cases, the consumer is not really processing the credit card through the campground. It’s being processed by the reservation service provider. This means that the campground doesn’t get paid right away. How long does it take campground operators to get paid when they market their inventory online?
Lahoda - If they don’t have a mechanism to get paid quickly, they could wait an undetermined amount of time. If they were using Coast to Coast, they get paid within a week of checkout. But that is simply Coast to Coast policy. They’re just waiting for the client to check out. Because if they extend their stay, they have to charge more. Now that doesn’t mean that has to be the policy of the entire campground sector. If those same resorts were dealing with a central entity like Trailer Life or Woodall’s or any other company, they would have to follow the policy set by that central service provider.
WCM - What’s the future hold for online reservations?
Lahoda - Online bookings are not the only thing that everybody is looking to solve. They’re also looking for property management, the whole issue. The situation is that this (movement toward online campground reservations) is so brand new. Everybody in the industry is still hyping this. There’s nobody making money on online bookings. But we think the situation is going to quickly change when larger marketing entities become involved because they will bring the necessary volumes of traffic to the inventory so that it starts to justify some attention by the campground owner.
SUBJ: Q & A with Ken Lahoda, President and CEO of Digital Rez International
Crider - One of the biggest innovations to hit the campground sector in recent years is the ability to process reservations online.
But while campgrounds and RV parks have been relatively slow to adopt this technology, companies that specialize in online reservations technology are forging ahead, forming strategic partnerships that will ultimately give park operators a variety of options from which to choose whenever they decide to make their campsites and rental cabins available online.
One such partnership involves Barbados, West Indies-based Digital Rez International Inc. and the Affinity Group Inc. (AGI) of Ventura, Calif., whose holdings include the Woodall’s and Trailer Life campground directories, the largest directories of public and private parks in the North American campground business.
The partnership, first announced last summer, will soon provide campgrounds and RV parks listed in both directories with the ability to offer online campground reservations to the roughly 3 million unique consumers who annually visit the Woodalls.com and TLDirectory.com websites. “The potential is huge,” said Ann Emerson, associate publisher of Woodall’s Publications Corp., “because of the kind of traffic that the Trailer Life and Woodall’s websites can bring to a park. Nobody else has that kind of traffic.”
Digital Rez is currently working to develop a website called RVTripSetter.com, which will process reservation requests made by consumers who visit the Woodalls.com and TLDirectory.com websites. Consumers who click the campground reservation tabs on either website will be automatically directed to the RVTripSetter.com website to process their reservation requests.
Campground operators, for their part, will be able to allocate however many campsites or rental units they want to make available online by using the same RVTripSetter.com website.
The new online reservation system is expected to come online in early 2006. And campground operators will have a chance to get a sneak preview of the new system Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 during the InSites 2005 Convention & Expo in Austin, Texas, which is sponsored by the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds (ARVC).
Emerson said the cost of the online reservations service has not yet been determined, but would likely be a percentage of the nightly reservation fee. “We really think that this will be a new business opportunity for the parks,” she said.
The Digital Rez-AGI partnership, of course, isn’t the first strategic alliance in the campground reservation business. And campground operators have a growing range of options when it comes to deciding which vendors they’ll use to market their inventory online, if they do so at all.
Many private park operators, in fact, still wonder where online reservations technology is headed and what it means for them, not only from a marketing standpoint, but from the standpoint of managing their cash flow on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Moreover, what risks do campground and RV park operators face when they place their inventory online and how does the online reservations system being developed by Digital Rez and AGI differ from other online reservations systems that are already currently available to campground owners?
In an effort to find answers to these and other questions, Woodall’s Campground Management recently interviewed Ken Lahoda, who founded Digital Rez International with his son, Chris, 12 years ago and helped build it into a leading provider of central reservation and property management software and IT services for campgrounds and RV parks and other tourism businesses in North America, England, Australia and New Zealand. Digital Rez’s clients include campgrounds and RV parks affiliated with Coast to Coast, Thousand Trails as well as the Camping and Caravanning Club in the UK. Following are highlights of the interview:
WCM - A number of strategic alliances have been formed in an effort to provide campgrounds with the ability to market their inventory online. Campground operators, on the other hand, have been slow to embrace online reservations technology. What do you see happening in the online reservations marketplace and how should private park operators respond to these emerging opportunities?
Lahoda - What you’re looking at now is the industry is moving forward to centralize these (reservation) processes. There are a lot of organizations thinking that they can provide (reservation) services by using the Internet solely, by using the Internet alone. But the critical issue there is that the campground operator ultimately loses control of their own data and we feel that it is very essential that the individual campground maintain their independence and their autonomy. They should own their own data locally because it is their own bread and butter. It is their client base. It is their information. And in many ways, you still can’t depend on the Internet to deliver service on an extended basis.
WCM - Do you mean that some online reservation systems are being put in place where a private campground owner could lose control of his inventory?
Lahoda - Well, there’s a possibility. It’s not so much control over his own inventory. But he puts a great deal of risk in the fact that his data is somewhere else other than a PC or a server of his own.
WCM - What is the risk with that?
Lahoda - Well, the Internet goes down, your business stops. Somebody with a backhoe digs through a line, your business stops. Somebody runs into financial difficulty, your business is in jeopardy. It’s the heart of your business. You’re also depending on (Internet security systems) on a regional basis. And identity theft is a major issue these days. So you’re very dependent on the level of skill and the abilities of the other operations that you’re depending on to maintain that security.
WCM - So, what’s the solution?
Lahoda - We believe the campground should continue to control their information. We see the inevitability of (online reservation) centralization. And so what we believe is the next phase here is allowing the campground to maintain control and yet be able to share their information with central (online reservation) facilities, thereby optimizing or increasing their revenues.
WCM - It sounds like there is a fundamental philosophical difference between your company and others in the online reservations business. Others seem to recommend that private parks make all of their inventory available online, whereas it sounds like Digital Rez recommends taking a “go slow” approach.
Lahoda - The only place I would make all of my inventory available would be on my own website. And I would allocate to others. This gives the campground operator control and the ability to see which marketing methods work best for that business.
WCM - So by slowly allocating their inventory to online reservation service providers, campground operators would essentially have the ability to test the waters and get a feel for online marketing before committing too much of their inventory?
Lahoda - Exactly. We feel that there is a lot to be watched over here until the industry really sees the direction it’s going.
WCM - What exactly does Digital Rez offer campground and RV park operators in terms of reservations technology?
Lahoda - The packages that we deliver are basically a solution all the way out to call centers and what not, but the individual campground still wants us to manage the front desk processes very well, and we’ve been doing that consistently. Up until now, we’ve been serving over 2,000 campgrounds in North America with a (reservation management) product called ROS2000. Were about to upgrade that in this coming season to our brand new product called RezExpert, which will have the ability to tie seamlessly with these central (reservation) operations and yet still allow the campground manager to maintain their own data locally and thereby ensure his client security and his business’s foundation.
WCM - Then how should a campground go about selecting an online partner to market its campsites or rental units to consumers?
Lahoda - What we’re saying is it’s better to consolidate around a much larger user group.
WCM - Such as the RVTripsetter website now being developed by Digital Rez for campgrounds listed in the Woodall’s and Trailer Life directories?
Lahoda - That’s the whole secret to this. It’s wonderful having an online presence. But if you don’t have a whole heck of a lot of traffic, you don’t receive the benefit. The big hype in the industry right now is everybody can go online. But if you don’t have significant volumes of traffic, you’re not going to be able to reap the benefits of that to a significant degree.
WCM - So what you’re saying is that it isn’t enough to be able to process reservations online. You have to have the thousands of people regularly coming to a website to check out your inventory.
Lahoda - Exactly, and have the marketing strategy to drive people to that product. If you look at the dot.com revolution, what you’ll see is basically people were spending billions of dollars on advertising to draw the eyeballs in. And a lot of it was hype. Almost all of it was hype. But the situation created the user base that stuck around even after the fad wore out and all of the companies went broke because they ran out of money. Essentially, they didn’t have substance. Essentially, there was no substance plus traffic. Then you turn around and start looking at eBay, Amazon, Expedia – operations that had invested heavily in marketing – but all of the sudden people started realizing the opportunities within the environment and started contributing more inventory. Both elements have to be in place: Inventory and traffic. And we think the big thing right now is there are people who are hyping the Internet, but until the big marketing players come into the scene and put their information out there so that the general public can digest it, (online reservation) traffic is going to be light to the individual campground.
WCM - Does this explain why campground operators have been slow to adopt online reservations technology?
Lahoda - The camping industry is extremely independent. These people are free thinkers. And they’ve been told a number of stories along the way. But the situation is that the strategies for online bookings have not delivered a lot of substance in terms of real reservations. And where we find our strength is that we’ve been preparing the system for the past five years now for this next major thrust. There were several essential elements that had to come into place for all of the security systems that are out there to make sure that your information is not stolen. You also have to have true substance.
WCM - So what’s needed to make campground operators more successful with online reservations?
Lahoda - What has to come together is a much greater level of traffic.
WCM - So what should campground and RV park operators do right now?
Lahoda - We feel the secret to this is establishing a very strong presence at the front desk so that you’re in control of this. And then, in turn, exercising the patience waiting for the major players in the industry to step up and do what they’re best at.
WCM - So is it your thinking that campground operators would be best off developing an online reservation system through Woodall’s and Trailer Life, using the new RVTripSetting.com website?
Lahoda - The system we're putting together is independent of us. The situation we see is that should the owner opt to use our technology at the front desk, we can make the connection more seamless. We’ve left the doors open for all of the property management providers to join in on this system.
WCM - Do you foresee other companies joining you in this endeavor?
Lahoda - It’s up to the developers on the other side. Everybody’s trying to do their own online process. You can get people to hook up to the Internet. But can they hook up their inventory to a significant volume of traffic?
WCM - How many online service providers should a campground or RV park operator use?
Lahoda - In the hotel industry, there are usually no more than three to five online (reservation service) connections because it represents an inventory management issue. You can’t manage what you’ve said if you allocate to any more than three or four operations. The problem is people think they have to choose one where they can choose two or three. What they need is better management at the front desk because if they’re not taking care of their own inventory, then it all of the sudden means they’re locked into one process, which I think is a vulnerability.
WCM - Let’s talk a little about money. Right now, when consumers book their campground reservations, in many cases, the consumer is not really processing the credit card through the campground. It’s being processed by the reservation service provider. This means that the campground doesn’t get paid right away. How long does it take campground operators to get paid when they market their inventory online?
Lahoda - If they don’t have a mechanism to get paid quickly, they could wait an undetermined amount of time. If they were using Coast to Coast, they get paid within a week of checkout. But that is simply Coast to Coast policy. They’re just waiting for the client to check out. Because if they extend their stay, they have to charge more. Now that doesn’t mean that has to be the policy of the entire campground sector. If those same resorts were dealing with a central entity like Trailer Life or Woodall’s or any other company, they would have to follow the policy set by that central service provider.
WCM - What’s the future hold for online reservations?
Lahoda - Online bookings are not the only thing that everybody is looking to solve. They’re also looking for property management, the whole issue. The situation is that this (movement toward online campground reservations) is so brand new. Everybody in the industry is still hyping this. There’s nobody making money on online bookings. But we think the situation is going to quickly change when larger marketing entities become involved because they will bring the necessary volumes of traffic to the inventory so that it starts to justify some attention by the campground owner.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Online Campground Reservation System In Development
For Immediate Release
June 16, 2005
Online Campground Reservation System In Development
Affinity Group, Inc. Secures Digital Rez International's Services
(Ventura, CA) — As record numbers of travelers make their reservations on the Internet, the Affinity Group, Inc. (AGI) is taking a huge step to modernize RV and campground bookings. Known as the leader in RV and outdoor recreation, AGI has entered into an agreement with Digital Rez International to develop an online reservation system for Trailer Life and Woodall's.
Woodall’s and Trailer Life have commissioned Digital Rez to develop a central reservation system for the two Web sites, www.tldirectory.com - Trailer Life Camping Directory and www.woodalls.com - Woodall's Camping Directory . The reservation system has an anticipated launch date of January 2006. Both directories and Web sites feature comprehensive and searchable databases of RV parks and campgrounds throughout North America. Each also features detailed rating systems that help RVers and campers chose a destination that fits their needs.
Woodall’s is celebrating 70 years of service and is one of the most comprehensive RV park and campground directories in the market. Trailer Life Directory features Good Sam Parks, which offer discounts to Good Sam Club members that number nearly one million. The Trailer Life Directory lists all Good Sam discount locations and full details for over 1,000,000 RV park sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Woodall’s Campground Directory is the official directory of the Family Motor Coach Association, Camping World’s President Club and Family Campers and RVers.
The Trailer Life RV Parks, Campgrounds & Services Directory is a one-stop resource for complete campground and RV Park information at a glance.
This is the second time that AGI has signed Digital Rez to develop an online reservation system. Tripsetter, an online reservation platform, was designed for Coast to Coast Resorts to accommodate Trip Points and interface with the CampResorts' inventory allotments. Tripsetter is currently serving the 150,000 Coast to Coast Resort members.
About Affinity Group, Inc.
The Affinity Group, Inc. (AGI) and its affiliated companies serve the safety, security, comfort and convenience needs of the North American outdoor and recreational vehicle market. With various companies, brands, products and services, AGI targets almost every aspect of this diverse and dynamic niche market.
Affiliated companies include the Good Sam Club, Camping World, Coast to Coast Resorts, Golf Card International, TL Enterprises, Ehlert Publishing, RVtoday, rv.net, and Woodall’s. The corporate headquarters are located in Ventura, California. Subsidiary operations and divisions can be found at multiple locations throughout the United States.
About Digital Rez International
Established in 1993 and now serving over 2000 campgrounds in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Digital Rez International is the world’s leading provider of software and IT services to the camping industry.
The company provides products and services designed to serve the needs of a diverse range of clientele including single resort campgrounds up to large networks of related resorts. Its newest product, RezExpert Central® is currently installed in five major systems providing web, call center, IVR and front desk applications managing over 700,000 members using 50,000 sites daily.
With over 40 staff serving its clients from offices in Barbados, British Columbia and Australia, Digital Rez International also serves over 2,000 businesses in other sectors of the travel/accommodation industry.
Contact: Joe Daquino, Multimedia Division Vice President/Woodall’s and Trailer Life Directory Publisher
805-667-4305 • jdaquino@affinitygroup.com
Julie Calzone, President/CEO Calzone & Associates
337-235-2924 ext. 3 • jcalzone@calzone.com
Naomi Low, Director of Sales Digital Rez International
800-811-5988 • naomil@digitalrez.com
June 16, 2005
Online Campground Reservation System In Development
Affinity Group, Inc. Secures Digital Rez International's Services
(Ventura, CA) — As record numbers of travelers make their reservations on the Internet, the Affinity Group, Inc. (AGI) is taking a huge step to modernize RV and campground bookings. Known as the leader in RV and outdoor recreation, AGI has entered into an agreement with Digital Rez International to develop an online reservation system for Trailer Life and Woodall's.
Woodall’s and Trailer Life have commissioned Digital Rez to develop a central reservation system for the two Web sites, www.tldirectory.com - Trailer Life Camping Directory and www.woodalls.com - Woodall's Camping Directory . The reservation system has an anticipated launch date of January 2006. Both directories and Web sites feature comprehensive and searchable databases of RV parks and campgrounds throughout North America. Each also features detailed rating systems that help RVers and campers chose a destination that fits their needs.
Woodall’s is celebrating 70 years of service and is one of the most comprehensive RV park and campground directories in the market. Trailer Life Directory features Good Sam Parks, which offer discounts to Good Sam Club members that number nearly one million. The Trailer Life Directory lists all Good Sam discount locations and full details for over 1,000,000 RV park sites in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Woodall’s Campground Directory is the official directory of the Family Motor Coach Association, Camping World’s President Club and Family Campers and RVers.
The Trailer Life RV Parks, Campgrounds & Services Directory is a one-stop resource for complete campground and RV Park information at a glance.
This is the second time that AGI has signed Digital Rez to develop an online reservation system. Tripsetter, an online reservation platform, was designed for Coast to Coast Resorts to accommodate Trip Points and interface with the CampResorts' inventory allotments. Tripsetter is currently serving the 150,000 Coast to Coast Resort members.
About Affinity Group, Inc.
The Affinity Group, Inc. (AGI) and its affiliated companies serve the safety, security, comfort and convenience needs of the North American outdoor and recreational vehicle market. With various companies, brands, products and services, AGI targets almost every aspect of this diverse and dynamic niche market.
Affiliated companies include the Good Sam Club, Camping World, Coast to Coast Resorts, Golf Card International, TL Enterprises, Ehlert Publishing, RVtoday, rv.net, and Woodall’s. The corporate headquarters are located in Ventura, California. Subsidiary operations and divisions can be found at multiple locations throughout the United States.
About Digital Rez International
Established in 1993 and now serving over 2000 campgrounds in North America, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Digital Rez International is the world’s leading provider of software and IT services to the camping industry.
The company provides products and services designed to serve the needs of a diverse range of clientele including single resort campgrounds up to large networks of related resorts. Its newest product, RezExpert Central® is currently installed in five major systems providing web, call center, IVR and front desk applications managing over 700,000 members using 50,000 sites daily.
With over 40 staff serving its clients from offices in Barbados, British Columbia and Australia, Digital Rez International also serves over 2,000 businesses in other sectors of the travel/accommodation industry.
Contact: Joe Daquino, Multimedia Division Vice President/Woodall’s and Trailer Life Directory Publisher
805-667-4305 • jdaquino@affinitygroup.com
Julie Calzone, President/CEO Calzone & Associates
337-235-2924 ext. 3 • jcalzone@calzone.com
Naomi Low, Director of Sales Digital Rez International
800-811-5988 • naomil@digitalrez.com
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Update on Space Tourism...
Here's an excellent update on the status and more particularly the cost for near-term space travelers looking to get an early 5 minute peak into the future...
www.space.com: The Tourism Confessions
My optimistic view: five years. My realistic view?: 10 years before we fly commercially.
www.space.com: The Tourism Confessions
My optimistic view: five years. My realistic view?: 10 years before we fly commercially.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Trends In Online Reservations Are Shaking Up Pricing Strategies
This excellent article I found on HospitalityNet.org provides significant insight into the issues every property manager seeking to develop an online reservation strategy has to anticipate. The article takes one through some historical pricing scenarios out to comparing some of the most recent trends in the rapidly changing online travel landscape.
HospitalityNet.org: The End of the Merchant Model as We Know It | By Max Starkov and Jason Price
While the article is informative, one of the key questions I find unanswered is: "Why does the hotel industry not work more closely with travel agencies, who charge only 10% to bring the client to their front door?". As travel agency counts "are declining at a 10% annual pace in North America", the lack of popularity of this approach is very much apparent. On the other hand, constant attacks on the entire travel agency model is also a very large contributing factor to this overall decline in operations.
To me, it seems dealing direct with the travel agent is still one of the most economical methods available for acquiring new clientelle who are likely to develop a trust relationship with the operator and will subsequently book online, direct with him.
My experience indicates that hoteliers and destination resort operators tend to neglect better exploitation of this approach while preferring to deal with participants in the more expensive "Merchant Model" where direct reservation acquisition costs range in the 18 to 40 percent range and usually involve an extended billing/payment arrangement.
Weaning one's operations of wholesale relationships is wise. However travel agencies should continue to be considered as one of the most economical approaches to filling empty rooms with satisfied clientelle, at better rates.
Sites of interest:
www.hospitalitynet.org
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. - www.hospitalityebusiness.com
HospitalityNet.org: The End of the Merchant Model as We Know It | By Max Starkov and Jason Price
While the article is informative, one of the key questions I find unanswered is: "Why does the hotel industry not work more closely with travel agencies, who charge only 10% to bring the client to their front door?". As travel agency counts "are declining at a 10% annual pace in North America", the lack of popularity of this approach is very much apparent. On the other hand, constant attacks on the entire travel agency model is also a very large contributing factor to this overall decline in operations.
To me, it seems dealing direct with the travel agent is still one of the most economical methods available for acquiring new clientelle who are likely to develop a trust relationship with the operator and will subsequently book online, direct with him.
My experience indicates that hoteliers and destination resort operators tend to neglect better exploitation of this approach while preferring to deal with participants in the more expensive "Merchant Model" where direct reservation acquisition costs range in the 18 to 40 percent range and usually involve an extended billing/payment arrangement.
Weaning one's operations of wholesale relationships is wise. However travel agencies should continue to be considered as one of the most economical approaches to filling empty rooms with satisfied clientelle, at better rates.
Sites of interest:
www.hospitalitynet.org
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. - www.hospitalityebusiness.com
Monday, March 21, 2005
Personal Travel Tools Enhance Online Information
Remember when travel portals were first launched on the web? At that time the industry was seeking a way to get direct access to clients thereby bypassing travel agency service providers and all those nasty commissions they used to make on airline bookings.
Well now there's a move afoot to bypass the online portals with the objective being to commoditize the delivery of pricing information for the benefit of individual travelers. New software tools are available to ease the pain of checking prices for plane tickets, hotel stays and car rentals.
The newswires have been active relative to this issue lately:
AOL Offers New Travel Service
TravelAxe Provides New Travel Tools Geared for the Individual Traveler
While AOL has yet to establish some method of making money from the service, time and business volume will obviously tell.
TravelAxe, on the other hand provides a Windows-based programm to help people gather the information and tabulate it in a safe, familiar environment. The program is intuitive, easy to install and trouble free for me, up to this point. They have apparently established agreements with the major portals with regard to commissions for them which makes their product available free of charge as well as being free of usage fees to the end user.
The industry is discovering that the internet travel sector, while being the second most lucrative internet market vertical aside from online pornograrphy, is an elusive prey with many twists to anticipate before its ultimate capture.
Well now there's a move afoot to bypass the online portals with the objective being to commoditize the delivery of pricing information for the benefit of individual travelers. New software tools are available to ease the pain of checking prices for plane tickets, hotel stays and car rentals.
The newswires have been active relative to this issue lately:
AOL Offers New Travel Service
TravelAxe Provides New Travel Tools Geared for the Individual Traveler
While AOL has yet to establish some method of making money from the service, time and business volume will obviously tell.
TravelAxe, on the other hand provides a Windows-based programm to help people gather the information and tabulate it in a safe, familiar environment. The program is intuitive, easy to install and trouble free for me, up to this point. They have apparently established agreements with the major portals with regard to commissions for them which makes their product available free of charge as well as being free of usage fees to the end user.
The industry is discovering that the internet travel sector, while being the second most lucrative internet market vertical aside from online pornograrphy, is an elusive prey with many twists to anticipate before its ultimate capture.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
A Shameless Endorsement...
These guys have some great technology and I'm glad to be on their team. Starband makes it possible for remote RV resorts to have high speed internet services via satellite.
In addition, resorts can enhance their revenue by endorsing the Starband service to individual clients who can also get access by acquiring the necessary equipment to make their "mobile accommodations" satellite friendly. The resort recieves a share of the monthly fees paid by the user for a period of time. The Starband system can be integrated into any Wi-Fi network services provided by the resort thereby enhancing the value of a stay by providing higher speed internet access to clients, for a fee.
Take a look: Starband.com
Call 1-800-4STARBAND Mention this Code: #100170390 to the StarBand sales representative and be entered to Win a special Caribbean vacation to the Island of Barbados. Hurry the Draw is on May 31st 2005. All entries must be in by May 10th.
In addition, resorts can enhance their revenue by endorsing the Starband service to individual clients who can also get access by acquiring the necessary equipment to make their "mobile accommodations" satellite friendly. The resort recieves a share of the monthly fees paid by the user for a period of time. The Starband system can be integrated into any Wi-Fi network services provided by the resort thereby enhancing the value of a stay by providing higher speed internet access to clients, for a fee.
Take a look: Starband.com
Call 1-800-4STARBAND Mention this Code: #100170390 to the StarBand sales representative and be entered to Win a special Caribbean vacation to the Island of Barbados. Hurry the Draw is on May 31st 2005. All entries must be in by May 10th.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
When's the Moment???
I came across this article a while back. The question is one of, "when is the actual price for a ticket decided?" ...and how certain travel sites respond to that question differently.
(Have a read: Major Travel Sites Face Credibility Crunch | An Examination of Booking First-Class Tickets Online)
Now... I know we're beefing about pricing practices for some pretty pricey stuff to start with. First Class is worth it to some. But the practice of altering the price of a ticket or service while purchasing it online represents a failure to perceive accurately that the price must be established at presentation of the goods for sale.
When a client makes a decision to purchase anything online, there is a moment when they set those items "on the counter". Online service providers are then responsible to maintain the price quoted for the client until receipt or rejection of their payment.
(Have a read: Major Travel Sites Face Credibility Crunch | An Examination of Booking First-Class Tickets Online)
Now... I know we're beefing about pricing practices for some pretty pricey stuff to start with. First Class is worth it to some. But the practice of altering the price of a ticket or service while purchasing it online represents a failure to perceive accurately that the price must be established at presentation of the goods for sale.
When a client makes a decision to purchase anything online, there is a moment when they set those items "on the counter". Online service providers are then responsible to maintain the price quoted for the client until receipt or rejection of their payment.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Travel Agents And The Internet
In times past, travel agents were required to use proprietary connections and terminals in order to serve their customers. Connections to the Sabre system, Worldspan, Apollo or Amadeus meant incurring significant monthly overhead in order to manage their clients' itineraries. The systems didn't use the internet as their backbone and therefore have been expensive to implement and maintain. Agents bore the brunt of the expense and thereby derived reasonable commissions for helping clients make their travel plans.
Today, replication of all of the processes on internet-based systems isn't quite there yet but this recent article published on C/Net: Airlines Spur Travel Agency Shift indicates that the solution may not be too far off. The total solution would represent a tremendous saving for travel agencies and will ultimately mean that travel management companies will be able to shrug off some of the costs inhibiting them from moving forward.
It's my view that travel agents provide an essential service to the tourism industry. We'll see a new revolution in travel if the major hotel networks and airlines realize the same.
Today, replication of all of the processes on internet-based systems isn't quite there yet but this recent article published on C/Net: Airlines Spur Travel Agency Shift indicates that the solution may not be too far off. The total solution would represent a tremendous saving for travel agencies and will ultimately mean that travel management companies will be able to shrug off some of the costs inhibiting them from moving forward.
It's my view that travel agents provide an essential service to the tourism industry. We'll see a new revolution in travel if the major hotel networks and airlines realize the same.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Tsunamis, Disasters and Terrorists
Changing travel patterns are the norm once again...
Lately, one only needs to scan for a few minutes through the cable news channels in order to get an update on the latest from Sri Lanka or Thailand regarding how many European, British or American tourists are still unnaccounted for. That is, just before considering how the next conversation with the missus will go when planning the next fun-in-the-sun agenda for you and yours.
"Gee honey, the flights to Phuket are rock-bottom right now... Wanna go have some fun in the sun?"
I think that people will consider in-room, high speed internet connections as a service necessity even moreso now than ever before. Simply because internet access could be the only reliable way to stand well informed as to what is actually happening in the world while we're away. Getting away from it all certainly can be viewed from a different slant now that we all understand that nowhere are we truly safe from trajedy on a massive scale.
Previously, one took a vacation to get away from it all... But when one considers how impossible it will continue to be able to trust local governments' ability to respond to disaster warning systems regardless of their preparedness, I'll take good ol' CNN, instant messaging and a little spam in my email box in order to be able to see "what's up" a few minutes before I go to the beach downstairs. And I'm not one to ever consider such things.
The tsunami early warning system that would have provided at least reasonable notification for the countries bordering the Indian Ocean is estimated to cost only twenty million dollars to put in place. That's hardly a drop in the disaster relief bucket to which we are all now contributing.
A simple suggestion: Before your next trip, check on your favorite resort's ability to provide high speed or WI-FI internet connectivity in your room.
Related news article:
www.newscientist.com/article
Lately, one only needs to scan for a few minutes through the cable news channels in order to get an update on the latest from Sri Lanka or Thailand regarding how many European, British or American tourists are still unnaccounted for. That is, just before considering how the next conversation with the missus will go when planning the next fun-in-the-sun agenda for you and yours.
"Gee honey, the flights to Phuket are rock-bottom right now... Wanna go have some fun in the sun?"
I think that people will consider in-room, high speed internet connections as a service necessity even moreso now than ever before. Simply because internet access could be the only reliable way to stand well informed as to what is actually happening in the world while we're away. Getting away from it all certainly can be viewed from a different slant now that we all understand that nowhere are we truly safe from trajedy on a massive scale.
Previously, one took a vacation to get away from it all... But when one considers how impossible it will continue to be able to trust local governments' ability to respond to disaster warning systems regardless of their preparedness, I'll take good ol' CNN, instant messaging and a little spam in my email box in order to be able to see "what's up" a few minutes before I go to the beach downstairs. And I'm not one to ever consider such things.
The tsunami early warning system that would have provided at least reasonable notification for the countries bordering the Indian Ocean is estimated to cost only twenty million dollars to put in place. That's hardly a drop in the disaster relief bucket to which we are all now contributing.
A simple suggestion: Before your next trip, check on your favorite resort's ability to provide high speed or WI-FI internet connectivity in your room.
Related news article:
www.newscientist.com/article
Monday, January 10, 2005
Space Tourism Is A Reality
California spawns so many zany ideas and crackpot frontrunners. It's probably because of the balmy weather, high tech profile, loose money and relatively laidback lifestyle it professes to promote. But it also may be due to trace elements in the ever-present smog clouding people's better judgement.
Whatever the case, it should be no surprise that Dennis Tito, a multi-millionaire who calls California home, became the first ever space tourist. Even though it took the cash-strapped Russians and some reasonably unaccommodating individuals in NASA to pull it off, Tito managed to write himself into the history books with an historic flight in April 2001. (see www.space.com/spacetourism/)
Fast forward three years and a bit... Et voila! California's own Spaceship One captures the Ansari X-Prize by shooting some fortunate test pilot a hundred kilometers straight up (and safely down)in a privately built flyer/launch craft combination and here we are, on the brink of a brand new industry.
Richard Branson definitely thinks so. He's put thirty million dollars of his travel-derived funding behind Burt Rutan and company to help underwrite development of a larger craft for "Virgin Galactic" no less. Now Virgin Atlantic offices worldwide have experienced a hoard of starry-eyed "Dennis-Titos-in-waiting" who are plunking down two hundred thousand dollar deposits in anticipation of being set the first flights scheduled to begin sometime in 2007.
Richard, I think you may have been instrumental in making this within reach of the moderately rich, where it needs to be. Now, if I could just get my kids to work on saving up for a ticket for Daddy for Christmas 2010.
Some nifty reference links:
www.spacetourismsociety.org/
www.virgingalactic.com/
Whatever the case, it should be no surprise that Dennis Tito, a multi-millionaire who calls California home, became the first ever space tourist. Even though it took the cash-strapped Russians and some reasonably unaccommodating individuals in NASA to pull it off, Tito managed to write himself into the history books with an historic flight in April 2001. (see www.space.com/spacetourism/)
Fast forward three years and a bit... Et voila! California's own Spaceship One captures the Ansari X-Prize by shooting some fortunate test pilot a hundred kilometers straight up (and safely down)in a privately built flyer/launch craft combination and here we are, on the brink of a brand new industry.
Richard Branson definitely thinks so. He's put thirty million dollars of his travel-derived funding behind Burt Rutan and company to help underwrite development of a larger craft for "Virgin Galactic" no less. Now Virgin Atlantic offices worldwide have experienced a hoard of starry-eyed "Dennis-Titos-in-waiting" who are plunking down two hundred thousand dollar deposits in anticipation of being set the first flights scheduled to begin sometime in 2007.
Richard, I think you may have been instrumental in making this within reach of the moderately rich, where it needs to be. Now, if I could just get my kids to work on saving up for a ticket for Daddy for Christmas 2010.
Some nifty reference links:
www.spacetourismsociety.org/
www.virgingalactic.com/
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Introduction to Tourism Tech
Hello,
The idea for creating this blog came from the experiences I've had over the past decade with every aspect of delivery of technological services to the broader tourism industry and through aiding individuals in implementing tech solutions.
My name is Ken Lahoda and as CEO and founder of Digital Rez International, I felt there was an opportunity to provide some valuable insight and information regarding this subject. Our company deals with over 4000 accommodation and tourism operations worldwide by providing many solutions in the Reservation, CRM, point of sale and membership management areas.
The blog will provide readers with an opportunity to respond to articles related to the provision of innovative products and services for the travel and tourism industry.
Have fun and feel free to provide any feedback you see fit.
The idea for creating this blog came from the experiences I've had over the past decade with every aspect of delivery of technological services to the broader tourism industry and through aiding individuals in implementing tech solutions.
My name is Ken Lahoda and as CEO and founder of Digital Rez International, I felt there was an opportunity to provide some valuable insight and information regarding this subject. Our company deals with over 4000 accommodation and tourism operations worldwide by providing many solutions in the Reservation, CRM, point of sale and membership management areas.
The blog will provide readers with an opportunity to respond to articles related to the provision of innovative products and services for the travel and tourism industry.
Have fun and feel free to provide any feedback you see fit.
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