Winchester’s tourism service receives first online accommodation booking

2 September 2010

Within a week of launching an online accommodation booking service for visitors on Winchester’s official tourism website, Winchester City Council is marking the first e-booking for a local business through the site.

After consultation with owners and managers of local B&Bs, hotels and self catering properties, the Council’s tourism service developed an online booking facility on www.visitwinchester.co.uk to keep in step with customer service expectations.  The new system meets the demands of today's tourists who are often short on time and want to book short breaks and holidays easily and quickly – and at a time and place which suits them.

The Visit Winchester website also displays ‘real-time’ availability, and users can also carry out very detailed accommodation searches to suit their requirements by type, area and accessibility requirements.

The first ‘e-booker’ chose to book accommodation at The Old Vine, a beautiful 4 star 18th century inn in the heart of Winchester. The visitors will be coming from outside of England, highlighting the fact that the new system is already supporting our efforts to reach the overseas market in the run up to the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.

Ashton Gray, Director of The Old Vine Inn, said: “Online advertising via the Visit Winchester website is a fantastic way for accommodation providers to reach a worldwide market of potential clients in a highly cost-effective way. Online booking has the added advantage of easily converting hot sales leads into confirmed bookings. It’s a huge boost to our business”.

Councillor Dominic Hiscock, Winchester City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Prosperity, added:

“Accommodation providers are a vital part of our tourism industry. By making it easier for people to book rooms we satisfy our customers and boost the local economy. We hope that this initiative will help B&Bs and self catering properties."

The city’s tourist information centre still offers a personal reservation service, and visitors can either telephone 01962 840 500 or email tourism@winchester.gov.uk to book accommodation during opening hours.

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For further information about online booking please contact Kathleen McCulloch, E-Access Development Officer on 01962 848 296 or email kmcculloch@winchester.gov.uk

To contact The Old Vine call 01962 854 616 or visit www.oldvinewinchester.com