For immediate release JY&A Media

Contacts: Jack Yan, CEO Jack Yan & Associates T 64 4 387-3213, F 64 4 387-3213 E jack.yan@jyanet.com	Simon Casey, Managing Director Seekom T 64 4 386-3588 E simon.casey@seekom.com
Patricia Ansin, Director The Callista Group T 64 9 481-0430, C 64 21 481-030 E pat.ansin@callista.net

Seekom and Callista launch revolutionary automatic internet booking facility for Callista Hospitality

Wellington, July 10 (JY&A Media) Booking and distribution system developer Seekom Ltd. and The Callista Group, have joined forces to add a sophisticated and revolutionary automatic internet-booking facility and sales channel distribution system to Callista’s Hospitality system, it was announced today.
   Callista’s customers can now use the Seekom iBex (Internet Booking Exchange) module which directly interfaces with Callista Hospitality, a front-desk reservation system, on a set and forget basis.
   Innovatively and uniquely, Seekom’s and Callista’s systems can exchange available inventory and bookings in real time. Any bookings received via iBex are automatically and seamlessly entered into Callista’s system without the need for any user intervention at all.
   This allows Callista customers to not only sell directly from their website but they now can provide a direct interface to an unlimited number of sales channels who can access this inventory on a first come, first served basis.
   ‘We chose Seekom not only because they had the most sophisticated web booking system on the market but they they are a technology company who do not sell in competition with our customers’ sales channels says Roger Ansin, Callista’s Managing Director. ‘Unlike other providers, Seekom gives us the ability to create and provide a fully automated interface. Now internet booking for our customers can be completely automatic, and completely transparent,’ says Mr Ansin.
   ‘Callista’s customers no longer need to rely on an allotment-based supply of inventory, effectively increasing the amount of inventory they can sell. For Callista customers, it minimises the problem of having unsold rooms and eliminates the need to log into their resellers’ systems to manually update rates and inventory,’ says Simon Casey, Managing Director of Seekom. ‘In addition, Callista customers and channel members won’t know Seekom is there: to them, it will be seamless,’ says Mr Casey.
   Seekom’s ability to cope with scale is particularly appealing to Callista. Callista has over 600 accommodation operators using its system in New Zealand, and has customers in 17 other countries including Australia and the UK. Since it released a major upgrade to its Callista Hospitality system in December 2006, properties with a combined total of 13,000 rooms, have so far moved to the latest version of the system, paving the way for easy access to the Seekom–Callista internet booking interface.

Behind the technology
Mr Casey says that Seekom’s advantage is its ability to connect tourism suppliers and sales channels in real time using XML interfacing. When a booking is made by a customer or sales agent, the hospitality property knows about it instantly. A pop-up appears in Callista Hospitality advising that a new booking has been received—instantly and automatically—and they will see the booking and details already loaded. Similarly, if a booking is entered directly into Callista Hospitality, Seekom’s iBex is instantly and automatically updated with these changes.
   In addition, Seekom’s iBex can provide instant inventory confirmations to various sales channels in one go. It also minimizes the problem of having unsold inventory. In traditional “fixed allocation” systems, even on the internet, hospitality properties must deal with agents and customers separately which means they don’t have an instant understanding about what has been booked.
   Fixed allocation systems also cause massive dilemmas for tourism suppliers which usually mean they have to guess how many rooms or inventory to make available to their resellers leaving these rooms ring-fenced and unavailable for sale by any other means. This situation also means that hospitality properties are constantly uncertain about which of their rooms they can even sell themselves. Moreover, they also need to manually log in to a reseller’s website to check on progress or to provide updates.
   The Callista–Seekom interface eliminates all of this uncertainty and confusion by allowing hospitality properties to make all of their rooms available all of the time across the widest possible platform including their own website—and the whole process is automatic.

The technical aspects
Seekom’s booking system, iBex (Internet Booking Exchange), uses industry-standard XML technology to interconnect with other computer booking systems. A wholesaler or agent can read a hospitality property’s rates and availability in real time and the hospitality property’s booking system or property management system can be immediately updated with bookings from sales channels.

Images
Images for this release may be downloaded at <http://jya.net/070710pr0.htm>.

About Seekom
Seekom was established in 2002 by IT and travel industry professionals with a vision of providing low-cost, functionally rich booking solutions to tourism operators. From its beginnings in accommodation systems, it rapidly expanded to become the leading supplier of rental car booking systems in New Zealand and now offers online booking, management and distribution solutions for wholesalers. Seekom’s website is at www.seekom.com.

About Callista
The Callista Group has a long and successful 19-year history in the design and development of call management systems, call security systems and hospitality management systems. Its systems are sold in more than 17 countries with an installed customer base of more than 6,000. Callista is known for its innovative software design which incorporates state-of-the-art components to ensure accurate call management and hospitality management while simultaneously remaining easy-to-use and completely cost-effective—even for the smallest businesses or the smallest hotels, motels, lodges, B&Bs and hostels. Callista’s website is at www.callista.net.

Notes to editors
iBex is a registered trademark of Seekom Ltd. Callista is a registered trademark of The Callista Group. All other trade marks are the properties of their respective owners and are only used in a descriptive fashion without any intention to infringe.

###