ABC is industry standard-bearer for hotel and venue data provision

In just 4 years, ABC Connection has become widely recognised as the industry standard for hotel and conference venue data.

That’s the consensus of many of the UK’s biggest hotel booking and venue-find agency chiefs, for whom consistency, reliability and flexibility of property data are pre-requisites.

“Accurate information is the lifeblood of any operation like ours” says Chris Madge, MD of Zibrant, who signed up with ABC earlier this year. “For us, the ABC solution alleviated many issues surrounding the collation and accuracy of property information. Previously data maintenance involved substantial time both for our own and venue’s staff in updating our database. The adoption of ABC, which is fast becoming the industry standard, enables us to deliver high quality content on hotel and venue groups to our staff and clients.”

HBA’s reservations teams don’t have time to spend trawling through hotel groups’ own sites for information, so agency principals need a solution that gives them everything they need, but in one place. A point endorsed by Sherie Keable of NIS Europe. “Prior to working with ABC Connection NIS had spent a number of years looking for a reliable source of hotel and venue data to supplement our own database without success. The information provided by ABC is both accurate and relevant and provides our clients with a clear picture of the properties they are booking as well as the amenities that are available.

“By utilising the ABC data, NIS agents have been able to dramatically reduce the time they spend responding to simple requests for information and by incorporating this into our on-line tools we have seen a significant reduction in the run of the mill property related questions that we previously had to handle”

It’s a sentiment echoed by Nick Foot, MD of Hotelscene. “We felt from the outset that there was a tremendous synergy between ABC Connection and ourselves. This has significantly improved the data available to our consultants and customers, especially in the conference arena where, for example, they are now able to download floor plans. We’ve also will also be able to use the ABC system to improve the content of our own website.”

For many of the UK’s leading agencies, ABC has taken the pain out of database management. “For years, the level and integrity of information collated for conference venues compared to hotels has varied enormously. Client’s information needs in this area are different; they need to download floor plans, menus, and other data not required for a straightforward overnight hotel booking. ABC Connection has been the first data provider to meet these very different requirements” said Hotelscene’s Nick Foot.

Leigh Jagger is Managing Director of meetings and events specialists Banks Sadler. “We are delighted to be working with ABC Connection” she declared.  “Our collaboration has certainly added to the depth and quality of our database whilst allowing us to ensure that our data is kept up-to-date in a rapidly changing market. Banks Sadler has won several new accounts over the last few months and our links with ABC has also helped us enhance our data in the previously less booked regions."

Asked to explain why the ABC product is proving so attractive, ABC Chairman Martin Coleman pinpoints his team’s understanding of industry distribution. “In today’s market, an intimate understanding of the procurement process, from RFP to fulfilling a booking request either direct or via an intermediary, is crucial.  We believe that we can be an irresistible proposition by providing data and functionality that enable agencies to add value to their clients, such as images, 360 degree views, information on WiFi, in-room internet connections, plasma screens as well as the means to access promotional or optimum rates.”

“We take great care to ensure that the property information we hold is constantly up-dated, and because we constantly develop additional information modules ranging from disabled guest information to detailed Spa descriptions” Martin concluded.

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