Zhara empowers online revolution for local hotel industry yet again

Friday, 21 February 2014 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

  • The Zhara team at JKCS launched the revolutionary ‘Zhara Gateway’ yesterday at JKCS premises led by the senior management of JKCS and representatives from 12 leading hotels in the country
Built around the basic principles of cost saving and hassle-free operations for the local hotel operators ‘Zhara Gateway’ is the latest chapter of NBQSA 2012’s overall gold winner: Zhara HS. As a comprehensive yet easy-to-use internet booking engine integrated to a hotel’s website the Zhara Gateway is equipped with a payment gateway as well, which eliminates the hassle of handling payments for hotel operators. Thinking in the lines of global travel trends defining competition the world over today it is no longer a local perspective for our accommodation providers who also need to be cost conscious. Addressing this very same trend the Zhara Gateway was introduced as a state-of-the-art online booking solution simple and convenient for both guests and hotel operators with the lowest fee scheme in the market by far implemented with no start-up-fee. “As per statistics a staggering 65.4% of all travellers have identified a hotel website as being the most popular source for travel booking and the numbers are climbing as we speak. What we fail to recognise is that this is one of the biggest opportunities we have got to portray the diverse travel experiences we have here to the world on a limitless platform: The internet,” said JKCS CEO J.C. Ekanayake. “On the revenue front over the past five years internet travel booking revenue has grown by more than 73% further proving this preference by the average leisure and business traveller. Our focus with Zhara Gateway is merely in facilitating this opportunity and opening up a guaranteed revenue channel for hotels of any scale in Sri Lanka equipped with minimum cost factors and maximum convenience. Unlike many online services for hotel room selling in the market today this channel is completely in the control of the hotel operator who gets an exclusive and uncluttered platform to sell their offerings,” he added. 100% web-based offering The Zhara Gateway is a 100% web-based offering providing the edge of easy and quick deployability to any property equipped with 24/7 support to ensure smooth flow of operations. The state-of-the-art interfaces are inspired by leading trends in the world with a touch of creativity on how the property is presented on the site as the booking happens to make it a one-of-a-kind experience for the guest before physically being there. Some of the key features include the 360 degree view of the property which can be displayed on the booking engine. Expressing his views as one of the initial customers of Zhara Gateway, Mandira Bungalows Manager Sales and Marketing Kingsley Liyanage mentioned: “Zhara Gateway is a value addition to our property simply because it acts as a practical solution for customers across the world to book our offerings without a thumping investment on our side. As a hotelier being in the industry for a significant period of time I advise my fellow hoteliers to consider this online presence as a sales channel with limitless potential bringing in direct bookings and guaranteed revenue from guests prior to them even visiting the property.” Equipped with its own Administration panel for the hotel operator, the system supports multiple currencies and card types and the operator can manage room inventory, rates and reservations on his/her own. A comprehensive reporting module then complements the system by providing detailed views of vital data captured through the engine on demand for the hotel operator to better manage the revenue channel. Over 10 more local properties are currently scheduled for implementation within the month. Pix by Sameera Wijesinghe

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