The Gulliver Ireland Awards
- Get the Best from Gulliver Ireland and Increase your Sales

Held every year, the aim of the Gulliver Ireland Awards is to recognise online marketing skills demonstrated by Hotel, Guesthouse, Bed and Breakfast and Self-Catering accommodation suppliers across the country through their partnership with Gulliver Ireland.

The Gulliver Ireland Awards also serve as a useful framework for accommodation providers in focusing on how to improve their online sales during the course of the year.

There are four Awards in each of the seven tourism regions. One Award is presented for Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts, Guesthouses and Self Catering in the respective regions. A special Award is also given to the best GoIreland.com Enhanced Listing.

All Gulliver Ireland members are eligible for an Award. There is no application process; each property is automatically entered into its relevant category.

Here are four of the main areas we look at when selecting our winners:

1) Extranet Use, Availability and Allocation

Accommodation providers should avail of the easy-to-use ‘GullNet’ extranet system. This allows you to manage your availability, prices and receive booking notifications instantly. A PC and Internet access are the only requirements for using the system. We provide free telephone training.

Availability management is essential and premises owners should set availability at the beginning of the year and for the full calendar year. Monitor it on a regular basis. Remember, if your rooms are not on the ‘GullNet’ system when they are available, they cannot be sold by Gulliver Ireland.

Your room allocation is flexible. You can add as many rooms as you like on any given day. Rooms can also be reduced or removed at any time. Once your allocation is sold out, make sure you assign more rooms to the system. It’s also important to remember that if you only offer one or two rooms, you will not be selected for group bookings.

2) Lead-time, Closing Out and Room Types

Bookings made through Gulliver Ireland, and particularly over the Internet, have a long lead-time. With that in mind, it’s essential to ensure availability at the beginning of the year and throughout the 12 months of the year.

You should avoid closing out Gulliver Ireland availability unless your property is fully booked. Even during busy periods, keep some rooms on the system and, if necessary, increase the room selling price.

Assign as many different room types as possible (doubles, twins, double/single rooms etc). By designating only one room type, such as double rooms, your property is restricted to a specific customer profile.

3) Property Details, Photographs and GoIreland.com Enhanced Listing

Make sure the information and details you submit to Gulliver Ireland regarding your property are accurate and up-to-date. Any changes or updates can easily be made by contacting our Support Team

Photographs are strong selling points. The photograph you submit to Gulliver Ireland should be clear, in full colour and represent the best feature of your property. This photograph will be seen in the Call Centre, the Tourist Information Offices and on all the Gulliver Ireland affiliated websites.

GoIreland.com is Gulliver Ireland’s consumer website. In short, it’s the single strongest sales channel we provide. By upgrading to an Enhanced Listing with additional images and property information, you have the potential to increase your online bookings significantly.

Our friendly Support Team who will be happy to answer any questions.

Good Luck!

Our 2007 Overall Winner says:

"Winning Hotel of the Year 2007 with Gulliver Ireland was tremendous recognition for the work we do to in online sales management and promoting the hotel online. We invest a substantial amount of time in managing our online availability and Gulliver has been instrumental in supporting this strategy, especially in such a competitive environment. This is largely due to the ease of use of the system and the professional and helpful team that continue to support our reservations and sales department on a daily basis."

"We look forward to working with Gulliver Ireland in the future as we have established a very successful yield management strategy with their support and the system has proved to be an excellent source of business for us."

- Guy Thompson, General Manager, Temple Bar Hotel.

Our 2006 Overall Winner says:

"Our long standing relationship with Gulliver Ireland is mutually beneficial from promoting the hotel to generating revenue via bookings. Its operating system is easy-to-use and can be updated regularly and quickly. We look forward to many more years of successful partnership" - Andrea Molloy, Sales & Marketing Manager, Clarion Hotel Dublin Airport.