The TravelGround Blog

Cape Town, February 25, 2009 – Local B&Bs and guest houses don’t usually have access to the same online tools available to large hotel chains, but a new website is trying to change that. The ZissuTravel website provides local establishments with Facebook-inspired pages complete with secure booking and online payment facilities.

Individual establishment pages have text descriptions, photographs, maps and booking facilities, but accommodation owners can join without any technical knowledge whatsoever. Most importantly, each page allows local accommodation owners to easily accept online credit card payment – an absolute necessity to take full advantage of the upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Jonathan Womersley, General Business Manager at ZissuTravel, said, “We plan to spend February and March signing up establishments across Cape Town. That way when we launch our booking facilities to the public we will already list hundreds of accommodations.” It is free for B&Bs and guest houses to list on the website and establishments are only charged commission on bookings payed for through the website. The ZissuTravel website will begin accepting bookings from April first.

For further information please contact Marcel van de Ghinste on 072 212 9392 or visit http://www.zissutravel.com/suppliers/

Cape Town, February 24, 2009 – ZissuTravel, a homegrown accommodation search and booking site, has begun signing up accommodation establishments in Cape Town. This is the first part of a two tiered launch of the ZissuTravel.com website: firstly, a launch to local accommodation establishments to begin listing on the website; and secondly, a launch to users across the internet to begin using ZissuTravel’s online booking facilities.

ZissuTravel’s business model means that local B&Bs and guest houses can be listed on the website for free. Accommodation owner’s will only ever be charged commission when a booking is payed for through the website.

ZissuTravel offers each accommodation establishment a personal, Facebook-inspired page on the ZissuTravel.com site. This means that each establishment can easily manage their page without any technical knowledge whatsoever.  Establishment pages will display text descriptions, photographs, maps and comprehensive activity guides. In fact, ZissuTravel.com already has activity guides for over 100 of Cape Town’s most exciting tourist activities. This free online exposure is further sweetened by access to ZissuTravel’s secure online booking and credit card payment facilities. This will allow local accommodation owners to easily accept payment from the foreign tourist market directly – an absolute necessity to take full advantage of the upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The 5 man team at ZissuTravel is confident that their website will be well received by the tourism industry and by tourists alike. Jonathan Womersley, General Business Manager at ZissuTravel, stated, “We take our business very seriously, and we believe that the services we offer will add a lot of value to the local industry. This belief stems from the fact that we have a plan and we stick to it. The next step is listing reputable establishments on our site. Once that has been accomplished, we will open the website up to the public.”

Once ZissuTravel has signed up a sufficient number of accommodation establishments in Cape Town then the site’s convenient travel guides, easy to use accommodation search and secure booking facilities will be launched to customers.

About ZissuTravel
ZissuTravel.com is a new accommodation booking website designed to bring more online tourism revenue to Cape Town. ZissuTravel.com provides accommodation owners with easy to manage establishment pages, access to the ZissuTravel online booking process including secure credit card processing, and free online marketing paid for by ZissuTravel. ZissuTravel will attract users because of its user-friendly interface, powerful search abilities and easy and secure booking process. ZissuTravel is a member of ‘Cape Town Tourism’. For further information, contact Marcel van de Ghinste at 072 212 9392 during office hours or visit http://www.zissutravel.com/