Internet Merchandising Systems

Now Installing IMS Voyager V3.5.0

As of March 1st, 2010, we are now installing our latest V3.5.0.

Too many additional features have been added to mention here, but we stand by our claim that its the most cost effective, feature rich software package for reservation, booking and ticketing in the market today. More features at http://www.imscart.com/website_promotions_marketing.html

IMS Voyager Reservation software is celebrating TEN years of continuous & expansive customer driven development!!

IMS Voyager Reservation software is celebrating TEN years of continuous & expansive customer driven development of our Powerful Online Reservation & Booking Software Solution that will add value to your Tour, Hotel, Rental, Ferry, Bus, Shuttle or Restaurant business.

A truly scalable value added 'Mix & Match' reservation & booking software with NO commissions!

Designed for web sales, call-center, front desk & kiosk sales, the IMS Voyager reservation software system integrates on a modular basis and is highly customizable, which means you only purchase the software modules you need from the tour reservation, hotel reservation, ferry & bus reservation, rental, small airlines, restaurant or the powerful ecommerce module, etc.

This powerful multi-platform online reservation software Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) application, with it's powerful pre-built functionality, delivers features, benefits and price performance, that allow it to outperform any other product of its type in the market place today, for hotels, tour companies, ferry & bus operators, online restaurants, rental agencies and e-distribution websites.

Last Minute Pricing Deals

You now have the ability to set up additional costs/discounts depending on the number of hours before trip.

This feature available for tours and transit modules.

This can be used in conjunction with the new Fare Bucket feature.

More - http://www.imscart.com/last_minute_prices.html

Loyalty Reward Points, Loyalty Reward Programs

Increase customer loyalty with IMS Voyagers ‘Loyalty Reward Points’ system

Let customers accrue points with purchases and use accrued points against future orders

The Loyalty Reward Points module allows you to promote customer loyalty and increase sales by rewarding your customers for purchases through your IMS Voyager system.

IMS Voyager allows administrators to implement a marketing program that mimics the airline industry’s popular ‘miles’. Customers earn points while making purchases then redeem points automatically for discounts and other merchandise.

More - http://www.imscart.com/loyalty_rewards_points.html

Ferry, Bus, Shuttle Mail & Package Shipping Module Option

Earn additional revenue by adding the mail and package shipping feature to your tour, shuttle, ferry, bus or airlines service using IMS Voyager software.

http://www.imscart.com/mail_package_shipping.html

Voyager Transit Passenger reservation system

A Serious System for a Serious Business - Passenger Transportation
Our Voyager Transit ferry reservation, bus booking or aircraft booking system helps your reservation departments by providing a high performance, value added, easy to use web based booking system that cost effectively allow online bookings, walk up bookings, on-board bookings and also allows commissionable bookings via travel agents.

IMS Voyager Transit online ferry reservation and bus booking system is the only readily available ferry, bus and small airline reservation system designed around Internet technology allowing global access to your ferry, bus and airline booking and ticketing needs.

http://www.imscart.com/transit_bus_ferry_reservation_software.html

PCI Compliance - is your customer credit CARD & data safe?

In modern times, it seems that most people are concerned about credit card security - an issue that has come to the forefront in today's world of paperless financial transactions. The credit card industry has responded to these concerns by requiring businesses to achieve PCI compliance.

Our IMS Voyager solution supports the set of security standards recently created by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) to assure credit card information is protected.

Our reservation software is in PCI Compliance (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).

Read more at - http://www.imscart.com/pci_compliance.html

Lodging Interactive Offers Turn-Key Mobile Websites For Hotels

Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency servicing the hospitality industry, today announced the roll out of its mobile website design and hosting services for hotels. Lodging Interactive's new mobile services provide turn-key, cost-effective mobile solutions enabling hotels to provide easy acess to their website and to capture bookings from smart phones, iPhones and Blackberry users worldwide.

"According to PhocusWright, 67% of travelers and 77% of frequent business travelers with Web-enabled mobile devices have already used their devices to find local services, (e.g. lodging) and attractions," stated DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive's Founder and President. "And with US mobile penetration expected to be 95%, or 219 Million users in 2010, it only makes sense that hotels embrace the emerging mobile technologies to maximize their mobile booking opportunities."

Lodging Interactive creates mobile websites specifically designed for mobile foot prints. Typical mobile websites contain 15-20 pages including animated photo galleries, one click direct dial to the hotel and links to popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, the company utilizes special coding to automatically detect and redirect visitors using Apple iPhones and Blackberry devices. "Our technology can detect which cell phone platform and browser the visitor is using and display the most appropriate website rendering, all seamlessly to the user," added Mr. Vallauri.

As an option, Lodging Interactive offers a customized Mobile Content Management System (M-CMS) enabling hotel clients to easily modify their mobile website in real time.

Mobile Websites For Branded Properties
"Our mobile website services are especially well suited for branded properties who may not have their own marketing websites. The brands are simply not addressing the global mobile opportunities for its individual franchisees," said Mr. Vallauri. "We have been able to create a business model that makes establishing a mobile website and marketing it affordable to any franchisee."

For more information about Lodging Interactive's mobile design and marketing services please contact Mr. Richard Walsh, Vice President of Business Development. Mr. Walsh can reached at 877-291-4411 extension 701 or via email rjwalsh@lodginginteractive.com.

About Lodging Interactive
Lodging Interactive, headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, is a leading provider of Internet Marketing Services to the hospitality, spa and restaurant industries. The company provides a portfolio of effective hotel internet marketing services to hundreds of hotels, resorts, timeshares, spas and restaurants. Clients include branded hotels from nearly every major brand as well as prestigious, landmark independent hotels.


Through its CoMMingle Social Media Marketing Agency operating division, the Company offers hospitality focused and fully managed outsourced hotel social media marketing.
Lodging Interactive is a proud member of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and a supporter of the Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). For more information contact Richard Walsh, Vice President of Business Development at sales@lodginginteractive.com or at 877-291-4411. The company's website is located at www.LodgingInteractive.com.

Travel Industry Industry Races to Deliver Mobile Applications and Post-Booking Solutions

Travelers young and old are increasingly using mobile devices for flight notification, check in, and seat selection, and are also willing to accept advertising with free travel applications. These findings and more were revealed in a global mobile survey of travelers, conducted by Sabre Travel Network(R), the world's leading provider of high-performance solutions for the travel industry. The survey of 800 corporate and leisure travelers from Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America covered topics ranging from preferred features to fees travelers might pay for travel applications.

Mobile Adoption Climbs, Driven by Travelers Young...and Older

The majority of travelers surveyed had a smart phone (69 percent), with North American travelers most likely to own one (78 percent) and APAC travelers least likely (46 percent). Daily usage is highest for email at 63 percent with Internet not far behind at 49 percent. The study also found that nearly half of all travelers (47 percent) are 40 years old or older, demonstrating that the exploding use of mobile services is not strictly the domain of younger travellers.

Today's Features Gain Traction

Corporate and leisure travelers both showed strong adoption for using their mobile phone to gain timely and relevant information, in particular:

'Smart phones are becoming a traveler's preferred tool for managing post-booking activities and getting relevant information,' said Greg Webb, chief marketing officer of Sabre Holdings. 'This trend has seemingly penetrated all ages across all continents, highlighting the tremendous opportunity for travel agencies and suppliers to leverage mobile solutions to demonstrate value to their customers and creatively reach target audiences.'

Europeans Rank Ahead of North Americans in Adopting Newer Features

Survey results revealed high levels of interest in services that Sabre and other travel technology providers are working on today, with Europeans ranking ahead of North Americans and travelers in APAC in potential adoption of select features:

Sixty three percent of all travelers are also open to automating re-accommodation services and checking in and out of hotels via mobile devices, with 61 percent interested in booking flights via their mobile in the future. Travelocity(R), a Sabre Holdings company, has noted a measurable increase in bookings originating from mobile devices in recent months.

Travelers Open to Advertising with Free Travel Applications

All travelers surveyed are willing to accept advertising with free use of travel applications. For example, 28 percent of 'Road Warriors' (very frequent business travelers) said they preferred free applications with advertising, versus eight percent who preferred to pay for the application. Leisure travelers had a similar spread, with 22 percent preferring free with advertising versus five percent preferring to pay. In Europe, 14 percent of respondents preferred free with advertising versus five who prefer to pay.

'There's been a lot of experimentation with pay-for-services in the past. With advertising emerging as a more palatable choice for travelers, application providers and retailers now have a way of monetizing their offering and driving more value out of a potentially lucrative marketing channel,' said Webb. 'For our own part, Sabre remains committed to helping the travel industry advance their mobile strategies, and next year we will increase our mobile investments to continue growing our award-winning portfolio of mobile solutions for both agency and airline customers.'

Sabre's 2009 launch of TripCase(SM), a mobile application available today for both iPhone and Blackberry users, continues to gain momentum with tens of thousands of individual downloads, an 'Innovator of the Year' nomination by PhoCusWright and being named 'Best Travel App' by Business Week. Sabre's Virtually There(R) itinerary service is used by more than 30,000 travel agencies around the world and their customers.

Ferry reservation and booking software system

IMS Voyager Transit online ferry reservation and booking system is the only readily available ferry reservation system designed around Internet technology allowing global access to your ferry booking and ticketing needs. Fully scaleable from small to large ferry operations.

An on-line, web-based ferry reservation service built directly into your own website providing advanced reservation and departure control solutions for booking and check-in that allows your customers to select multiple dates, choose ticket/route options, and make a payment, all online and in real-time. Options for freight, baggage, cabin selection, on-board dining, restaurant menus, graphical seat selection, onboard shows, events and table seat selection plus much more.

Ensuring Credit Card Security via PCI Compliance

PCI Certification - An Overview

In order to achieve PCI compliance, there are six major goals that a merchant is required to meet. Within each broad goal are a wide array of additional rules and regulations that merchants must fulfill to ensure credit card security. Below is a brief overview of each of the goals and how they affect the hotel industry.

1. Build and Maintain a Secure Network

All merchants, including Companies, are required to install and maintain a firewall within their computer systems to maintain credit card security and to protect sensitive information from being accessible by those outside of the system. In addition, merchants seeking PCI compliance must not use vendor-supplied defaults or system passwords, which are not secure because they are easily guessed by outside parties. New passwords must be assigned to all systems and must be kept secure.

2. Protect Cardholder Data

Merchants must protect credit card security by encrypting the transmission of data across public networks. This would include, for example, the card information of a guest making a reservation online or checking in at the front desk. Any property management system used by the hotel must be secure as well.

3. Maintain a Vulnerability Management Program

Merchants must use and regularly update antivirus software and must develop and maintain secure systems and applications. This step is crucial to ensuring credit card security and must be followed not only by the hotel itself but by any vendors of software used by the hotel, such as the vendor of a property management system. Companies should ask each and every vendor if it will be going through or if it has completed the process for PCI compliance. Companies should also determine if the vendor is taking care of PCI compliance using internal resources or if an outside consultant has been appointed to handle the process. If the vendor has appointed a consultant, the hotel should insist that it is one approved by the credit card industry.

4. Implement Strong Access Control Measures

To ensure credit card security, the hotel must restrict data only to those who need to know the information. In addition, the hotel must assign a unique ID to each person with computer access for tracking purposes. And finally, the hotel must be sure to restrict physical access to cardholder data.

5. Regularly Monitor and Test Networks
The hotel must test and monitor access to network resources and cardholder data. Security systems and processes must also regularly be tested to guarantee credit card security.

6. Maintain a Good Security Policy

Merchants are required to have a documented process so that if there is an unfortunate breach in credit card security, there is a structured procedure to follow in order to address that breach.

In addition to the above six goals for PCI compliance, there are further validation requirements that must be met. The details vary by credit card company, but, in general, an on-site visit, questionnaire, and network scan are required. The aforementioned merchant categories determine how often merchants must be validated and to what degree.

Conclusion

The process by which a hotel must achieve PCI compliance is complex and ongoing. However, it is also of great importance as credit card security continues to be a concern for everyone. Companies that avoid certification will almost surely face large fines and will lose consumer confidence, particularly if a security breach occurs at any time. All Companies should perform their due diligence and review the PCI compliance guidelines in depth to ensure that they are fully compliant.

IMS reservation software is in PCI Compliance (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). See - http://www.imscart.com/pci_compliance.html