Auckland, Westin Hotel, 30 April 2008

Our second TourWriter Networking Assemblage was held on the 30th of April at the new luxurious Westin Hotel in Auckland.

The event schedule was modified this time following feedback from the last event. There were many requests for pre-speakers networking so the afternoon was kicked off on the Pontoon at the hotel allowing for everyone to mingle and mix prior to the two hours of speakers.

The 34 attendees then meandered down to "The Late Club" to hear the speakers which was followed by canapés, drinks and more networking.

"We had a great time and really thought the guest speakers were excellent! We were disappointed we couldn’t stay longer", wrote Petra Stringfellow from Seasonz. Mariana Gualberto, sales & marketing executive at The Westin wrote to say, "TourWriter’s idea to promote and organize networking within the smaller TA is just phenomenal. Congratulations for the initiative!".

The Speakers

• Mariana Gualberto - Sales & Marketing Executive The Westin Hotel Auckland
  Mariana shared with the attendees the hotel’s unique size, feel and of course their famous beds! She also announced that The Westin will be building another property in Queenstown. See the Westin’s website for details of the hotel.
  www.westin.com.au/auckland

• Glenn Campbell & Seba Illingworth, TourWriter
  Glenn and Seba shared the stage to present some of the exciting new and upcoming functionality in TourWriter, including the interface to Accounting software.
  Seba's notes | Glenn's notes | Export itinerary template | Export supplier template | Contact emails template

• Dennis Brown – Communications and Support Availability On Line Reservations
  Dennis shared with us how to save time and frustration by using their online reservation system to view a specific property’s reservation book and/or to search for an available property in a specific region on specific dates. Their portal for agents allows inbounders to view and book instantly while enjoying the normal negotiated commission levels
  www.availability.co.nz

• Paul Smith, Executive Director Indirect Taxes & Geng Zheng, Manager Indirect Taxes, Ernst & Young
  Paul and Geng had the attendees totally engaged as they shared the history and progress of the IRD’s stance on claiming zero rating on “facilitation charges”. See the attached file for a copy of their presentation. Should you have any questions or concerns on this matter please contact either Paul or Geng directly.
  paul.smith@nz.ey.com | geng.zheng@nz.ey.com | Download presentation

Client Feedback

If anyone has any other feedback or suggestions for the next TourWriter User Assemblage, please e-mail Gina with your ideas. We are tentatively planning to have it in October 2008.

Auckland, Viaduct Landing, October 3rd 2007

The first TourWriter user conference was held at the luxurious Viaduct Landing owned and operated by Essence NZ, located on Princess Wharf in the center of Auckland. Thank you to all those that came to the event. From the feedback we have received, it was a useful and enjoyable afternoon. Certainly it is something we will be trying to continue on a 6-12 monthly basis.

Some people have asked about presentation notes and contact details for the speakers, so below you can see details of the areas that were covered, and if you click on the person’s name you can send them an e-mail, should you have any further questions :

The Speakers

• Seba Illingworth spoke about some of the advanced features of TourWriter, aimed at saving time and reducing errors, that users might not have been using. He also gave a preview of the upcoming Accounting module. See the notes here.

• Andrew Harrison (Air New Zealand inbound Manager) covered how Air NZ is now supporting inbounders, including the ability to earn “commission” on certain domestic flights using the GST exempt status of domestic flights that are linked to International flights. You can see the full presentation here.

• John Hayson from Corpendo spoke about how to make a website truly work for you. Capturing everyone's attention by using the analogy of a bottle of wine, John explained how you have to get your "bottle" properly positioned so it can be seen, that your "label" or front page must encourage clients to want to learn more and finally your contents needs to be "crisp, focused and tasty" so people want to buy and recommend you. To learn more about John's website services write him at john@corpendo.com

• Jennifer McBrearty from Essence of New Zealand spoke about the 6 Essence accommodations around New Zealand, and how Essence can work with inbound operators. See the presentation here. Jennifer also helped to draw the winner of the $500 prize (see details below).

The Prize Winner

All attendees who had completed the recent TourWriter user feedback form went into a prize draw to win $500 off their next annual licence fees. This was drawn at the end of the conference, and won by Ena Hutchinson from Moatrek - congratulations Ena!

Client Feedback

If anyone has any other feedback or suggestions for the next TourWriter User Assemblage, please e-mail Gina with your ideas. We are tentatively planning to have it at Rotorua immediately before TRENZ (May 2008), and would be interested in your thoughts on this location and timing.

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