Web watch
Johansens rings in the changes
Guide publisher Johansens has devised a way of circumventing the fact it is not a reservations agency. Its redesigned Web site features a Call Free Now icon beside most of the hotels, holiday cottages, meeting venues and visitor attractions listed on its site. Clicking on the icon will cause the hotel's telephone to ring and connect to the caller's phone. There are no booking or commission fees and the hotel bears the cost of the call.
Customers can locate venues by country, place, name or desired facilities, be it a four-poster bed or croquet lawn. Special offers are highlighted and a chef's recipes section is under development. Take a peek at www.johansens.com (or visit it via www.historichouses.co.uk or www.museumsandgalleries.co.uk).
Springboard UK has redesigned its Web site to make it easier for job seekers, teachers, employers and employees to find their way around. It has also added many facilities from its multimedia disks. Potential recruits can call up lists of colleges and employers by region; input their qualifications and preferences to match themselves with jobs; or write their CV on-line and send it to employers and agencies. The site can track users' activity within the site and afterwards, enabling Springboard to let employers know which other sites are popular with potential recruits.
Track attack
The Internet may be an eye on to a vast world of information, but many forget that its users can be watched, too. The Hilton Corporation has been trialling an in-room Internet system in its Anaheim hotel near Disneyland in California which allows staff to monitor customers' movements in cyberspace.
Hilton insists there is nothing sinister here and the system will help sharpen its services by finding out what additional information guests are looking for.
While the US pilot appears to have been put on the back burner, Hilton in the UK is offering 66 hotels a TV-based Internet/entertainment package from Granada Business Technology by the end of the year. It provides movies, games, Internet facilities and hotel services - but no Big Brother capturing and tracking equipment.
The Savoy's maître chef des cuisines, Anton Edelmann, is the new ingredient at the revamped Cookcraft Web site. Edelmann will be providing on-line guides to help home chefs choose from the professional cookware sold on the site. Cookcraft is also launching a trade-only site after it found that caterers account for 15% of its sales. www.chefstore.co.uk will debut in August offering a 4,000-strong range including light-duty catering machines. This will be followed by a spare-parts ordering site, www.allpart.co.uk, from sister company Welcome Catering Spares.
