Web watch
Pubs and clubs looking for something to amuse their customers might consider installing a Webzone kiosk. The Hastings firm has linked a video camera and a phone with a touch-screen PC hooked up to the Web to offer a range of entertainment that's as simple to use as a one-armed bandit. Users can surf the Net, send video e-mails, enter a prize quiz or even make a date with a stranger via the kiosk's "Love zone". The kiosks are installed free and operated on a profit-sharing basis.
Nethotels, the Vienna-based on-line reservations service, launched its London operation in November 1999 and has almost 350 places to stay listed on its site (although many might be taking advantage of the service's six-month free trial). All accommodation on the site can be booked on-line, but backup is provided by a 24-hour call centre. Charges to the hotelier range from 13% of a booking for a basic database entry to a sliding-scale fee plus 10% commission for the full service, which offers a corporate presence and statistics among other things.
This well-constructed site offers an answer to the organic supply problem. Organised like an on-line supermarket, it has more than 650 products in its "aisles" ranging from fresh fruit to meat, toiletries, wine and beer. Fill up a trolley, pay at the checkout with a credit or debit card and Simply Organic will deliver to anywhere on the UK mainland for a flat fee of £5. While we're on the subject, Organika, a wholefood shop in Twickenham, has started a Web-based organic catering service at www.theorganiccaterer.co.uk. What a niche idea.
Japan Web Publishing is a firm that specialises in creating Web sites in Japanese for British companies, but its own Web pages are worth a visit for the extensive section on Japanese food, restaurants and sources of ingredients in the UK.
Home on the Web for the European Connection guide to luxury hotels. Well-written, but the pictures have been heavily "optimised", which makes them look smudged.
Restaurant owner the Earl of Bradford is building a Web empire. Having already launched london-restaurants.com, english-restaurants.com and virtual-london.com, the earl now offers this guide to restaurants around the UK. To qualify for a mention restaurants must be listed in a major guidebook, known personally to the earl or recommended by members of the British Guild of Food Writers. Visit any of these sites and the earl's own Porters restaurant in London's Covent Garden is just a click away.
Next Web watch: 2 March
