Visitor Services

• Booking services
• Information services
• Destination Management

• Distribution

Booking services
Customers ask us to book accommodation for them both before they arrive in the city and once they are here. We use our product database to help us book accommodation. The database contains details of all the accommodation providers in the city. Basic information about number of rooms, type of rooms, facilities offered and contacts is gathered and updated annually. Dynamic information such as prices and availability is updated very frequently.

Accommodation providers can use a unique password to log on to the system and update their availability and prices directly. Or they can call us and we will update information on their behalf.

When we are looking for rooms we search the database. Records that have been updated recently rise to the top of the list. This means that we can serve our customers quickly and efficiently because we know which property meets their needs and has availability.

We provide a free service to conference organisers that manages accommodation booking for their delegates. This involves working with room allocations from accommodation providers and handling all the delegates booking requirements. This year we are booking agents for 11 conferences.

1. We book customers into hotels and guesthouses that are members of the VisitBrighton partnership scheme.
2. The ability to update price and availability on our product database is available only to our partners.
3. All our accommodation booking services are carried out for a 10% commission on the value of the whole stay.

We only work with accommodation providers that are assessed under VisitBritain's, or the AA's, National Quality Association Standards Scheme.  This policy helps us to guarantee a minimum standard of service and facilities to our customers. For more information about the scheme click through to www.qualityintourism.com.
 
Information services
Our staff handle 240,000 personal enquiries a year at the Visitor Information Centre, 39,000 phone calls on our information line, 18,500 email and 3,500 postal enquiries. The volume changes with the seasons and the day of the week.

The Visitor Information Centre racks free literature for customers to pick up and take away. Priority is given to racking information from businesses that are members of our Partnership scheme.

We prepare information sheets, monthly events lists and a city map to send to people who are planning their visit or to use once they are here.

Customers who want printed accommodation information are sent personalised lists containing hotels, guesthouses and self-catering properties that meet their needs. These are printed from our product database when the customer contacts us and sent by first class post.

Our on-street kiosks at Hove Town Hall and Brighton Visitor Information Centre provide 24/7 information for visitors in the city. The kiosks are updated dynamically from our product database at least once a day.

VisitBrighton manages the official visitor website for Brighton & Hove. It is called visitbrighton.com. It gets approximately 1 and a half million unique visitors a year..

The site is dynamic because it shows all the latest updates on prices, availability and special offers, almost as soon as they are entered. It also contains news and stories that change regularly as well as basic information about the city. We will publish your news if you are working in Partnership with us. The site you are on is part of visitbrighton.com. Click here to go the homepage and view our current news stories.

We use a product database to help us manage and publish information in all the ways described above. The database contains detailed information about all Brighton & Hove and Sussex tourism businesses. Information is gathered and updated annually. VisitBrighton's product database is used to publish information on other websites such as VisitBritain.com using a mechanism called EnglandNet. EnglandNet is a national product database that takes its information from local organisations like VisitBrighton.

VisitBrighton is the official local data steward for information about Brighton & Hove businesses. We ensure that our data complies with the standards set nationally for EnglandNet. National organisations such as VisitBritain, EnjoyEngland, Tourism South East and many others use the information we supply in their marketing campaigns. Click here for more information on EnglandNet.

All our information services are designed to give tourism businesses that are working in Partnership with us as much visibility as possible locally, nationally and worldwide.

This year, we have produced a free magazine (on behalf of the City Attractions and Venues Forum) for hotel bedrooms across the city so that visitors can be updated on city news, dates and events and browse at their leisure.

Destination management
VisitBrighton plays an important role in improving the experience for visitors when they come to the city. Good pedestrian signage, clean litter free streets, friendly people, good customer service, a high quality events programme and many other things contribute to a good visit.

We work with our colleagues in the council to ensure that the voice of the visitor is taken into consideration in all sorts of decisions such as planning, events programming and parking.

We argue for positive action to be taken to improve the city for visitors and created the Tourism Strategy to help the whole city improve our environment for visitors and residents.

Areas that we are involved in include skills and training, quality standards and accessibility.

Visitor Services Strategy
The Visitor Services team have recently produced a strategy document looking at how to improve the services offered to visitors in the city over the next eight years.

The strategy shows recommendations on improving Visitor Welcome, Visitor Information, Product Development and Industry Partnership. Click here to download a copy of the Visitor Services Strategy.

Distribution
The publications we distribute to tourism businesses in the city are the visitor map and the shopping and eating guide (produced by the City Centre Business forum). If you need these publications contact luzia.norman@brighton-hove.gov.uk. These publications are also distributed in bulk to tour operators, group organisers, conference organisers and others who are bringing large numbers of visitors to the city.