HeBS Digital Releases the SmartCMS V7, Technology That Transforms the Hotel Website into the Primary Distribution Channel

HeBS Digital, the leading hotel digital technology, full-service digital marketing and website revenue optimization consulting firm, has launched a major update to its award-winning smartCMS, world-class hotel website technology specifically created to maximize direct hotel bookings. For a second year in a row, the smartCMS won a Gold Stevie® Award in the Best Software Programming/Design Category in the 2015 American Business Awards, the nation's most prestigious software-for-business awards program.

This is the seventh generation of HeBS Digital's proprietary hotel website technology, which traces its origins to the first generation developed by the firm in 2002, and has powered thousands of hotel websites since.

The smartCMS supports fully-responsive design as well as adaptive design and powers both single property websites (from select-service vanity websites to complex full-service hotels, resorts and casinos) and multi-property, brand and multi-brand websites. All HeBS Digital clients are already enjoying the numerous benefits and functionalities of the new smartCMS v7.

The HeBS Digital smartCMS v7 is built with innovative, industry-first technology, allowing for quick reiteration and constant improvements. With this upgrade, all HeBS Digital clients are experiencing increases in overall performance and responsiveness of their entire website by more than 65%, including front-end download speeds and back-end management. They also have access to new modules that are unparalleled in the industry, including a unique Group Module, loyalty program technology and multi-property specific functionalities. HeBS Digital clients whose websites are powered by the smartCMS are enjoying a cost-of-sale per booking of less than 4.5% and revenue increases of 20% or more in comparison to their previous website.

Enhancements and New Features of HeBS Digital's smartCMS v7:

Download Speed Performance Enhancements

Page download speed improvements of 65 percent and above, a very important criteria for search engine rankings, user experience and conversions.

Search Engine-Friendliness Updates

Schema.org implementation support.

Automated XML image sitemap application.

Enhanced Merchandising Platform

The smartCMS Complete Merchandising Platform allows the property to sell rooms and generate leads on every single page of the property website via a complete 360-degree ecosystem of CMS Modules, functionalities and capabilities.

This next generation of merchandising allows the hotel to "sell on value" as opposed to "sell on rate" and to maximize revenues on the hotel website like never before.

Enhanced Dynamic Content Personalization Module

Accurately target website visitors with personalized and one-to-one special offers and promotions, based on the user's geo location, loyalty program affiliation, repeat visitor status, past booking history, etc.

Automated Time-Based Content Publishing

Assign "publish" and "un-publish" times and dates to content pages. Ensures content launches on a pre-established "go live" date and is removed from the site automatically at a preset time and date.

Loyalty Program Updates

Full support for ORACLE/MICROS OCIS (Opera Customer Information System) or CRM technology-based loyalty programs (Ex. Serenata CRM, etc.).

Serve fully responsive loyalty pages or as a separate set of mobile-optimized pages, based on preference and design requirements.

Guests can claim credits for missing stay, subject to third-party services.

Groups Pages Module

Create unlimited private group landing pages for corporate, wedding and SMERF groups. Tie the group pages with a specific group block code and stay date restrictions. Group code and date restrictions are embedded into the booking widget. Default dates are pre-populated, yet users can extend based on restrictions set by the property.

Custom-designed pages to increase relevancy for the type of group (i.e. meeting vs. wedding vs. SMERF groups).

Automated feature to un-publish the group pages on a date specified by the hotel.

For Multi-Property and Brand Hotel Companies

Multiple Brand Option: create as many brands and sub-brands within a "master" brand website, upload a different custom design or page layout for each brand or sub-brand, assign properties to each brand or sub-brand; create brand splash pages and introduce enhanced search capabilities.

Property Types: any property in the portfolio can be specifically classified as a hotel, casino, spa, restaurant, conference center, or "other." This allows hoteliers to easily divide restaurant or spa content into its own property, managing the content within a separate section of the same CMS.

Sub-Properties: the hotel website can carry sub-properties, such as a restaurant, spa, shop or bar. This hierarchy offers an improvement in the logical structure of the website, allowing hoteliers to create user log-ins to manage specific portions of the site in addition to flexibility in rearranging these sections of the website within the overall navigation structure.

Allows for SEO- and user-friendly URL extensions and site architecture.

Enhanced Multi-Property Content Sharing and Classification

Feature all properties within the CMS that have been assigned a particular classifier ("classifiers" such as brand, type, location, services, amenities), assigning custom layouts and designs to each.

Create a landing page featuring Special Offers within a particular property classifier.

Share to Properties, Press Room and Points of Interest modules.

HeBS Digital's smartCMS v7 embraces cutting-edge front-end full-stack technologies like HTML5, JSONP, AJAX, SASS, CSS3, and jQuery to deliver the best possible blend of front-end and back-end technology. High-quality images (the CMS supports storage of unlimited high-resolution images) and videos are served over CDN for a seamless and visually rich user experience. The content management system is on a modern web stack – written in PHP language with enterprise-grade Zend Framework – and runs on a fast and scalable cloud hosting platform. The content database is MySQL (redundant, multi-AZ for High Availability); caching and key-value storage is powered by high-performance Redis; customer files are stored securely in redundant block storage and served over Content Distribution Network for fastest possible content delivery. The cloud stack runs behind load balancers, and number of servers vary based on actual demand.

"I would like to thank our application programming, development and design teams who put countless hours into creating and enhancing the smartCMS v7 and making it the industry leading website technology platform" said Jaan Paljasma, Chief Technology Officer of HeBS Digital. "Our talented technology teams were fully dedicated to architecting, developing and enhancing this innovative technology which has a singular objective of maximizing website revenues for HeBS Digital's clients. We look forward to continuously working to improve the smartCMS and raising the bar on what this type of technology can achieve for our clients: from dynamic personalization and one-to-one marketing capabilities to robust merchandizing and customer engagement functionality."

"The smartCMS v7 builds on the strengths of HeBS Digital's award-winning, dynamic website technology to create a direct channel merchandizing platform that is truly unmatched in the industry," said Max Starkov, President & CEO of HeBS Digital. "The powerful merchandising and content publishing engine of the previous smartCMS technology remains at its core, but new features and modules, user interface improvements, SEO and merchandizing enhancements and updates to existing modules take the smartCMS to another level. HeBS Digital has upgraded all of its clients as part of our commitment of increasing their direct online channel revenues in 2016 and beyond."

Learn more about the HeBS Digital smartCMS v7 by visiting HeBSDigital.com.

About HeBS Digital

Founded in 2001, HeBS Digital is the industry's leading digital technology, full-service hotel digital marketing, website design and direct online channel consulting firm based in New York City (www.hebsdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the "best practices" in hotel digital marketing and website revenue optimization, as well as a range of industry-first digital technology applications. The firm has won more than 300 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, and IAC Awards.

Contact HeBS Digital's consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

Editorial Contact:

Mariana Mechoso SaferHeBS DigitalPhone: 212-752-8186Email: mariana@hebsdigital.com

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Source: HeBS Digital Releases the SmartCMS V7, Technology That Transforms the Hotel Website into the Primary Distribution Channel