Ten Year Milestone for Real-Time Online Bookings in The Vacation Rental Industry

Basalt, Colorado (PRWEB) May 30, 2008 -- 2008 marks the ten-year anniversary of the collaboration on providing a real-time online booking solution to the vacation rental industry between Instant Software and Visual Data Systems.

In 1998, Instant Software, the leading provider of software for the vacation rental industry and Visual Data Systems, a leader in online marketing and design services, worked together to provide the needed link between software and website that would allow their mutual clients the ability to offer real-time integrated bookings. The benchmark success of this endeavor was immediately felt throughout the vacation rental industry and in the ten years since. To date, over 500 million dollars of online bookings have been processed through Visual Data System's integration of Instant Software's open API (Application Program Interface) into client websites.

Real-time booking in the vacation rental industry, which encompasses the short term rental of individually owned homes and condominiums, has allowed the member companies to compete with the hotel and resort industry on a more equal basis. The integration between software and website to provide real-time online bookings for this industry is much more complex than the traditional hotel/resort industry as the properties rented are treated as individual entities, with specific features, amenities and availability. Vacationers generally rent a specific property as opposed to a room type making real-time information on pricing and availability critical to success.

"This milestone shows how far we've come in helping vacation rental management companies distribute their properties to potential guests on the internet," says Dave Hopcroft, CEO of Instant Software. "Our technology simplifies the complex processes that a property management company goes through to advertise, book, and manage their portfolios of rental properties through the internet."

"Our work with Instant Software paved the way for our clients to gain a competitive advantage in the marketing of their services to vacationers. From the launch of the industry's first real-time booking solution - to the most current Instant Software technology, ISILink, our companies have collaborated on over 150 integrations representing well over 50,000 vacation rental properties for use in our mutual client's custom designed private brand web sites. We are pleased to have reached this ten year milestone and look forward to working closely with Instant Software during the next ten in continuing to provide outstanding value for our mutual clients", stated Paul Herman, CEO and Founder of Visual Data Systems.

As internet travel bookings continue to grow at a record pace, Instant Software's ISILink technology integrated into custom websites continues to be the preferred real-time booking technology for property management companies and the industry. This milestone continues to demonstrate the vision, experience and leadership in this market by both Instant Software and Visual Data Systems.

About Instant Software

Instant Software, Inc., based in Basalt, CO. is the nation's leading provider of vacation rental management software and related services. The Instant Software solution suite includes First Resort Software, PropertyPlus, Entech Data Systems, V12.NET, ISILink, Weblink/OwnerLink, and Stay-USA. More than 1500 property management companies and vacation rental resorts throughout North America, Central America, and the Caribbean run their businesses on Instant Software. The company, which was the first in the vacation rental industry to bring real-time booking, serves more than 200,000 vacation rental properties. For more information visit: www.instantsoftware.com.

About Visual Data Systems

Visual Data Systems, based in Columbia, Maryland is a leading supplier of online marketing, technology and consultation. Founded in 1993 with extensive experience in the vacation rental industry, Visual Data Systems has clients throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Visual Data Systems supplies clients with design services, online marketing tools including online survey management, managed email solutions, search engine optimization & marketing, integration with rental/property management software and business and technology consultation. Visual Data Systems can be found on the web at: www.VisualDataSystems.com and can be reached via phone: 410-964-8665.

For more information, please contact:

Scott Gerber

Vice President of Marketing

Instant Software, Inc.

Tel: 888-534-7555

www.instantsoftware.com

Robert Gray

Senior Business Analyst

Visual Data Systems

www.VisualDataSystems.com

410-964-8665

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