Washington, D.C. 8/12/11 – Nothing is more frustrating than when you sign up for a service at a certain price only to turn around and get charged endless additional fees. With frustrated hoteliers in mind, The Knowland Group, a leading provider of business development solutions for the hospitality industry, has made pricing as transparent as purified water. In addition to being a fraction of the cost of our competitors, we do not charge hidden fees – ever.

SaaS – One cost, one bill. For other companies, a signed contract is just the first step in a series of expenses. On top of the monthly charges, there is the cost of establishing and maintaining a server – and don’t forget the salaries of network administrators to oversee, maintain and troubleshoot the system if it goes down. In our continued mission to add client value, The Knowland Group was the first to offer Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to hoteliers, eliminating the need for time-consuming installations, servers and network support staff because our applications are 100% browser-based. With the cloud-based technology for Readers, Insight and Target Net, clients can access all their applications anywhere, anytime with only an Internet connection.

Taking Innovation Further. A proven innovator, Knowland took SaaS to a whole new level by making the sales force automation and meetings management tool Target Net available on smart phones and the Apple iPad. This gives busy hoteliers the freedom to access their accounts without being chained to a desk and does not require any user maintenance by our clients. Using Target Net on their smart phone or iPad, sales teams can directly interact with clients, read emails, see contacts, calendars and even generate banquet event orders. A contract can be merged, converted into a PDF, digitally signed and emailed on the spot using EchoSign, the premier online electronic signature service Knowland has partnered with.

Our Assistance is Free. Hotels often spend thousands of dollars for maintenance agreements to ensure that a customer service representative will be available to help. Even then, hoteliers often have to wait days to get a call back, only to deal with a less-than stellar customer service representative. At Knowland, we value our clients and that’s why we built a larger, better-trained Client Care team than our competitors. Our staff undergoes constant training to ensure their level of customer service is exceptional and up-to-date. The best part is our Client Care team is available at no additional cost.

Three is a Crowd. With other hotel sales and meetings management programs, third party license agreements are needed to run reports, but not with Knowland. Target Net users can view, download or export 40-plus reports independently – including Activity Reports, Sales Person Productivity, Rooms Pace and Daily Transactions, saving time, money and frustration.

“We gain the trust of our clients by being honest and fair,” Knowland CEO Michael K. McKean said. “Other companies are only concerned about their bottom line, but at Knowland our number one core value is we believe in adding client value and we won’t stray from that to nickel and dime our customers.”