Imagine being able to pick up a phone in the United States, Germany, Italy or Sweden and inquire about a Bermuda vacation.

Then in the space of less than 15 minutes, your reservations are made and an accommodation of your choice awaits you in Bermuda.

Too good to be true? No, because that's the business of Bermuda's Reservation Services Ltd. a company that turned a year old on January 12.

The idea was germinated late in 1984 after Bermudian businessman Steve Martin returned home from working overseas.

He bought a guest house called the Pretty Penny on Cobbs Hill Road and launched his ship into the sometimes placid, and lately more turbulent waters of Bermuda's tourism industry.

One year later he was meeting with other small property owners because they faced a common problem; how to get the most exposure for their properties as inexpensively as possible.

"The need for co-operative advertising became important because we were all just five to seven room properties,'' Mr. Martin recalled. "Soon after that we formed Bermuda Small Properties Ltd. which grew up to 15 members.'' In those labour intensive early days, Mr. Martin, 44, started out with just a notebook, pen and a calculator.

Potential guests would call and he would mark them down in the book, calculate the rate for their length of stay and depend on the mail and telephone to pass information to and fro.

Within six months his system was unable to handle the work load and he bought his first computer.

"Our system had to be tailor-made to suit the needs of the small property,'' he explained. "Most of them are owned either by a couple, or family. Their needs are different from the large property which has round-the-clock support from their staff. For the small property the owners have to pay bills, do the shopping and take the kids to school.

"What we needed was a central way for potential guests to call and get an answer.'' Mr. Martin said that small properties worked on a request basis which is time-consuming because it required the property to send in its last minute availability to match the guests' requirements.

"We tried to facilitate the reservation process without a lot of denial and toing and froing.

"We would make out bookings based on the client's date of arrival and departure and the kind of accommodation they wanted.'' While Mr. Martin laboured within the BSP group, his work did not go unnoticed as both the Bermuda Hotel Association and the Department of Tourism expressed some interest in centralising the current reservations system for all properties on the Island.

"Our system was initially geared toward the smaller properties but the larger properties were easier and our system was applicable to the larger environment.

Bookings system a success "The Bermuda Hotel Association endorsed us and so did the Department of Tourism in late 1995 and I applied and received funding to incorporate the company in December of that same year. On January 12, 1996 we launched the central reservation system.'' Within four months, 58 properties signed up after receiving a phone call and hand delivered contract.

Soon the Bermuda Central Reservation System was doing business with the larger and smaller properties.

Its success in Bermuda to date was not enough for Mr. Martin, who through the Internet tied in with overseas representatives and opened an office in Raynham, Massachusettes complete with a 1-800 number.

There are also two representatives in the United Kingdom and Germany and one in Italy and Sweden respectively.

And with the use of modern technology a m la Internet -- file servers, electronic mail, and facsimile -- business can be transacted within minutes.

But even as his concept has taken off and many reservations for Bermuda's licensed properties are made through his office, Mr. Martin says he has not forgotten his roots.

Six of the small properties he started out with in the eighties -- Angel's Grotto, Green Bank, Grape Bay, Longtail Cliffs, Marley Beach, and Pretty Penny -- are still with him.

The future? "Our goal is to give our clients service, service, service,'' he continued.

"At BCRS we are upbeat about the future of tourism but the product must go through a metamorphosis if we are going to adapt to the competition.

"But that is all normal and to be expected. You don't take a $500,000 industry and say it's in a hole. We have challenges but we must deal with them.'' RARING TO GO -- Steve Martin, president of Bermuda's Central Reservation Service, is optimistic about the future of Bermuda's tourist industry as long as it adapts to suit the changing environment.

BUSINESS BUC