JULY 11 - 24, 2001
TOP O' THE NEWS
- Internet Travel sites show steady growth while total Internet traffic dips
Internet Travel sites are still hot items; they showed steady traffic growth in June when overall total Internet traffic dipped slightly, mostly due to the drop-off in school computer access as summer vacations started. The netScore Internet Traffic Report for June (from comScore Networks and Diameter, a division of DoubleClick) showed that total worldwide Internet traffic was down 1% in June, with total U.S. traffic down 3%.
However, Travel sites showed 2.2% growth compared to May, with almost three-quarters of travel sites in the Top 25 Travel Report seeing an increase. The launch of orbitz.com certainly helped generate interest, but this was still only the 4th most visited travel site during the month. Hotel sites in particular were up, Hilton by 8%, Marriott by 5% and Bass by 1%, while the major car rental sites all showed declines.
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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Robert Rene joins InnMedia as Chief Executive Officer
- Paul Sullivan promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Guest-Tek
- Jim Subak hired to run Guest-Tek’s new Minneapolis office
- Steve Saario promoted to Executive Director of MSI’s Customer Assistance Center
- Al Cheek, Cendant’s Hotel Division VP of Reservation & Sales Distribution, joins board of OpenTravel Alliance
- Karen Englander joins VIP International as Vice President – Major Accounts
Robert Rene has joined InnMedia, the joint venture of Hilton Hotels and LodgeNet, as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Rene has nearly twenty years of experience in entertainment, media and technology operations, strategy and marketing; he has served as Executive Vice President of Marketing at UPN, headed marketing, strategy and business development at Americast, and was an Account Managing Director at Young & Rubicam, Inc.
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Paul Sullivan has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of Guest-Tek; he was previously Guest-Tek's VP of Sales. Prior to joining Guest-Tek earlier this year, Mr. Sullivan was the CEO and co-founder of Noteable!, a technology consulting firm in contact management, time and expense-tracking software.
Guest-Tek also hired Jim Subak to run its new Minneapolis office, its third U.S. office this year. Mr. Subak has 17 years' experience in technology sales, most recently as the Sales Director of a supplier of high-speed Internet access technology, and has also worked directly for a number of hotels.
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Steve Saario has been promoted to Executive Director of Multi-Systems, Inc. (MSI)’s Customer Assistance Center. Mr. Saario joined MSI last fall, after eight-years with Choice Hotels where he served as the Manager of Property Systems Support, Technical Support & Special Projects.
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Al Cheek, Vice President of Reservation & Sales Distribution for Cendant’s Hotel Division, has joined the OpenTravel Alliance board of directors. OTA is developing open Internet-compatible messages using XML data terms.
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Karen Englander has joined VIP International as Vice President – Major Accounts. Ms. Englander has more than 25 years in the reservation services business, with companies such as the TraveLodge and Condo Network, and was the owner of ERS, a GDS representation company.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Ramesys makes Software Magazine’s Top 500
Ramesys Hospitality was ranked 439 in the Software 500, Software Magazine’s worldwide list of software and services providers. The ranking is based on total worldwide software and services revenue for 2000, including license fees, maintenance and support revenue, professional services/consulting, and custom programming. (www.us.ramesys.com)
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RESERVATIONS
- USA Networks buys Expedia and National Leisure Group
- HRN launches luxury hotel Web site
- Millennium completes CRS switch to SWAN’s SCEPTRE
- Worldspan licenses Expedia’s fare-searching technology
- WorldRes adds two-month calendar display of rates and availability to hotel sites
- Station Casinos orders Inter-American Data (IAD)’s ResNet Web-based reservation system
- TRUST contracts with HotelTraining.com for Internet-based training at Orlando Call Center
- inntopia.com employees buy back inntopia from Unexplored
- Accor books over a million room nights on-line since January 1, doubling the 2000 pace
USA Networks is acquiring a controlling interest in Expedia from Microsoft, by buying up to 37.5 million shares, approximately 75% of those currently outstanding. USA Networks is also acquiring online cruise and vacation package agency National Leisure Group, and announced the launch of the USA Travel Channel, a cable television unit that will offer these travel services.
Combined with USA's recent acquisition of Hotel Reservations Network, these companies collectively handled approximately 16% of all online travel transactions in 2000. Barry Diller will become Chairman of Expedia; Richard Barton will continue as Expedia’s President and CEO.
Hotel Reservations Network is augmenting its usual discount rooms offerings by launching a luxury hotel web site, allluxuryhotels.com. The site lists more than 600 four- and five-star properties in over 90 destinations in North America and Western Europe. (www.expedia.com, www.hoteldiscount.com)
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All 13 Millennium Hotels & Resorts have completed their central-reservation system conversion to SWAN’s SCEPTRE. SCEPTRE recently completed an interface to the hotel's Hotel Information Systems CLS property-management system.
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Worldspan has licensed Expedia's fare searching technology (which was developed with Worldspan's input) for its nearly 21,000 traditional and online travel agencies. The new service, named ePricing, will have its own user interface and will provide travel agents and e-commerce clients with greatly increased options on pricing and schedules. (www.worldspan.com, www.expedia.com)
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WorldRes.com has added a two-month calendar display of availability and rates to each of its individual property Web sites. Color codes indicate open, sold-out, closed-to-arrivals and minimum-length-of-stay restrictions; data can be displayed for up to a year ahead. (www.worldres.com)
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Station Casinos has ordered Inter-American Data (IAD)’s ResNet Web-based reservation system to serve its nine properties in Las Vegas. ResNet will also integrate with Station’s player’s rewards system to enhance service for Boarding Pass members. (www.iadusa.com)
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TRUST International has contracted with HotelTraining.com to provide Internet-based training to its United States Central Reservations Call Center in Orlando, FL. TRUST’s other call centers are in Frankfurt and Singapore. (www.trustinternational.com, www.hoteltraining.com)
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A group of former inntopia.com employees and managers, doing business as Sterling Valley Systems, has re-acquired inntopia’s assets and intellectual property from Unexplored, Inc. The new company expects profitability by the end of the summer. (www.inntopia.com)
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Accor reports that it has taken bookings for over a million room nights on-line since January 1, a figure which exceeds its Internet results for 2000 as a whole. Internet bookings now constitute over 15% of Accor’s central reservations, taken via its telephone reservation center, Internet, GDSs, voice servers and Minitel. (www.accor.com)
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MARKETING / MANAGEMENT
- La Quinta extends outsourcing contract with SignalTree Solutions
La Quinta Inns has signed a three-year extension to its contract with IT outsourcing provider SignalTree Solutions Inc. SignalTree Solutions has been providing IS support for La Quinta's Hyatt-based Spirit central reservation system since early 2000, and has developed Internet and PMS interface enhancements for it.
The extended contract provides for SignalTree Solutions to supply IS applications systems services to La Quinta's 300 USA properties, to enhance the current systems and develop new applications. SignalTree’s approach places staff at the customer location working with software developers at its technology centers in India. (www.laquinta.com, www.signaltreesolutions.com)
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SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING
- conworld.net Web site launched as directory of meeting planning resources
- Omni chooses Core Communications for meeting rooms Internet access
- PlanSoft introduces commission-free RFP Manager software
A new meeting planning resource, conworld.net, has been launched to provide a directory of meeting-related hyperlinks to meeting facilities, hotel chains, CVBs, DMCs, airlines, other suppliers and industry associations, plus some web-based meetings tools. It claims more than 5,500 listings in 1,400 destinations worldwide, indexed by country, state and city. (www.conworld.net)
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Omni Hotels has designated Core Communications as the exclusive provider of data communications management and Internet access in its properties meeting rooms and hospitality suites. Core uses a full-service T1 line feeding each property’s function space, linked to centralized management, control and billing software. (www.omnihotels.com, www.core.net)
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PlanSoft Corp introduced the first module of its new meeting planning program, a commission-free RFP manager. PlanSoft's online RFP product lets planners use a single page inquiry form to query several properties simultaneously in PlanSoft's network of more than 30,000 hotels and facilities, with no associated fees or restrictions. (www.plansoft.com)
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GUEST SERVICES
- On Command to offer USA TODAY's interactive News Center in the fall
- La Quinta signs contract extension with LodgeNet to upgrade to digital services
- TouchSystems launches PC-in-a-keyboard as minimum-footprint guestroom Internet access PC
- Hotel Net to use Broadwing's frame relay network and Internet access to serve 1,700 hotels
- eRoomSystem Technologies contracts with Tybera for new product development
On Command Corp announced that it will begin offering USA TODAY's newly developed News Center interactive television service to hotel guests in the fall. USA TODAY News Center allows guests to select information they would like to see from national news, weather, and local information. (www.oncommand.com, www.usatoday.com)
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La Quinta Inns has signed a contract extension with LodgeNet Entertainment Corp to upgrade its properties to LodgeNet's interactive digital system technology and services, including video playback control (pause, skip forward, skip back), on-demand digital music and archived TV programming. LodgeNet will also install Internet-enabled services including Web browsing and a direct link to the La Quinta Inns Website. (www.laquinta.com , www.lodgenet.com)
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TouchSystems Corp introduced Ripley, a PC-in-a-keyboard unit that embeds a complete Windows-based computer system and network connection into a standard-sized keyboard. Intended as a thin-client device taking up minimum desk space, especially when used with a flat-screen LCD display, its target markets include guestroom Internet access. The embedded computer includes an Hitachi 133MHz RISC CPU and 24MB memory; it runs Windows CE, using Citrix or Microsoft Remote Terminal Server for communications with the main server, and includes Ethernet drivers.
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Hotel Net, Inc. will use Broadwing Communications's frame relay network and Internet access to provide dedicated Internet access and frame relay services to 1,700 hotel locations across the US. Hotel Net provides reservation and credit card processing services for most Best Western locations, Executive Inn, Hawthorne Suites, TravelLodge, Days Inn, Super 8's, Clarions and various independent properties. (www.broadwing.com)
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eRoomSystem Technologies has contracted with Tybera Development Group, a software development and consulting firm, to upgrade all of eRoomSystem’s current software and hardware products and to develop future systems.
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BACK OFFICE
- Scala designated ERP Solution of the Year by Microsoft
- HSA, Statability team to link mystery-call results to on-line training
Scala Business Solutions was designated 'ERP Solution of the Year' for 2001 at the fourth annual Microsoft Certified Partner Awards. The award ceremony was held on 15 July at Microsoft's Fusion 2001 partner event in Anaheim, California. (www.scalaworld.com)
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Mystery-call services provider HSA International has partnered with Statability to link on-line reports with on-line learning experiences aimed at improving employee behavior. Data collected through HSA’s calls are made available for review as soon as calls are completed, with “real time” access 24/7 through web-based reports generated by Statability.
When an employee’s performance on a criterion falls below standard, managers, supervisors and/or the employee can click on an icon adjacent to the targeted score and be linked immediately to the HSA University Learning Center, providing a variety of on-line training options to address the issue. Launch clients are Red Lion Hotels & Inns for the English language version, and Grupo Posadas for Spanish. (www.hsa.com, www.statability.com)
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INVENTORY/PURCHASING
- GoCo-op secures new funding, signs five-year contract with Avendra
Web-based procurement vendor GoCo-op has secured a $23 million equity funding commitment led by an existing investor, the Invemed Catalyst Fund. GoCo-op also executed a new five-year contract with Avendra (the joint purchasing company formed by Marriott, Hyatt, ClubCorp, Bass and Fairmont) to develop, host, and manage a private e-procurement portal for Avendra's customers and suppliers. (www.goco-op.com, www.avendra.com)
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ENGINEERING
- Management Technologies announces Espresso! ASP consolidation service, handheld version, single-server solution and new order from Atlantis Paradise Island
- Hilton lists Senercomm as an approved vendor
Management Technologies made several announcements concerning its Espresso! Rapid Response system, including:
- Marriott International is piloting a monthly subscription service, Espresso! Enterprise, to consolidate preventive maintenance, work order, and service request history at the corporate level from over 40 Marriott sites. Custom reports are sent to corporate managers and regional directors via e-mail.
- the handheld-based Espresso! PM Center is now available, using Symbol Technologies SPT-1700 Palm Pilot-based handhelds and designed to run either stand-alone or in conjunction with Espresso! Rapid Response. Engineering managers run a six-step wizard to create a load-leveled preventive maintenance calendar, which is then downloaded to individual technicians handhelds. Work-completed updates can be entered by pen input or with the built in barcode scanner.
- Espresso! Server is now available for Microsoft Windows 2000; it combines the Espresso! Services software and databases with M-Tech’s Voice Processing Computer application on a single server to reduce the overall cost of ownership.
- Atlantis Paradise Island, the 2500 room Bahamas resort and casino, has ordered Espresso! Rapid Response for its resort call center, which is staffed by 26 full-time agents.
(www.m-tech.com)
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Hilton Hotels Corp has approved Senercomm for listing in the 2001 edition of Hilton’s Supplier’s Corner, a comprehensive listing of vendors available to franchisees on the Hilton website (www.hiltonfranchise.com).
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COMMUNICATIONS
- TeleMatrix releases Marquis 2800/3000 guestroom phones, plus new European-standard units
TeleMatrix released its new Marquis 2800 and 3000 Series guestroom telephones and its DECT Cordless guestroom telephone for international markets. The new units feature automatic line selection (also optional for dataports), a conferencing key, a TouchLite message retrieval system, and EEPROM storage that eliminates the need for batteries. The new units are also software-adaptable to any telecom network with only minor parameter modifications, including for use with Internet Protocol networks with converged voice and data communications.
TeleMatrix also released its Marquis Euro2 Series of guestroom phones and a new DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) cordless product that meet Europe's new Electro-Magnetic-Compatibility standards. (www.telematrixusa.com)
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SECURITY
- Ilco Unican announces Oracode 610 stand-alone electronic pushbutton access control system
Ilco Unican announced its Oracode 610 stand-alone electronic pushbutton access control system for hotels, resorts, and extended stay facilities. Instead of a key or keycard, the guest receives a unique PIN code when they register, valid only for their room and only for the time period of their stay.
Since guests can register any time by phone, fax, or Internet, they can by-pass the check-in desk on arrival and go straight to their room. After arrival, they can change their PIN to any 6-digit number. The lock includes a time stamped audit trail, and is powered by four AA batteries.
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