JANUARY 5 - 18, 2005
TOP O' THE NEWS
Winners of the 11th World Travel Awards have been announced. This is one of the widest surveys of professional opinion, conducted through on-line voting by travel agents worldwide. Over 2.5 million voting forms were broadcast to more than 150,000 frontline agents and 80,000 travel agencies worldwide. Among the winners were:
World's Leading CRS/GDS System - Sabre
World's Leading Hotel Reservation Service - Pegasus Solutions (third consecutive World Travel Award)
World's Leading Travel Internet Site - Travelocity
Worlds Leading Resort Hotel Reservation System - Escape2Travel
World's Leading Hotel Internet Site - Le Bristol www.hotel-bristol.com
World's Leading Hotel Group Internet Site - Fairmont www.fairmont.com
World's Leading Internet Booking Engine Technology Provider - E-Travel Planitgo www.e-travel.com
World's Leading Travel Technology Provider - Sabre Travel Solutions www.sabretravelnetwork.com
World's Leading Mobile Wireless Technology Provider - Boingo www.boingo.com
World's Leading Provider of High-Speed Internet Access - Cable & Wireless www.cw.com
For a complete list, visit www.worldtravelawards.com/winners/2004/
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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
- Mark Hedley promoted to Executive Vice President and CIO at Wyndham
- Brian Bevins appointed as Sales Manager for Onity's Senercomm/EMS division
- Steve Brooks hired as Onity's regional Sales Representative for Florida and Georgia
- Craig Snelgrove is new Chief Operating Officer at Guest-Tek Interactive
- Bartech hires Mickey Wallis, Phil Pesano and Nichele Williams
Mark Hedley has been promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Wyndham International, responsible for driving strategic technology initiatives throughout the company and overseeing casino gaming operations in Puerto Rico. Mr. Hedley joined Wyndham in 2000 as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer; in 2004 he was named one of Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Leaders. Earlier in his 20-year IT career he held a number of management positions with Sun International North America, Caesars World and ITT Sheraton.
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Brian Bevins has been appointed as Sales Manager for Onity's Senercomm/EMS division. Prior to joining Onity, he served as the National Accounts Manager for a lodging security company and National Sales Director for Lodging Technology Corporation.
Steve Brooks has been hired as Onity's regional Sales Representative for Florida and Georgia, responsible for sales of all Onity products and services to hotel properties in those states. He has spent the past ten years representing hospitality security technology products in the region.
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Craig Snelgrove has been hired as the new Chief Operating Officer at Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment, to oversee Operations, Product Management, R&D and Client Services. Mr. Snelgrove has 18 years of experience working for technology and service companies in the hospitality, business and private club markets, including Nortel Networks, Elastic Networks, and most recently with a private services company.
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Mickey Wallis has joined Bartech Systems International as Managing Director, Western US, based in Phoenix. Before joining Bartech, Mr. Wallis spent 14 years with ASSA ABLOY Hospitality (originally with VingCard) in several senior sales positions.
Phil Pesano has been hired as Bartech's Regional Manager, Mid-Atlantic, located in New Jersey. He most recently spent five years as Northeast Regional Sales Manager with Dometic Corporation.
Nichele Williams joins Bartech as Training & Consulting Services Manager. Ms. Williams has over 10 years of hands-on experience in F&B operations with Marriott International.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
- Humber Valley Resort chooses PAR Springer Miller's SMS|Host PMS
- Best Western The Inn at Towamencin, Kulpsville, PA installs Ramesys' Entirety PMS
- Brilliant Hotelsoftware to develop two-way interface to Best Western's CRS
- Strand Palace Hotel, London, and Dudley Hotel, Brighton, order Visual One's integrated PMS suite
The Humber Valley Resort, a new, four season, international destination development in Newfoundland, Canada, has chosen PAR Springer Miller's SMS|Host property management system. The development includes 321 privately owned vacation properties. Other SMS modules ordered include Owner Fulfillment, Spa/Recreation Scheduling, Golf Tee Time Scheduling, Membership Management, Retail and F&B Point-of-Sale and Internet reservations. (www.humbervalley.com, www.springermiller.com)
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The 182 room Best Western The Inn at Towamencin in Kulpsville, Pennsylvania, has installed Ramesys' Entirety Property Management System (PMS). The Inn was recently re-branded as a Best Western property; a two-way interface to the Best Western CRS is scheduled to be available at the end of 2005. (www.bestwestern.com, www.us.ramesys.com)
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Brilliant Hotelsoftware announced its intent to develop a two-way interface to Best Western International's Central Reservation System, expected to be available at the end of 2005. The XML interface will be based on the OTA 2003b specification. (www.mybrilliant.net/en/home.asp)
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The 783-room Strand Palace Hotel, London, has selected Visual One's integrated Front Office, Sales Ledger, Sales & Catering and Point of Sale system.
The Dudley Hotel, Brighton, has ordered Visual One's integrated Front Office, Sales & Catering, Point of Sale, and Real-Time Web Bookings system. The hotel is currently undergoing a major refurbishment of the bedrooms and public areas.
(www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk, www.thedudleyhotel.co.uk, www.visualonesystems.com)
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RESERVATIONS
- Cendant TDS acquires online travel service provider The Away Network
- Hotel Kingdom.com's channel management platform Yield-O-Matic.com adds 10 more extranet channels
- FastBooking launches integrated GDS solution
- KSL Resorts switches to SynXis for reservation and rate management services
- Pegasus introduces Lockbox commission service for larger European travel agencies
- Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) expands relationship with Pegasus to include Unirez
- Le Méridien selects TravelCLICK's RateVIEW as its new rate shopping solution
Cendant Travel Distribution Services has acquired online travel service provider The Away Network, operator of three outdoor lifestyle sites (Away.com, GORP.com (Great Outdoor Recreation Pages) and Outside Online, the website of Outside Magazine). (www.away.com, www.cendant.com)
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Hotel Kingdom.com's channel management platform Yield-O-Matic.com has added 10 more extranet channels to its portfolio: Washington DC Accommodations, Capitol Reservations, CRS.com, HotelHotline.com, TravelWorm, HotelMartUSA.com, HotelPlusPortal.com, OnlineHotels.com, WorldRes.com and Vegas.com. This increases Yield-O-Matic's capacity to 25 third party Internet providers, which already include Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity and Lodging.com. (www.hotelkingdom.com)
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FastBooking has launched its integrated GDS solution, using the next generation seamless technology to enable hoteliers to update all descriptive data, rates and availability throughout their entire distribution network through one channel manager. FastBooking GDS will provide access to the four GDSs and to 70 leading Internet portals. (www.fastbooking.com)
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KSL Resorts has switched to SynXis Distribution Management for reservation and rate management services for its portfolio of eight resorts, which include the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Maui, HI and the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, AZ. (www.kslresorts.com, www.synxis.com)
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Pegasus Solutions introduced its Lockbox service for European travel agencies that book a minimum of $300,000 in annual hotel commissions and who use Pegasus Commission Processing, offering an end-to-end outsource solution for the management of all hotel commissions. The Lockbox service includes the ability to have all hotel commission payments received, processed and cleared through Pegasus' banking network, one service for the deposit, clearing and collection of all checks and drafts in multiple currencies, the option to select a preferred currency in which to receive a consolidated weekly commission payment, and economical check clearing as a result of the scale of Pegasus' financial transactions throughout the world.
The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) has expanded its longstanding relationship with Pegasus Solutions to include the option to implement Pegasus' Unirez service, which features integrated self-service tools to help staff manage distribution channels, load rates, and generate reports. Over 100 CHA hotels that are also Utell by Pegasus members have used Pegasus' central reservation, distribution and marketing services since 1992 under the CHARMS (Caribbean Hotel Association Reservation Marketing Service) acronym.
(www.caribbeanhotels.org, www.pegs.com)
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Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts has selected TravelCLICK's RateVIEW report as the new rate shopping solution for its hotels. (www.lemeridien.com,www.travelclick.net)
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MARKETING / MANAGEMENT
- Northstar and Leonardo to combine their databases into Travel MediaBank
- Club Intrawest selects Metamend's search engine/website optimization technology
Northstar Travel Media and Leonardo have partnered to combine their image content and textual/destination databases into Travel MediaBank, which they claim on its release in early 2005 will be the travel industry's largest database of travel content (images, hotel text and destination content), covering over 80,000 hotels and over 25,000 destinations. (www.ntmllc.com, www.leonardo.com)
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Club Intrawest has selected Metamend's search engine optimization technology and website optimization services for its nine resorts around the world. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Club Intrawest is the private resort club operation within the Intrawest Corp. (www.clubintrawest.com, www.metamend.com)
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REVENUE MANAGEMENT
- Hotel Bristol Stephanie, Brussels deploys IDeaS after 5-month pilot
The 142-room Hotel Bristol Stephanie in Brussels has formally deployed IDeaS Revenue Optimization following a successful five month pilot. (www.ideas.com)
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SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING
- Benchmark Hospitality's annual "Top Ten Meeting Industry Trends
- PCMA and MeetingMatrix to develop event space management standard
Benchmark Hospitality has once again announced its annual "Top Ten Meeting Industry Trends" for the New Year, as observed by its 28 properties, as follows:
1. Wired! - Given heightened security and privacy concerns with wireless connections, requests are up for high-speed "wired" Internet access for meetings and conferences, although wireless Internet access is still in demand for individual guest use.
2. Click-through Business - Many Benchmark properties now see over 50% of their new business coming directly through the Internet, making Search Engine Optimization vital.
3. Here Come the Big Ones - Group meetings with over 100 guests are increasing; with the economy continuing its comeback, companies are seeking to re-energize management teams by bringing everyone back together to prepare for future growth.
4. Technology Sector: The Comeback Kid - Business from the technology industry is finally re-emerging.
5. Atkins Anyone? - The Atkins diet has fizzled, replaced by sensible eating with an eye toward balancing carbs and proteins, including vegetarian options.
6. Security - Property security is not a huge concern of meeting planners and corporate groups except for government or government-related meetings at center city properties.
7. Teambuilding - "Experiential Learning" is a new term used to differentiate between groups meeting for diversionary fun and true teambuilding exercises. Teambuilding in general seems to be back to stay and culinary teambuilding programs are hot all over the country.
8. Time at the Spa - more corporate and leisure guests are looking for a spa time, not necessarily an indulgence but as a healthy recreational diversity for both women and men.
9. Tight Purse - Although budgets seem to be loosening up somewhat, they're by no means wide open and clients have not forgotten the negotiation skills honed over the last three years.
10. Blast Away Marketing - E-mail blasts and direct e-sales to proprietary customer and prospects lists have become extremely effective and cost efficient.
Overall, the pace of new business inquiries and business booked is seen as very positive, with several Benchmark properties experiencing a 2005 booking pace 50% or more ahead of last year.
(www.benchmarkhospitality.com)
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The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has partnered with MeetingMatrix International to develop an internationally recognized event space management standard: PCMA Space Verification. Through this program, MeetingMatrix will provide both event planners and facilities with PCMA Space Verified room diagrams, to ensure that event setups which fit on paper will actually fit in the room. A facilities meeting space must first be physically measured by a MeetingMatrix Installation Manager to certify it; measurements are guaranteed to be accurate within one-fourth of an inch. (www.meetingmatrix.com, www.pcma.org)
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F&B/POINT OF SALE
- MICROS acquires on-premises wireless paging vendor JTECH Communications
MICROS Systems has acquired JTECH Communications, which develops and sells on-premises wireless paging systems currently used at more than 50,000 hospitality, hospital, retail and other sites worldwide. Principal applications in hospitality are to alert restaurant servers when food items are ready for pick-up, and for table and wait list management. JTECH will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of MICROS, remaining at its base in Boca Raton, Florida. (www.jtech.com, www.micros.com)
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GUEST SERVICES
- Landmark London hotel implements Gold Key Solutions' Concierge Assistant
- Sandman Hotels to install high-speed Internet access from Telkonet in all 31 properties
- Telkonet to install HSIA in all Trump properties in New York, through MST
The Landmark London hotel has implemented Gold Key Solutions' Concierge Assistant to track guest preferences, make dining, spa, and other reservations, and refine guest service. Guests receive printed confirmations and maps; their preferences are logged in the system so regular guests can expect table bookings and other services to be arranged in advance of their arrival. The system was configured by Gold Key for The Landmark to provide current information on over 900 restaurants and other services in London. (www.landmarklondon.co.uk, www.goldkeysolutions.com)
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Sandman Hotels, Inns and Suites has signed a contract to install high-speed Internet access from Telkonet in all its 31 properties across Canada. Four Sandman hotels in Alberta are already installed, with the remaining 27 sites to be installed by the end of May 2005.
The Trump properties in New York is implementing Telkonet's HSIA solution (in conjunction with Microwave Satellite Technologies (MST)) to provide Internet access for residents in all sites, including the Trump Place, Trump World Tower, and the Trump International Hotel and Tower. The 140 Riverside Boulevard at Trump Place, a 30-story 356-unit apartment building, is the first site to be installed. Once complete, the remaining six buildings will be installed, as well as an additional eight buildings to be built over the next four years. Installations will also be completed this year in the Trump World Tower and the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
(www.sandmanhotels.com, www.telkonet.com, www.mst-online.com)
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BACK OFFICE
- Shaner Hotel Group implements on-line assessment program with HotelTraining.com
The Shaner Hotel Group (SHG) is implementing an Internet based on-line assessment program developed in conjunction with HotelTraining.com to assess skills learned through training conducted at the property level. Shaner Hotel Group owns and/or operates 24 hotels and conference/convention centers in 15 states. (www.shanerhotels.com, www.hoteltraining.com)
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