In this issue... People on the Move Property Management Systems Reservations Marketing / Management Sales & Catering, Meeting Planning Spa/Golf/Leisure Guest Services Security Back to Archive Index...

TOP O' THE NEWS

• Own-brand Web sites increase market share for chain bookings
  

TravelCLICK's eTRAK report confirms that hotel chains’ own-brand Web sites are still where the majority of online reservations occur, representing over 71% of centrally booked Internet reservations during the first three quarters of 2004. Of all central reservation office (CRO) bookings made at the 30 major hotel brands, 21.8% were made through their own Web sites, up nearly 22% from the same period in 2003. Retail Web sites accounted for 3.9%, and opaque sites such as Priceline.com another 2.3%. With travel agent bookings via the GDSs showing only a slight decline to 35.2%, nearly two-thirds of CRO hotel bookings were made electronically, the rest coming in by phone.
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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

• Bill Nicholson hired by Sabre as President and General Manager of SynXis
  
• Lisa Clark, Julie Sykes, Michael Atlas and Jennifer Chatelain join UniFocus
  
• Bob Orlando hired by Passkey as Senior Vice President and CFO
  

Bill Nicholson has been hired by Sabre Holdings as president and general manager of its SynXis subsidiary. Mr. Nicholson previously served with Pegasus Solutions for 15 years, in capacities including executive vice president of strategic planning and corporate development, president and chief operating officer of Pegasus Solutions' Technology Group, and chief information officer and vice president of information systems. He had earlier spent 10 years at Texas Instruments, holding various positions ranging from systems engineer to systems integration manager.
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UniFocus has added four senior staff to its customer service, sales and marketing groups:
Lisa Clark has been hired as vice president of marketing communications.
Julie Sykes has been hired as business partner services key account manager; she has an extensive background in event planning and sales, and will be responsible for customer care and relations with national key accounts.
Michael Atlas joins as national director of sales. He brings 15 years of experience in technical sales and support, including a background in IT, enterprise software, and consulting services.
Jennifer Chatelain joins as a sales analyst, with over 10 years experience in customer service and sales support.
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Bob Orlando has been hired by Passkey as its new senior vice president and CFO. He had earlier held the position of vice president, CFO, treasurer and secretary at Internet-based yellow pages vendor Switchboard; before that he had served as senior vice president finance & administration, CFO, and treasurer at Mathsoft.
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PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

• Northwind’s Maestro PMS selected by 7 US properties for installation in 1Q05
  
• HIS awarded General Services Administration GSA Schedule 70 Contract
  
• Lensbury (London) and Nyborg Strand Hotel (Denmark) order Visual One
  
• Visual One appoints Sulcus Hospitality Group as exclusive distributor in Scandinavia
  

Northwind’s Maestro PMS has been selected by seven US properties for installation in the first quarter of 2005. The Harvard University-owned Inn at Harvard and Harvard Square Hotel installed a Maestro Multi-Property Suite with PMS, Sales & Catering, and Maestro POS with Table Res on one single-image server for both hotels. The Paws Up Resort in Montana ordered Maestro PMS, Point of Sale, and Sales & Catering; the 116-suite Beverley Hills Plaza Hotel will install Maestro PMS. In Alaska, the Goldbelt Hotel Juneau will utilize Maestro PMS, Sales & Catering and Work Order Management; other properties in Texas and Oklahoma have also signed agreements to install Maestro PMS and Sales & Catering. (www.beverlyhillsplazahotel.com, www.theinnatharvard.com, www.harvardsquarehotel.com, www.pawsup.com, www.goldbelttours.com, www.maestropms.com)
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Hotel Information Systems has been awarded a General Services Administration GSA Schedule 70 Contract, which makes it easier for any US military or government installation to acquire HIS products and services. These include HIS' PMS with specific functionality for government and dormitory-style lodging, integrated with Central Reservation and Web Portal applications. (www.hotelinfosys.com)
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Lensbury, a 160-room hotel at Teddington Lock on the River Thames in London, has ordered Visual One’s integrated Front Office, Sales Ledger, Sales & Catering, Point of Sale system and Dining Room Reservations.
The 290-room Nyborg Strand Hotel will install Visual One’s PMS, Sales and Catering, Point of Sale, Web Bookings and Accounts Receivable, making it Visual One’s first installation in Denmark.
Visual One Systems (Europe) has appointed Sulcus Hospitality Group based in Norway and Sweden as its exclusive distributor for the Visual One system in Scandinavia. SHG was established in 1987, and currently services a client base of over 450 properties from its offices in Stockholm and Oslo.
(www.lensbury.com, www.nyborgstrand.dk, www.sulcus.no, www.v1s.com)
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RESERVATIONS

• Value Place hybrid extended-stay chain goes with InnLink for reservations services
  

Value Place, a hotel/apartment hybrid extended-stay chain, has contracted with InnLink for reservation services. More than 20 Value Place properties are open or under development throughout the United States. (www.myvalueplace.com, www.innlink.com)
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MARKETING / MANAGEMENT

• Vantis launches Viz-it online rich media library
  

Vantis has launched Viz-it, its own library of online rich media solutions which includes videos, virtual property tours and audio-enhanced moving slideshows for its client properties. (www.vantiscorp.com)
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SALES & CATERING, MEETING PLANNING

• Monroe-West Monroe CVB and Tri-Cities CVB order SMI’s Destination 3000
  

The Monroe-West Monroe CVB and the Tri-Cities CVB have ordered SMI’s Destination 3000 software for installation in the next few months. Tri-Cities is the third Washington CVB to choose Destination 3000, following Seattle and Spokane. Monroe-West Monroe CVB is SMI’s first installation in Louisiana. SMI now has over 85 CVB clients in North America. (www.softwaremgt.com)
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SPA/GOLF/LEISURE

• Doral Golf Resort & Spa signs with GolfHero
  

Marriott’s Doral Golf Resort & Spa has signed with GolfHero to provide a private label one-stop Website for golfers to create their own customized golf vacation packages, combining Doral tee times with accommodations and rental cars. (www.doralresort.com/golf/, www.golfhero.com)
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GUEST SERVICES

• Hyatt signs seven-year agreement with On Command
  
• Expedia launches Expedia!fun brand of activity-booking kiosks
  

Hyatt Corp has signed an exclusive seven-year agreement with On Command for video-on-demand pay-per-view services. Hyatt’s US hotels and resorts will be upgraded to On Command's Roommate system and Canvas software, which includes its SurveyNext and Walled Garden Video Concierge services which provide a video of each property's features and facilities plus meeting schedule information, a guest survey with real time response, folio review and video checkout. (www.hyatt.com, www.oncommand.com)
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Expedia has launched its Expedia!fun brand of kiosks, with 36 units based in Hawaii hotels. Travelers can use them to book vacation activities, tours and attractions during their trip. The launch of the newly branded kiosks includes those acquired through the acquisition of Activity World last March. (www.Expedia.com)
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SECURITY

• San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina installs 1,362 in-room Safemark Millennium 5.0 safes
  

The San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina has installed 1,362 in-room Safemark Millennium 5.0 safes, large enough to accommodate laptops and cameras. (www.marriott.com, www.safemark.com)
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