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VFM Leonardo Partners with Pegasus’ Utell® Hotels & Resorts
to Provide Online Hotel Merchandising System for Member Hotels


Utell to offer VFM Leonardo’s VBrochure™ Online Merchandising System to 11,000 member hotels to
merchandise their properties more effectively online and in the VNetwork™.

 

TORONTO, ON and LONDON - September 20, 2010 - Following on from Pegasus Solutions strategic partnership agreement with VFM Leonardo last June, this has now been extended to include Pegasus’ hotel representation service Utell® Hotels & Resorts, to offer their over 9,000 independent and small group member hotels an industry-leading online merchandising solution.
 
VFM Leonardo’s VBrochure Online Merchandising System will provide Utell member hotels with the opportunity to promote their hotels with powerful visual content (photos, virtual tours and videos), through both traditional and alternative distribution powered by Pegasus. Additionally, Utell hotels will have the added benefit of distributing visual content to VFM Leonardo’s VNetwork, which distributes to all four global distribution systems (GDS) as well as thousands of online travel agencies (OTA) and third-party travel websites.
 
VBrochure allows hotels to get their visual stories in front of travel shoppers when they are in-market to buy. Through VBrochure, Utell’s hotels will have access to a fully integrated version of VScape® - the industry standard Digital Asset Management System to manage and distribute visual content to all online sales channels in the VNetwork. The content is displayed on the channels in a highly compatible Flash-based multimedia viewer complete with large widescreen viewing area, built-in technology and bandwidth auto-detection tools.
 
Displaying a consistent visual story, specifically with richer media like video and virtual tours on thousands of online channels and websites, is proven to increase conversion and look to book ratios, according to Paolo Boni, President and CEO of VFM Leonardo.
 
“Hotel booking decisions are influenced by visual content. In fact, travel shoppers viewing hotel videos are 89 percent more likely to book than those who do not,” said Boni. We are proud to provide Utell’s hotels with VBrochure, the best tool to extract more value out of their online presence with visual content on thousands of websites travel shoppers use when shopping for hotels online.”
 
By using VFM Leonardo’s complete solution for distribution of visual content such as photos, virtual tours and video, Utell’s hotels have an easy, streamlined way to better merchandise their properties across the distribution channels powered by Pegasus and the VNetwork, according to Ric Leutwyler, president of Utell Hotels & Resorts.
 
“Utell offers over 9,000 member hotels comprehensive solutions that combine leading technology, marketing and sales support to help them compete globally. By enlisting VFM Leonardo for visual content creation and distribution, we further equip them to compete effectively for guests online,” said Leutwyler.
 
Utell member hotels can get their visual content in front of travel shoppers by contacting their Utell account manager or by logging in to www.utellportal.com.
 
About Utell® Hotels & Resorts
Utell® Hotels & Resorts, part of Pegasus Solutions Inc, is the world’s leading hotel representation service providing a specialized range of powerful sales, marketing and distribution solutions for hotels and travel distributors.  Utell is chosen by more than 9,000 independent hotels and small groups in over 130 countries and comprises an extensive and diverse international portfolio that includes luxury, boutique, value, business and resort properties for both business and leisure travelers.
 
Utell offers an unrivalled combination of 80 years experience representing hotels by delivering first class business generating solutions. These include preferred travel agent and online partnership agreements, a range of worldwide marketing programs, leading edge Internet booking engine solutions, comprehensive business intelligence reporting capabilities and award-winning hotel Web site marketing. Utell’s products and services are used by thousands of travel agencies, travel providers and businesses worldwide, including major global TMC’s (travel management companies), corporations, online distributors and consortia groups. Visit www.utell.com.
 
About VFM Leonardo
VFM LeonardoVFM Leonardo is a technology leader in online visual content management and distribution systems. VFM Leonardo’s VScape® and VBrochure™ products leverage the distribution capabilities of the VNetwork™, the most universally accepted and largest online visual content distribution network for the global travel industry including all four global distribution systems (GDSs), Pegasus and travel-related channels including online travel agencies, travel research and supplier web sites, search portals and major travel intermediaries. VFM Leonardo offers the hotel industry the most effective digital asset management and online merchandising systems available today and efficiently delivers over 1,000,000 visual images (photos, virtual tours and videos) to more than 30,000 travel channels and websites in the VNetwork including Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, Worldspan, Pegasus, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, Tripadvisor, Yahoo! Travel, Kayak, Google and many more for 90,000 hotels worldwide. For more information about VFM Leonardo, visit www.vfmleonardo.com. Follow us on Twitter at @VFMLeonardo.

Media Contacts:
 
Julie Vieth
VFM Leonardo Inc.
Toll free: 1-877-593-6634
Phone: 416-263-5446
Fax: 416-593-7572
Email: [email protected]

Ariel Herr for Utell Hotels & Resorts
 +1 (214) 890 7912
 [email protected]



VFM Recent Press Releases
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Successful Hoteliers Are Producing, Displaying and Syndicating Video Online – Learn How to Do the Same for Your Property in this Complimentary Webinar / September 2010
VFM Leonardo and Frommer's Travel Guides Make the Hotel Research Process Richer; Leading Travel Publisher adds Hotel Visual Content Powered by VFM Leonardo to Hotel Pages / August 2010
Global Survey Reveals Most Effective Online Conversion Tactics for 2010 / August 2010
How to Increase Booking Ratios; Video Interview with Pegasus’ COO Ric Leutwyler on What Hoteliers can do to Increase Booking Ratios. / July 2010
Sol Meliá Selects VFM Leonardo to Strengthen Visual Presentation of Hotels Online / July 2010
Driving Demand in a Recovering Market: Video Interview with Richard Wiegmann on the State of the Travel Industry and What Hoteliers can do to Prepare for the Upturn. / July 2010
Marriott International Selects VFM Leonardo to Enhance the Visual Presentation of Marriott Properties Online / July 2010
How to Tell Compelling Stories that Attract and Convert Travel Shoppers; Video Interview with Daniel Edward Craig on How to Craft Stories that Make a Hotel Stand Out Online. / July 2010
Brand Awareness in Visual Times; Video Interview with Trust International’s Managing Director, Richard Wiegmann, on How to Attract and Win Customers in the Hypercompetitive Shopping Environment. / June 2010
Using Video to Engage and Interact with Online Travel Shoppers - Complimentary Webinar; Three Industry Experts will reveal the Steps to Using Online Video to Increase Sales Conversions / June 2010
VIDEO: How Not to be Invisible Online / April 2010
VIDEO: Overcoming eBusiness Challenges / March 2010
VIDEO: 7 Steps to Successful Travel eBusiness – A Holistic Approach / March 2010
Webinar: Selling Hotel Rooms to the Video Generation, March 23rd, 2:00pm Eastern/11:00am Pacific; Register for this Complimentary Webinar to Learn What Every Hotelier Needs to Know about using Online Video to Appeal to Different Generations of Travel Shoppers. / March 2010
VIDEO: Page Position: How to Optimize Conversions Online Using OTAs / March 2010
VIDEO: The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process / March 2010
VFM Leonardo Powers Visuals of Hotel Wedding Venues on OneWed; VFM Leonardo Enhances Wedding Venue Research and Selection Process for Engaged Couples on OneWed with Hotel Visual Content. / February 2010
VIDEO: What Travel Shoppers Want / February 2010
VIDEO: Untapped Online Opportunities / February 2010
VIDEO: Developing an Effective Online Media Strategy / February 2010
Best Western International Selects VFM Leonardo to Manage and Distribute Hotel Visuals; VScape® Digital Asset Management System is Selected by Best Western to Efficiently Manage and Distribute Hotel Photos Online. VFM Leonardo also Named the Preferred Distributor of Rich Media for Best Western Properties / February 2010
VIDEO: Increasing the Relevance of Your Hotel’s Content Using Personas / February 2010
Luxe Worldwide Hotels Distributes Visual Content Exclusively through VFM Leonardo; Luxe Worldwide Hotels Selects VFM Leonardo’s VScape® and VBrochure™ Products Exclusively to Distribute Visual Content and Visually Merchandise Hotels Online. / January 2010
Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ Adopts VFM Leonardo’s VScape® Digital Asset Management System; VFM Leonardo’s Platform Chosen by SLH to Manage and Distribute Photos for Over 500 Hotels; Also Named Exclusive Provider of Rich Media Distribution Services for SLH Hotels / January 2010
Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts Merchandises Hotels Online with VFM Leonardo’s VBrochure Online Merchandising System; Upscale hotel management company uses VBrochure to better merchandise its hotels online with visual content across the largest network of travel intermediaries and websites / January 2010
VIDEO: To Merchandise or Not / January 2010
VIDEO: The Billboard Effect: Why hoteliers need to think of OTAs as marketing vehicles versus reservation engines / January 2010
VFM Leonardo Selected to Distribute Videos for Accor North America’s Motel 6 Properties; North American operator of more than 1,000 hotels selects VFM Leonardo for distribution of videos for 142 Motel 6 properties / December 2009
VIDEO: Search Goes Visual / December 2009
VFM Leonardo Selected to Distribute Virtual Tours for Aston Hotels & Resorts; Leading Hawaiian Hotel and Resort Company to use VFM Leonardo’s VBrochure Online Merchandising System to distribute virtual tours for 25 hotels and resorts throughout Hawaii and its two new mainland properties / December 2009
VIDEO: OTAs and TPIs – The Gateways to Purchase Consideration / December 2009
VIDEO: Marketing Your Hotel to Gen X and Y / November 2009
VFM Leonardo Announces Toby Kubis Joins Executive Team; Travel Industry Veteran Toby Kubis Joins VFM Leonardo as Vice President Corporate Hotel Sales / November 2009
New on VTV Channel: The Role of Online Information in Travel Shopping / November 2009
New on VTV Channel: The Integration of Revenue Management and Marketing / November 2009
Webinar: Outlooks for Successful Online Merchandising in 2010, November 12th, 2009, 2:00pm Eastern; Complimentary webinar on what smart hoteliers are doing to extract more value out of their hotel’s presence online in the year ahead with speakers Henry Harteveldt from Forrester Research and Edward Perry from WORLDHOTELS / November 2009
New on VTV Channel: The World Tweets, Should I? / October 2009
Fareportal, Inc. Joins VFM Leonardo’s VNetwork™; FAREPORTAL powered travel sites to source all rich media content and still images exclusively through VFM Leonardo / October 2009
New on VTV Channel: eBusiness for Hoteliers – Panacea or Pain? – The Role of Visual Content in Travel Shopping / October 2009
New on VTV Channel: Generational Marketing - Matures and Baby Boomers / October 2009
Amadeus Extends Relationship with VFM Leonardo; Amadeus to source and manage all hotel visual content using VFM Leonardo’s VScape® Digital Asset Management System / October 2009
New on VTV Channel: How to Leverage Content Online / October 2009
VFM Leonardo’s VScape® Digital Asset Management System Selected by SynXis to Manage and Distribute Hotel Visual Content for Over 10,000 Hotels; SynXis will integrate VScape within its RedX Distribution Management System for easy digital asset management and distribution / October 2009
New on VTV Channel: eBusiness for Hoteliers - How to Motivate the Content Sensitive Traveler / September 2009
VFM Leonardo Selected by White Lodging to Better Merchandise Hotels Online / September 2009
Travelport GDS and VFM Leonardo Extend their Relationship to Include Worldspan; New exclusive agreement will enable Worldspan users to access the same visual hotel content as Galileo users / September 2009
Understanding Online Travel Shoppers: How Smart Hoteliers are Engaging Today’s Travelers and Driving More Bookings / September 2009
New VTV Episode: The New Luxury – Merchandise, Don’t Sell / September 2009
Content: The Key to Hotel Bookings - Complimentary Webinar September 10th; Learn about the Five Pillars of Effective Travel eBusiness and how hotel content plays a significant role in driving bookings. / September 2009
New VTV Episode: VIDEO - Visual Content Decisions - What? How Much? Why? / September 2009
Content: The Key to Hotel Bookings? / John McAuliffe - VFM Leonardo / September 2009
New VTV Episode: How to Know Where the Fish Are / August 2009
Preferred Hotel Group Selects VFM Leonardo as Exclusive Provider of Visual Content Distribution Services; Member properties of Preferred Hotel Group’s brands to use VFM Leonardo’s VScape® and VBrochure™ products exclusively to 30,000+ electronic channels and travel websites in VNetwork™ / August 2009
StarCite Partners With VFM Leonardo to Enhance Online Meetings Marketplace With Rich Hotel Visual Content; VFM Leonardo to be Exclusive Provider of Rich Content Showcasing Hotel Properties to Corporate Buyers Within StarCite’s Online Marketplace / August 2009
VFM Leonardo Chosen as Exclusive Provider of Hotel Visual Content for Concur’s Corporate Travel Booking Solutions; Largest distributor of visual content for hotels worldwide expands relationship with Concur making their photos, virtual tours and video available to thousands of corporate customers / August 2009
New VTV Episode: Online vs. Offline Marketing / August 2009
WORLDHOTELS Selects VFM Leonardo as Exclusive Solution / August 2009
VFM Leonardo to Power Visual Content Management and Distribution for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts; Rosewood Hotels & Resorts adopts VScape® Digital Asset Management System to efficiently manage and deliver hotel visual content to online channels / August 2009
VFM Leonardo Selected to Exclusively Manage and Distribute Visual Content for La Quinta Inns & Suites; VFM Leonardo’s VScape® Digital Asset Management System adopted by limited service hotel chain to manage visual content and seamlessly distribute to electronic distribution channels. / August 2009
This Week on VFM Leonardo's VTV: "The New Luxury - Experience, Not Status" with Bonnie Knutson, Professor at the Michigan State University School of Hospitality Business / August 2009
This Week on VFM Leonardo’s VTV: Experiential Marketing - What It Is and Isn't; Educational video blog featuring weekly interviews with hotel and travel industry experts launches new episode: Experiential Marketing - What It Is and Isn't with Laurence Bernstein of the Bay Charles Consulting Company and host John McAuliffe, VFM Leonardo’s Chief Marketing Officer / August 2009
VFM Leonardo Expands VNetwork™ to Include Travel Deals & Sales Consumer Site Voyij.com; VFM Leonardo enables hoteliers to better merchandise their properties to travel shoppers on Voyij.com (recently launched by the creators of SideStep.com) by providing the site with hotel photos, virtual tours and videos / August 2009
VFM Leonardo Expands VNetwork™ to Include Gekko.com; The largest distributor of visual content for hotels worldwide expands distribution network to enable hotels to display their photos in front of more prospective guests online on unique hotel recommendation website, Gekko.com / August 2009
Pegasus Solutions and VFM Leonardo Form Strategic Partnership; Pegasus Chooses VFM Leonardo's VScape® Digital Asset Management System to Power All Visual Content for ODD and Content Hub / June 2009
Utell® Hotels & Resorts Signs Up Hundreds of New Members in 2009, Around the Globe, 471 Hotels from
65 Countries Have Selected Utell Since the Beginning of the Year / June 2009
Pegasus Solutions Teams with Rubicon to Launch New MarketVision Competitive Intelligence Reporting: Visit HITEC Booth #1054 or twitter.com/pegexec, Hotel Users Switch to MarketVision to Take Advantage of Pre-eminent Market Intelligence / June 2009
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