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Swissotel Purchases Swiss International Hotels

62-Property Group Provides Access to Global Leisure Market as well as New

Business Center Presence on Five Continents

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 , 1997 / Swissotel Management, Ltd., the hotel management division of Zurich-based SAirRelations, has purchased, for an undisclosed price, Swiss International Hotels, a Swiss-based association of 62 hotels and resorts worldwide. The acquisition, announced by Andreas T. Meinhold, the company's president and chief executive officer, more than triples Swissotel's global reach and greatly enhances the company's product mix by associating the Swissotel name and reputation to a wide variety of top-quality resorts and specialty hotels as well as metropolitan properties in new markets around the world.

Swissotel, to date, has managed and provided marketing services to a core group of 18 luxury hotels in the United States, Europe and Asia catering primarily to national and international business travelers. "In making this important acquisition, Swissotel is continuing to pursue its goal of becoming one of the world's pre-eminent hotel management and marketing services companies," Meinhold said. "The purchase of Swiss International Hotels enables Swissotel to offer its worldwide customers a dramatically enhanced collection of outstanding hotels and resorts to meet their business and leisure needs, while simultaneously offering Swiss International Hotels the opportunity to benefit from Swissotel's worldwide reservations system, a marketing and distribution alliance with Swissair, and synergies with other divisions of SAirRelations."

Swiss International Hotels represents properties in 10 European countries, 8 nations in North and South America, and hotels in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and South Africa. Its membership is based on Swiss management or ownership.

Under the terms of the purchase agreement, all 62 properties will be represented in Swissotel global marketing efforts and can benefit from Swissotel's strength as one of the industry's most respected hotel management companies. In addition to its Swiss connection, the acquisition by Swissotel is a logical move, according to Meinhold, because it furthers Swissotel's strategy to greatly expand its presence in major global business and leisure travel destinations through management or marketing alliances with unique and high quality properties rather than real estate ownership. The acquisition also significantly expands Swissotel's network for business referrals because of greatly increased access to a larger customer base and potentially generates increased resources for global marketing, with the participation of Swiss International properties.

Swissotel acquired Swiss International Hotels from Dominik Betschart, a well known Swiss hotelier. Swissotel is owned by SAirRelations, a division of Switzerland-based SAirGroup, formerly known as the Swissair Group. The company currently operates or markets 18 hotels, in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Bangkok, Basel, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Cairo, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Hanoi, Istanbul, Jakarta, Montreux, New York, Semarang, Seoul and Zurich.

For further information, contact Swissotel, 405 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022; Telephone 212-317-3900 or Swiss International Hotels at or 41- 1-482-30-83.

For general sales information, call toll-free 1-800-91-SWISS; for worldwide reservations 1-800-63-SWISS, and, for North American properties, call 1-800-73-SWISS.

Source: Swissotel Management, Ltd.

CONTACT:

Robert Allegrini, Director of Corporate Communications and Event Marketing of Swissotel, 212-317-3911;

or Liz Elman or Tami Rosas of M. Silver Associates Inc., 212-754-6500, or Fax: 212-754-6711


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