Roger Paradis, Passkey.com's president and CEO, said the NCVB will use Passkey.com's proprietary ResDesk(sm) software at its call center to book room reservations for meetings and conventions as well as for weekend/leisure business. 

Passkey.com's ResDesk in Music City 

"We're happy to welcome Nashville to the growing list of CVBs who've chosen ResDesk as their reservation system and Passkey.com as their partner in moving forward with an Internet-based solution," said Paradis. Passkey.com now provides convention housing or event-specific reservation services through CVBs and/or independent housing bureaus in 16 of the top U.S. group meeting cities. Paradis said the company is currently processing reservations generating $9 million in hotel room revenues per month, with the impressive total doubling each quarter. 

Nashville Seeks "21st Century Housing Solution" 

Butch Spryidon, the NCVB's executive vice president, said the search for a "21st Century solution to Nashville's housing dilemma" started last August. "We're looking for a flexible, Internet-based housing reservation solution," he said, "and research led us to conclude that there was nothing available that really suited our unique housing needs. At the same time," he added, "we knew our existing convention housing software was not Y2K-compatible." 

Spryidon said the NCVB was ready to hold out until it found just the right solution. "We're aiming high. We wanted to upgrade our housing bureau by giving it the capability to also market leisure reservations using one integrated system. Then we would be able to cross-sell the great attractions and reasons to come to Nashville to convention callers while handling leisure calls at the same time. Even with our plans well thought through, there was still no software solution to help us accomplish this goal." 

He said the NCVB's research "kept leading us back to Passkey.com. Its software was intuitive, easy-to-use, and," he said with a smile, "Passkey.com staff talked to us in a non-technical manner. They impressed us with competence, not 'techno-speak.'" 

"Now we are working with Passkey.com to fully integrate group and leisure housing services B all of which will be Internet-based by July," said Spryidon. 

How Passkey.com ResDesk Works 

Passkey.com's ResDesk benefits all meeting and convention participants by providing Internet-accessible real-time information to everyone in the reservation process. 

ResDesk stores a group's room-block inventory in a secure, password-protected online database accessible simultaneously to call center agents and attendees via the Internet. Meeting planners, hotels and housing providers, such as convention and visitor bureaus, can access the database at any time to generate detailed reports and manage unlimited sub-blocks, live, throughout the entire housing process. Attendees can go online to inquire about room availability, amenities and rates, book directly into the block in real time, and receive immediate confirmation of their reservation at the negotiated convention rate. Attendees can also fax or mail room requests, or telephone the call center, where operators are online. 

Passkey.com operates a tier-one, scalable call center serving the needs of its customers, and provides ResDesk as an in-house software solution, complete with training and support. 

Beyond Convention Housing--The Leisure Component 

Passkey.com will support leisure functionality for qualified CVBs already using the ResDesk system for convention housing. CVBs that create a leisure business plan, market it and staff it appropriately can quite successfully use ResDesk as a powerful leisure reservation solution. 

Passkey.com, Inc. (www.passkey.com), is the leading provider of Internet-enabled convention and group hotel reservations solutions for the $83 billion meetings and convention industry. ResDesk, Passkey.com's flagship offering, is the leading Internet-enabled convention and group hotel reservation solution. Benefitting from a recently-announced strategic alliance with Pegasus Systems (NASDAQ: PEGS), Passkey.com provides a seamless end-to-end reservations solution for group business, with direct reservation connections to potentially thousands of hotels. The Passkey.com convention housing network connects all industry participants using Internet-based software and a shared, centralized reservation database to automate and simplify the complex task of making, managing and acknowledging reservations. Formerly Passkey Systems, Inc., Passkey.com is headquartered in the Boston suburb of Quincy, Massachusetts.