In accordance with the terms of the Agreement, STS will provide the Hotel Net Portal for all of Sage’s 60 properties on guest laptop, PC, television, and wireless platforms.  In addition, STS will assist Sage in selecting an In-Room Provider (IRP) of high-speed Internet connectivity.
This move by Sage is significant in light of other Internet activities in the hospitality industry.  While many hospitality players are contracting vendors to add high-speed Internet infrastructure to their guestrooms, Sage made the decision to first develop an online media strategy.

By putting into place a Portal strategy, Sage seeks to combat low usage rates of In-room Internet systems using Hotel Net tools that deliver an enhanced online guest experience.
The Hotel Net Portal provides in nine autonomous modules, online travel, business support services, local content, online shopping, e-centives, entertainment, front desk support, customized news and content.

Sage’s CEO Zack Neumeyer said, “STS’s approach to Internet applications is platform agnostic.  With a number of competing technologies to provide Internet access to the room, Sage feels the most important aspect of the Internet is how it helps us to manage our relationship with guests, regardless of how they connect.”

The Hotel Net Portal provides a number of customization and personalization tools.  Neumeyer feels this kind of personalization is precisely the type of technology that will continue to enhance the hospitality industry’s collective relationship with guests.
Neumeyer explained further, “While there are issues to be resolved in the industry between the owner, management company, and brand, as to who owns the guest, guest data, and the ability to market them, these differences will rapidly fall behind us in the critical effort to control the guest before non-industry players control our guests.  The hotel industry must cooperate to provide our guests with common portal tools, while individually controlling key guest data and relationships.”

The Hotel Net portal is platform agnostic, thus maximizing guest viewing.

Hotel guests can access Hotel Net from a laptop, TV, PDA, or in-room PC.  STS believes that delivering a tasteful, rich online guest experience, regardless of how the guest connects, is the single most important decision a hotel will make with the Internet.

About Sage
Denver based Sage Hospitality Resources is a nationally recognized hotel developer and management company.  Sage currently operates in 25 states, with 60 full service, boutique, and limited service hotels.  Sage, one of the nations leading hotel investment, development, and management companies, is dedicated  to the creation of value for hotel owners and investors. Sage is currently focused  on the economic development of America’s cities through an adaptive reuse of urban core historic buildings.  By converting these unique buildings into first-class hotels, Sage ensures that these American treasures are preserved while once again becoming productive contributors to the local economy.

About STS Hotel Net
STS Hotel Net is a provider of online media and Internet applications for the traveler and the hospitality industry.  The Hotel Net Portal provides guest specific content, local information, communication services, and eCommerce applications.  Hotel Companies intending to expand their brand presence and relationship with the guest use the Hotel Net Portal to create a customized online guest experience.