When all the enhancements are added by June 1, the website will offer a host of helpful travel information about all 19 Pan Pacific hotels and their locations in Asia, North America and the Pacific. When selecting a hotel, online customers will find such useful features as local currency exchange information, a five-day weather forecast and a local time clock. Customers will also be able to download individual hotel brochures, each offering details on guestrooms and hotel amenities.

For meeting planners, the enhanced site adds several new features that make site selection and booking much easier. By accessing the new Meetings Facilities Search feature, which offers fact sheets, meeting floor plans and capacity charts for each hotel, planners will be able to find the exact space they need. 

When logging onto www.panpac.com, customers will be greeted by a redesigned home page with rotating banners that feature special deals and promotions at the individual hotels. The enhanced site also establishes convenient communication service between hotels and customers, including direct e-mail links to the individual hotels. In addition, site users will be able to join an e-mail subscription list to receive a newsletter throughout the year, available in English or Japanese, containing the latest news and information about Pan Pacific hotels. 

Truly designed for an international market, www.panpac.com is available in both English and Japanese language versions. By the end of 2000, a German language version of the site will also be available. 

The new enhancements are expected to further increase Internet-generated business for Pan Pacific, which first introduced online booking in September 1998 in conjunction with its Internet technology partner OpenWorld. With an ever-growing number of customers logging onto www.panpac.com, the hotel company saw its Internet bookings triple during the first two months of 2000 compared to the same period in 1999. 

Based on the company�s current pace, Pan Pacific expects to receive over $1.2 million in Internet bookings during 2000. And that is only the beginning. �While we are currently receiving 4% of our business from bookings over the Internet, we expect to raise that to 25% by the 2003,� says Ron Drake, Corporate Director of Marketing and Sales for Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. 

Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts currently encompasses 19 hotels (17 managed properties and 2 marketing affiliates) in 12 countries in Asia, the Pacific and North America.