SAN DIEGO - August 15, 2000 - The $200 billion, global lodging industry will soon experience a true e-commerce paradigm shift with the much-anticipated debut of ROOMKEY. The first international reservation company to truly offer consumers a choice in how they select and book their accommodations.

The closely guarded development of this critically unique lodging-booking concept recently became less secretive due to the milestone signing of its 25th U.S. market. The company expects to have 40 destinations on board by the end of the year. Now, for the first time, one toll-free telephone number, supported by one web site, will connect a traveler to a real person, a neutral third party lodging expert that actually lives in, or is trained specifically on, the location to which the traveler is going. 

Bear Stearns & Co. have reported that 60 percent of hotel reservations in the U.S. are booked directly with the hotels, 15 percent are booked with the hotels� toll-free call center, 10 percent of guests walk in, 10 percent are booked with travel agents and the remainder, less-than-five percent, use the Internet. While Internet bookings are growing, 95 percent of hotel guests prefer human contact when making bookings.

To date, this absence of real-time, personal, local advice explains the painfully low number of hotel and condominium rooms actually booked via web sites. While this percent increases when web-driven 800-number inquires are considered, ROOMKEY�s management estimates it will more than double when consumers no longer are forced to accept advice on a given city�s hotels from a call center operator working along side hundreds of operators, who are based in a location other than the traveler�s destination and most likely having never even seen the city in question. No other accommodation site has local experts providing the information travelers need to make an informed decision about what lodging is right for them. 

This innovative insertion of �local knowledge� into the Internet�s hotel - room - booking matrix, along with the addition of vacation condominiums into the product mix and the reversed emphasis on live telephone conversation rather than an emailed booking, is the foundation of this first nationwide network of local-hotel-reservations systems and the work of a successful pioneer in local-hotel-reservations systems.

�I immediately want to speak with a New Yorker about my New York hotel options.

The same for San Diego, Myrtle Beach or wherever. I want to know what the locals know,� said Matthew DeLine, CEO and President of Planet Earth Reservations, Inc., a leading technology company that provides e-solutions and e-commerce portals to hotels. It is America�s largest operator of local hotel reservations systems and will utilize its extensive experience to launch ROOMKEY. 

�Only the real locals know where to stay and where to eat. They know where to do all the fun and interesting activities that makes a destination a destination. ROOMKEY will essentially brand �Heavy Locals� knowledge and make it easily available to consumers,� said DeLine, who in 1991 founded San Diego Hotel Reservations, Inc. (SDHR, Inc.) and went on to establish and profitably-develop Phoenix Hotel Reservations and Palm Springs Hotel Reservations.  In aggregate, SDHR, Inc. has served 750,000 guests and averages over 4,000 reservations per month.

�We are excited to be taking a major step into the �personalized� e-commerce arena and associating with America�s leading local reservations systems,� said DeLine.

�Development of our position on the Internet, and the creation of an associated toll-free vanity number, represents a growth opportunity for all involved and complements our industry�s superior guest service dominance in this sector of the travel industry.  We believe our marketing and distribution expertise, combined with quality, local advice, will give ROOMKEY the critical advantage important to expanding this exciting distribution channel.� DeLine added: �Our guests have indicated their desire to book hotels and condominiums with a local reservation service in a broad range of markets because our industry has an established service that they have come to trust for superior quality, reliable advice and excellent customer service at a value-oriented price point. Through the ROOMKEY network, we are pleased to be able to offer our guest this service on a national and international level.� The local reservations service industry has been highly successful because the phone operators intimately know the properties and cities they are discussing, from branded hotels to small inns and luxury condominiums, explained ROOMKEY�s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Scott Hermes, CMP, whose own career includes over 20 years in the hotel industry. 

DeLine and Hermes contend that the process of selecting a property always benefits from insight provided by an expert in a given destination. Such local intelligence preciously increases the probability of comfortable accommodations at the best rate. A healthy night�s rest and/or the success of a critical business meeting are often in the balance.

�How well can one person know 5001 locations in more than 25 cities?� asked Hermes. �Not well, generally,� concluded Hermes, who has for the past year traveled the United States building ROOMKEY�s affiliate network of America�s most successful local reservations systems. He found much interest by offering what will be a nationally branded and well-recognized toll-free vanity number and web site domain name that will promote properties to prospective guests.  �We�re all about choice,� said Hermes. �If the consumer wished to book on-line, research on-line and then call our 800 number, or just call us, we will be ready to serve them.�