Expected to set the hospitality industry standard, the new company will link thousands of purchasers and suppliers, and provide hotel owners, operators, and other hospitality industry participants with the industry�s leading e-based procurement portal that will ultimately integrate the full vertical supply chain. In the aggregate, Marriott and Hyatt operate or franchise more than 1,800 hotels and 350,000 rooms in North America, including the Caribbean. These hotels currently procure an estimated $5 billion annually in related goods and services. The two founding companies intend for other hospitality companies to join the new company. The new company will initially focus its efforts on the North American market, but expects to enter other geographic markets over time.

Major advantages of the new network will include:

• Reduced pricing on products and services through volume aggregation, and enhanced value delivered to users through strategic sourcing and leveraging the founders� procurement expertise;
• Immediate and real time access to a marketplace with an established critical mass of suppliers and buyers, with suppliers� offerings captured in a robust electronic catalog covering all products and services required by customers;
• Advanced e-commerce functionality designed to simplify the purchasing process and drive further savings by providing automated order processing and fulfillment tracking, electronic auction capabilities and expansive search tools;
• Full system connectivity to a broad range of IT infrastructure and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems;
• Customized content and user interface; and
• On-line and off-line help desk and customer service.

�This venture has the potential to provide tremendous value to our hotels, their owners and to the operations of other industry participants,� said Scott Miller, president of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. �It is a powerful example of how e-commerce provides opportunities to improve business performance in today�s fast-paced environment.� 

Once definitive agreements are made, Marriott and Hyatt intend to migrate their existing procurement businesses, each with ongoing contracts and customers, to the new company. The Marketplace by Marriott and Rosemont Purchasing, Hyatt�s affiliated procurement business, will provide the basis for a fast start-up for the new company.  

Delivering more than electronic trading capability, the founders will leverage their proven strategic procurement services to the new company and its customers, aligning buyers and sellers and managing the industry supply chain.  Both founders are providing interim management to the new company. 

Dennis Baker, executive vice president of Marriott International and general manager of The Marketplace by Marriott, will be the chief operating officer of the company. An executive search firm has begun to identify candidates for the chief executive officer position.  The company is expected to be operational later in 2000, subject to appropriate regulatory review and approval. Until then, Marriott and Hyatt will continue to operate their own procurement activities separately. The new company is expected to be located in the Washington, D.C. area.

Merrill Lynch has acted as the financial advisor to Marriott International in the formation of this new venture.
 

MAITLAND, Fla. and WASHINGTON - May 2, 2000 -- E-commerce service provider GoCo-op has been awarded a multi-year contract to develop and implement an e-procurement network for a new company to be formed by Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE:MAR) and Hyatt Corporation. The new procurement network is expected to be operational later in 2000.

Marriott, Hyatt and GoCo-op will combine GoCo-op�s online business-to-business purchasing solution, Procura, with the new company which will procure in excess of $5 billion in annual purchases. The network will link thousands of purchasers and suppliers in an e-procurement marketplace that will ultimately integrate the full vertical supply chain. 
 

�Marriott is engaging the �new economy� by finding faster, more efficient ways to serve our customers,� said J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International.  �This is a big step in the right direction.� �This venture will provide tremendous value to our hotels, their owners and to the operations of other industry participants,� said Scott Miller, president of Hyatt Corporation. �It is a powerful example of how e-commerce provides opportunities to improve the effectiveness of running businesses in today�s environment.� �By establishing this comprehensive network,

MAITLAND, Fla. - May 2, 2000 -- Jill Huskey of GoCo-op in Maitland, Florida, reviews portions of a $5 billion e-procurement network the company is developing for Marriott International and Hyatt Corporation. The network, to be completed this Summer, will be the largest hospitality online procurement system, linking thousand of purchasers and suppliers, who can quickly and easily purchase items via the Internet. (Business Wire photo)

GoCo-op�a privately held company that develops and hosts Internet procurement systems and vertically integrated business-to-business trading communities for industries including hotel and hospitality, and restaurant and food service�will supply the core e-commerce engine and will work with other service providers to integrate front- and back-office systems and technology.

Using GoCo-op technology, the new network will feature immediate and real-time access to a marketplace with a critical mass of suppliers and buyers; electronic catalogs covering all customer required products/services; and full system connectivity to a broad range of information technology infrastructure and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

GoCo-op�s Procura solution already has a seamless interface into SAP and the company is currently developing interfaces into PeopleSoft and Oracle. The network also will feature automated order placement and approval routing, detailed product documentation, customized content and user interface, and customer service.  The network will use familiar �XML� standards for data sharing, which are easy for participants to use, and enables multiple companies with disparate systems to integrate into the network.

To develop the system GoCo-op is drawing from its years of e-procurement expertise. The company has other major hospitality clients that include an international hotel company with more than 300 hotels, which recently completed a record-breaking time to implementation. From contract signing, to catalog loading, to interface into SAP�s R3 Accounting ERP system, this e-procurement system implementation was completed in 85 days.

GoCo-op develops and hosts Internet-based procurement systems and vertically integrated business-to-business trading communities for industries�including hotel and hospitality, and restaurant and food service - as well as providing marketplace enabling support to industry consortia.