LONDON � 8 June 2006 � Leonardo Media, an international leader in managing
and distributing rich media content has announced it has formed a commercial
partnership with Cultuzz GmbH, the leading seller of accommodation
content on eBay.
Under the agreement, Leonardo will provide Cultuzz with a customised
delivery of quality assured and up-to-date rich media content (static and
animated images) for hotels featured within the eBay travel category.
�We are delighted to be partnering with Cultuzz to provide eBay with
rich content said David Elton, Leonardo�s Chief Executive Officer.
�Not only does this agreement reinforce our expansion in the travel channel
marketplace, it also provides our hotel partners with yet another opportunity
to portray their property to the huge target audience that eBay serves�.
�Online travel sales are increasing year on year and consumers are demanding
a much deeper and broader range of content to be available to them online.
It is therefore vital for every travel company to effectively show the
best looking visuals online� Elton added.
�We welcome the decision of Cultuzz to partner with Leonardo to use
their image data bank with automatic updating for their hotel partners
on eBay. We expect this to have a positive impact on the buying experience
in the short breaks category of eBay�, said Karim Lankarany, Senior Travel
Category Manager, eBay Travel.
"We have proven by way of trialling products firstly with static imagery
and then with animated images that enhanced images inside a hotel's product
on eBay has a direct impact on the end auction price, in a positive way"
said Michael Hughes, Global Director of Sales & Marketing, Cultuzz
GmbH.
About Leonardo Media
Leonardo
is the world leader in travel content management, e-marketing and content
distribution across the global travel chain. Its online solutions are designed
to simplify the management of rich content and the automation of distribution
to the GDS, travel channels and their travel partners. For all travel
partners, Leonardo services provide the largest 'one stop' aggregated source
of digital content for hotels, destinations and attractions in the travel
industry.
Leonardo works with more than 60,000 hotels, including many prominent
global hotel chains such as Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, Carlson
Worldwide, Worldhotels, Raffles/Swissotel, Rosewood, Jumeirah Preferred
Hotel Group, Kersner International, Small Luxury Hotels, Leading Hotels
of the World, Le Meridien, Nikko, Peninsula, Starwood, Resort Quest,
Luxe, and Destination Hotels and Resorts. Leonardo also works with more
than 80 Tourist Boards, including Singapore, Portugal, The Hague, and Antigua
and Barbuda. Its major travel channel partners include Amadeus, Galileo,
Sabre, Worldspan, Pegasus, WizCom, Worldres along with Lodging.com, Cheaptickets,
Yahoo!, Opodo, Vista, Planetgo, Aergo, Widderoe, and NorthStar Travel Media.
About Cultuzz
Cultuzz
Digital Media GmbH was founded in Berlin in the year 2000. Cultuzz provides
a suite of integrated software solutions to the tourism and hospitality
industry designed to make the processing, managing and transacting of E-Commerce
more efficient using state of the art solutions. The Cultuzz product suite
is OTA compliant (Open Travel Alliance) ensuring that system to system
interfaces are achieved with minimal additional resource requirements.
Cultuzz has more than 2500 hotel partners in Europe, Asia and Australia
making them the largest deliverer of auction hotel content to eBay globally.
About Ebay
Founded in 1995, eBay pioneers communities built on commerce, sustained
by trust, and inspired by opportunity. eBay enables ecommerce on a local,
national and international basis with an array of Websites - including
the eBay Marketplaces, PayPal, Skype, Kijiji, Rent.com and Shopping.com
- that bring together millions of buyers and sellers every day.
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