News for the Hospitality Executive |
SCOTTSDALE,
DALLAS and LONDON (September 13,
2010) – Utell® Hotels & Resorts,
a service of Pegasus Solutions,
announced today that it has expanded its marketing agreement with
priceline.com
(Nasdaq: PCLN) to give more than 2,500 of its independent hotels access
to
priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price®, Priceline Merchant
(Travelweb) and
Priceline Vacation Package services. “Priceline and its group of companies, booked 61 million room nights in 2009, providing a growing and significant marketing opportunity for our Utell member hotels,” said Ric Leutwyler, president of Utell. “Booking volume through alternative distributions systems like online travel agencies has continued to climb over 2009. The Pegasus View reported increases of more than 13 percent year-on-year for online shopping in the first quarter compared to around five percent for the global distribution systems. For this reason, we’ve enhanced our important relationship with priceline.com to ensure Utell’s member hotels can achieve and maintain the right, and most profitable, distribution mix from Utell’s proven revenue-generating programs.” The priceline.com agreement allows Utell hotels to distribute rates in Priceline’s disclosed hotel program at net rate discounts and increase visibility on Priceline’s site through merchandised promotional offerings. Member hotels can also fill distressed inventory and capture last-minute demand without diluting retail rates by participating in Priceline’s Name Your Own Price® opaque program, which offers Utell members guaranteed pre-paid and non-refundable business. “Utell is the world’s largest and most experienced third-party hotel marketing, sales and representation organization offering the largest collection of independent hotels in the industry. Utell’s thousands of properties will be sought after by Priceline customers, who are buying in more than 90 countries and 32 languages,” added Leutwyler. “Through our agreement with Utell, Priceline can effectively partner with an expanding network of independent hotels across the globe through a trusted and proven relationship,” said Tim Gordon, Senior Vice President of Priceline Hotels. Pegasus Solutions’ UltraDirect houses the largest collection of electronically bookable hotels in the world with approximately 90,000 properties around the globe. About Utell® Hotels & Resorts Utell Hotels & Resorts, part of
Pegasus Solutions Inc, is the world’s leading hotel representation
service
providing a specialized range of powerful sales, marketing and
distribution
solutions for hotels and travel distributors. Utell is chosen by more
than
9,000 independent hotels and small groups in nearly 150 countries, and
comprises an extensive and diverse international portfolio that
includes
luxury, boutique, value, business and resort properties for both
business and
leisure travelers. Utell offers an unrivaled combination of 80 years’
experience representing hotels by delivering first class business
generating
solutions. These include preferred travel agent and online
partnership
agreements, a range of worldwide marketing programs, leading edge
Internet booking
engine solutions, comprehensive business intelligence reporting
capabilities
and award-winning hotel Web site marketing. Utell’s products and
services are
used by thousands of travel agencies, travel providers and businesses
worldwide, including major global TMC’s (travel management companies),
corporations, online distributors and consortia groups. Visit www.utell.com for more information.
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Contacts: Media contact: Ariel Herr |