Hotel Online Special Report
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Destinations.com  Creates Coast-to-Coast Synergies in Leisure Travel Reservations
 
SEATTLE - Dec. 21, 1998--Destinations.com Inc. today announced a $3 million private investment from The Travel Team, Inc./American Express.

The investment gives The Travel Team, one of Western New York's largest commercial travel management companies, an active interest in Destinations.com.

According to Destinations.com President Todd Tarbert, the investment will accelerate reaching the company's goal of becoming the nation's leading provider of voice and Web-based reservations booking services for Convention and Visitors Bureaus and other destination marketing organizations (DMOs).

The Travel Team, with annual sales of more than $50 million, employs more than 100 in 9 offices in New York State and Pennsylvania. It is part of Rich Products Corporation. Founded in 1945, Rich Products is one of the largest family-owned food companies in the United States, with annual sales of $1.3 billion and more than 6,000 associates worldwide. Based in Buffalo, the company has offices, subsidiaries and manufacturing plants in 53 countries including Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa and China.

The Travel Team's investment in Destinations.com creates a strategic alliance that will enable both firms to have a presence on the East and West Coasts, with an arrangement to share office space, telephone equipment and some staff.

The Travel Team investment will fund construction of a Web-based, 50-seat Tele-Services Bureau in Buffalo that will complement Destinations.com's 50-person Tele-Services Bureau in Seattle.

The Buffalo Bureau and sales office is expected to open in early 1999.

"Our firm's investment is based on the belief that Destinations.com will become the nation's leading provider of reservation technologies," said Jean McDonnell Covelli, President of The Travel Team. She said that the alliance will enable Travel Team Inc. to expand its presence in the leisure travel market.

Destinations.com's proprietary reservation technologies include CenResMaster, a voice-based reservation software system for vacation processing currently being used in 16 DMO call centers in the U.S. and Canada; NetResMaster, an Internet booking engine for Web-generated travel information and reservations; and Tele-Services Bureau which fulfills and processes reservations for destinations.

Destinations.com products allow room reservations to be booked instantly at DMO-operated call centers and Web sites. DMOs may also choose to have the calls answered and reservations made at the Destinations.com call center, or take advantage of the company's Web production and hosting services.

"We are proud to have earned the confidence of our new investment partner," said Paul Pigott, Destinations.com founder and vice chairman. "Joining forces with The Travel Team and Rich Products enhances our visibility in the national marketplace and greatly extends our geographical reach."

The Travel Team Inc., an American Express representative office, specializes in corporate, leisure, cruise, group and destination meeting planning.

Destinations.com is the result of a merger between voice- and Web-based travel technology companies. Each pioneered its own niche and together represent more than 75 years of experience in destination resort reservation processing. Based in Seattle, Destinations.com
employs more than 60 staff members in five regional sales offices nationwide. A reservation Tele-Services Bureau and sales office will open in Buffalo, N.Y., in early 1999.

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Contact:
Destinations.com Inc.
Carreen Krapf, 206/264-3405
[email protected]
or
The Rockey Company
Anne Foster/Erica Perez, 206/728-1100
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Also See: Top 10 Reasons Why Online Booking Services Are Not Ready for Prime Time / Feb 1998 
Report: On-line Leisure Travel Booking Is Booming / Sept 1998 

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