February 01, 1999 - HSI, the Boca Raton, Florida based Point-of-Sale
system provider and Global Hospitality Solutions, the Scottsdale, Arizona
based Property Management/Central Reservation and Sales/Catering systems
provider, have merged to form what will become one of the nation's largest
single source solutions provider to the hospitality industry. The
combined company is comprised of over 200 employees worldwide. Leadership
of the new company will include:
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James Carlson - Chief Executive Officer (HSI)
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George A. Zugmier - President (GHS)
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Douglas E. Royse - Chief Operating Officer (GHS)
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Brian Holland - Chief Financial Officer (HSI)
The completed merger culminates in the creation of a company dedicated
to providing Windows* NT based POS, PMS and CRS solutions to the international
hospitality industries. The new company's complete product line,
comprised of the Profit Series* POS, Jaguar* PMS, Falcon* CRS including
WebRES online reservation system and Cobra Sales and Catering applications
is installed in over 2000 locations worldwide.
"The combination of these two companies is going to have a significant
effect on technology solutions as they relate to the hospitality industry,"
says Zugmier. "You have a melding of two incredible talent pools,
working with products that have been designed specifically for the Windows
NT environment. The industry will now have the information infrastructure
and architecture necessary to provide superior guest services and improve
operating efficiencies. NT's Client-Server technology and user friendly
Graphical User Interfaces ensure long-term compatibility and ease-of-use
for the operator. Our products are a natural fit, as are our companies,"
he adds. According to Carlson, the main benefactors of the merger
will be the hospitality operators themselves. "We now have the ability
to satisfy a number of markets within the hospitality industry. Independent
and multi-unit restaurateurs and hotel operators alike will now have a
single point of contact for their POS, PMS and CRS needs," he says.
Founded in 1992, HSI delivered the first Windows based Point-of-Sale
system to the hospitality industry. Global Hospitality Solutions (GHS)
is a recognized leader in the development of sophisticated Central Reservation
Systems (CRS) and Property Management Systems (PMS) for the hospitality
industry. Both products utilize the Microsoft Suite of Programming Tools
and Back Office products in the course of their development.
Both HSI and GHS boast significant accomplishments in leading product
development throughout the hospitality technology industry. HSI was
the first company to introduce a Windows based Point-of-Sale application
to the hospitality sector. In addition, they successfully demonstrated
the use of voice-recognition based POS applications with their proof-of-concept,
code named "Voice-Link", at the FS/TEC Conference in November of 1998.
GHS is the first company to utilize the Internet for communications between
the property and the Central Reservations Office. GHS is also the first
to offer an integrated CRS and PMS solution utilizing the American Hotel/Motel
Association's WHIS/HITIS interface specification.
The combined company maintains corporate offices strategically located
in Scottsdale, Arizona and Boca Raton, Florida. Regional offices
are established in Los Angeles, California and Chicago, Illinois as well
as Toronto, Ontario and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Satellite
offices are also located in Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Raleigh, North
Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; New York, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis,
MN; St. Louis, Columbia, and Kansas City, Missouri; Dallas, TX; San Francisco,
California; Reno, NV; Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. The
company is financially backed by GEOCapital Partners. |