5th Sep 2007 14:00
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) (Lon: IHG; NYSE: IHG (ADRs)),the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms, today announcedthat meeting planners booking group events at IHG hotels will be ableto do so with greater ease and efficiency through a web-based groupreservation solution provided by technology company Passkey. During2008, IHG will implement the capability in over 250 hotels across theInterContinental Hotels & Resorts and Crowne Plaza brands in the U.S.and Canada, as well as in some select Holiday Inn hotels. £ InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Innproperties will offer meeting planners full integration to all Passkeytools including a customized event-specific hotel reservation website.On the site, meeting planners will be able to upload rooming lists,automatically link reservation information to IHG hotels, track hotelblock pick-up and reservation status through real-time reports andupdates that review every facet of the process. At the same time,event attendees will be able to make and manage their hotelreservations online. £ "Utilizing Passkey across our InterContinental and Crowne Plazabrands in the U.S. and Canada will provide meeting planners withconsistent and reliable group booking capabilities and help ensuretheir event attendees enjoy the experience," said Del Ross, vicepresident, distribution marketing, the Americas, IHG. "Gaining brandloyalty with meeting planners is critical, as meetings and eventsrepresent a large part of our business." £ With this solution, IHG expects to further streamline the groupreservation process, increase meeting planner loyalty and driveincremental revenue from its group reservations. £ "As 'The Place to Meet,' Crowne Plaza strives to be the firstchoice for meeting planners," said Kevin Kowalski, senior vicepresident, worldwide brand management for Crowne Plaza. "The Passkeytechnology will allow all of our hotels in the U.S. and Canada tooffer a solution that makes event planning and management even easierfor meeting planners." £ About IHG £ InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) of the United Kingdom(LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)) is the world's largest hotel group bynumber of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, throughvarious subsidiaries, over 3,800 hotels and more than 563,000 guestrooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. IHGowns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brandsincluding InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza(R) Hotels& Resorts, Holiday Inn(R) Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express(R),Staybridge Suites(R), Candlewood Suites(R) and Hotel Indigo(R), andalso manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, PriorityClub(R) Rewards with over 33 million members worldwide. £ The company pioneered the travel industry's first collaborativeresponse to environmental issues as founder of the InternationalHotels and Environment Initiative (IHEI). The IHEI formed thefoundations of the Tourism Partnership launched by the InternationalBusiness Leaders Forum in 2004, of which IHG is still a member today.The environment and local communities remain at the heart of IHG'sglobal corporate responsibility focus. £ IHG offers information and online reservations for all its hotelbrands at www.ihg.com and information for the Priority Club Rewardsprogram at www.priorityclub.com. £ About Passkey £ Passkey (www.passkey.com) is the worldwide leader and recognizedindustry standard in online group reservations. The Boston-basedtechnology company offers event planners and providers a powerfulweb-based solution for managing group hotel reservations. The heart ofthe Passkey system is an innovative online booking engine that letsgroup attendees make their hotel reservations online in the contractedgroup block, while allowing event planners and hotels to accessreal-time reports and event information. Offered as an onDemandsolution, Passkey delivers benchmark speed, security and scalability. £ The Passkey-enabled global network consists of over 85% of majorU.S. Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), as well as thousands ofhotels, trade associations, meeting planners and meeting managementcompanies. Passkey investors include Lazard Technology Partners andDRV Investments, LLC. Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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