Accor Hotels Selects Vicinity Corporation to Provide Locator Service; Online Since January 24, 2001.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 2001

Hotel Group Offers Consumers Location Services for 3,400 Accor Family Hotels -- 16 Brands in 90 Countries Including Sofitel, Novotel,

Mercure, Ibis, Red Roof Inns, Motel 6, Etap Hotel, and Formule1

Vicinity Corporation, the leading provider of infrastructure services for the Global 2000 on Internet and wireless platforms, has been selected by Accor hotel division to provide its Vicinity Business Finder(SM) service. Consumers visiting the Accor Web site at www.accorhotels.com, or any of the Accor family Web sites, including www.sofitel.com, www.novotel.com, www.redroof.com and www.motel6.com, will be able to locate the nearest hotel to their destination location. Vicinity's services are available to search for Accor hotels in the following countries: Benelux, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States and the United Kingdom. Vicinity's services will be available in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. Accor, the European leader in travel and tourism services, currently has more than 3,400 hotels in 90 countries.

"We selected Vicinity because of the speed and efficiency of its technology and the flexibility to add additional Vicinity capabilities," said Jean-Christophe Defline, director of e-commerce for Accor. "We are looking to the Vicinity Business Finder technology to connect consumers with the Accor hotels brands at a local level."

Vicinity's Business Finder solution helps companies like Accor integrate a full-featured Web-based locator into its Web site to provide users with multi-attribute proximity search capabilities for locations worldwide. Vicinity customers are able to use these private-label services to retain control over the look and feel of their national brands.

"Local marketing has become a crucial need in business and technology and consumers are now able to access hospitality providers, as well as merchants and service providers, in their own backyards," said Emerick Woods, president and CEO of Vicinity Corp. "Vicinity is pleased to provide Accor with its Business Finder technology, so consumers can find the location best suited to them."

Vicinity provides its location-based services to a full range of hospitality companies, including major hotel groups, airlines and travel agencies. Accor joins Vicinity's strong roster of hospitality companies which include Marriott Corporation, British Airways, Bass Hotels, Starwood Hotels, Promus Hotel Corporation, Hilton Hotels, Choice Hotels, Rand McNally, Alamo Rent-A-Car, Sigma (Alitalia group) and fodors.com.

About Accor

Accor, with 129,000 associates in 140 countries, is the European leader and one of the world's largest group in travel, tourism and services with two major international activities:

-- Hotels: 3,400 hotels (370,000 rooms) in 90 countries, travel agencies,
restaurants and casinos;

-- Services: each day, over 11 million people in 30 countries use a broad range
of services (vouchers and cards, online services) developed, issued and managed
by Accor on behalf of corporate clients and public authorities.

About Vicinity Corporation

Vicinity Corporation is the leading provider of infrastructure services on Internet and wireless platforms for the Global 2000 and the No. 1 business-to-business site based on primary category rankings for June and July 2000 according to Media Metrix. By providing its marketing services through a distribution network of wireless, wireline and broadband channels, Vicinity generates store visits, high quality leads and incremental sales for its brick and mortar customers.

Vicinity's clicks-and-mortar solutions, enable its customers to direct consumers searching for a specific product or service to the nearest brick-and-mortar store that carries that product or service. Vicinity's 450 customers include FedEx, Ford, GM, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Marriott, McDonald's, NEC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels, Taco Bell, Toyota, Levi Strauss & Co. and UPS. Its suite of private-label and co-branded content and services -- available via the Internet, cellular phones, WAP phones, PDAs, wireless devices and landline telephones -- includes Vicinity Business Finder(SM), Speech Business Finder(SM), Wireless Business Finder(SM), BrandFinder(SM), SiteMaker(SM), MapBlast!(R) Syndication Services, and Business Directory.

Vicinity's strategic alliances include Verizon, AT&T, Palm, OmniSky, OracleMobile, AltaVista, Lycos and Inktomi (NASDAQ: INKT), and it is a member of the Phone.com (NASDAQ: PHCM) Alliance Program. Vicinity was established in 1995, is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has offices in New Hampshire, San Diego, France, Germany and the U.K. Vicinity is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the symbol VCNT. Vicinity(R) is a registered trademark of Vicinity Corporation.