Cortiva Group Selected to Provide Spa Services to Hilton Hotel.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

Cortiva Group, a pioneer in the development and implementation of the first "spa services network" in the United States, has been selected as the provider of massage therapists for the Hilton New York, the city's largest hotel. The service, which will be offered under the Cortiva brand, provides scalable massage therapy services in the Hilton Fitness Club & Spa as well as in-room service. The in-room service is currently offered on select floors from 6 am to 11 pm, and will soon be rolled out through the rest of the property on a 24 x 7 basis. This will enable guests to book massages when reserving their rooms or at short notice anytime during their stay - with guaranteed service within 90 minutes. The announcement was made today by both Mr. Conrad Wangeman, General Manager of the Hilton New York, and by Mr. Alan Clingman, Chairman and CEO of Cortiva Group.

Cortiva recently launched the first branded "spa services network" of uniformed, highly trained, professional massage therapists in the United States, and is establishing an unprecedented benchmark of excellence in educational standards, practices and techniques for an industry that lacks both a systematic and qualitative approach. Cortiva's mission is three-fold: to provide human resources and scalable staffing to hotels, spas, health clubs, hospitals, country clubs, residential communities and corporate facilities; to provide spa services to select hotels; and to optimize the earnings potential, productivity and flexibility for independent massage therapists. Cortiva provides an outstanding level of on-demand service through a standardized training program that surpasses even the highest expectations that exist in the industry today.

"Our goal at the Hilton New York is to provide our guests with impeccable service and to do so at their convenience," said Mr. Conrad Wangeman. "Working with Cortiva has allowed us to surpass expectations by guaranteeing the ultimate luxury spa experience - even on very short notice - and never having to disappoint a guest due to insufficient staffing at peak periods. The quality of Cortiva's treatments is superb, whether in-room or in-spa, since their careful staff selection process, rigorous orientation course and continuous education far exceeds current industry standards. Cortiva will clearly have a competitive edge by owning and operating its own massage training schools."

About Cortiva Group

At Cortiva Group, our mission is to create efficiency in the highly fragmented, $14 billion spa industry by becoming a trusted and branded third party provider of scalable services. Cortiva will achieve this goal by building a national network of uniformed, highly trained, professional massage therapists that will be made available anytime, anywhere to hotels, spas, health clubs, hospitals, country clubs, residential communities and corporate facilities, both on a contract basis and on a just-in-time basis, with as little as 90 minutes notice, 24 x 7; to enable every hotel room to become a "virtual treatment room"; to establish the most rigorous set of standards and practices for massage therapists; to acquire, operate and manage massage therapy schools under a national brand that will provide, for the first time, a foundation for continued growth in the industry and will be at the forefront of training leaders for years to come; and to develop superior, branded products for use in massage therapy and body treatments. We view ourselves as a critical competitive advantage for businesses in the spa, hospitality and health care industries, both in terms of excellent service and profitability, by providing these services on a more qualitative, cost effective and omnipresent basis than the industries could do themselves.