Europe's Largest Hotel Companies and WorldRes Form New Joint Venture; Accor, Six Continents and Hilton International Invest in WorldRes Europe to Distribute Hotels Online.Business Editors/Travel Writers International Tourism Exchange BERLIN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 10, 2003 Three of Europe's largest hotel companies -- Accor, Six Continents Six Continents is a large retail PLC in UK which split into Six Continents Retail known as Mitchells and Butlers plc. The hotels and soft drinks business of Six Continents PLC is now known as InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. and Hilton International -- have invested in WorldRes Europe, a new joint venture created to market and sell hotels online throughout Europe. WorldRes is contributing its reservation technology and European subsidiary. This agreement is currently under review by the European Commission European Commission, branch of the governing body of the European Union (EU) invested with executive and some legislative powers. Located in Brussels, Belgium, it was founded in 1967 when the three treaty organizations comprising what was then the European Community regulatory approval. "We have been a WorldRes partner and investor since 2000. They continue to interface with our central reservation central reservation Noun Brit & NZ the strip that separates the two sides of a motorway or dual carriageway central reservation n (BRIT) (AUT) → mediana system, thus using the best technology for selling our hotels online," said Jean-Marc Espalioux, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Accor. "We have agreed to invest and promote WorldRes Europe as the optimal means to find and book our hotels online. WorldRes Europe will make our hotel brands available to anyone with online access, including Web sites, call centers, tour operators and travel agents." The hotel companies have agreed to offer very competitive inventory and rates through WorldRes Europe, making it easy for web sites around the world to market and sell Europe's leading hotel brands. WorldRes Europe will sell the hotels through a variety of methods, including commissionable retail rates, wholesale net rates, packages and private negotiated rates. "We need to distribute our hotels online as broadly and as efficiently as possible," said Richard North, CEO of Six Continents Hotels. "WorldRes Europe has demonstrated its ability to establish a fully automated, low-cost, high quality multi brand distribution outlet that is attractive to hotel suppliers, internet retailers and consumers alike. These are the very qualities that Six Continents Hotels seeks when selecting distributors to sell our rates and inventory and WorldRes Europe fits that bill perfectly." WorldRes has been a leading online hotel distribution network in Europe since it began operations there in 1997. The network powers top European travel web sites and search engines, including Opodo, AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. UK, Lycos Europe Introduction LYCOS Europe is a pan-European network of websites, offering a broad variety of content channels and online services, e.g. communication tools & communities, websearch, e-commerce, webhosting, homepagebuilding and Internet access. , Virgin Airlines, Accommodation Search Engine (ASE (Adaptive Server Enterprise) A relational DBMS from Sybase that runs on Windows NT/2000, Linux and a variety of Unix platforms. ASE is a comprehensive and robust data management product with a long history dating back to the late 1980s. ), Freeserve and Hotel.de. WorldRes' booking engine operates in seven languages including Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. "Hilton International acknowledges the growth in the online travel market. Our investment in WorldRes, will ensure that online travel in Europe remains competitive and offer the best value for our customers," said David Michels, CEO of Hilton Group plc. WorldRes Europe is also working with other major European hotel companies, distributing their hotels through the same platform and network of web sites on the same terms as Accor, Six Continents and Hilton International. Thousands of individual hotels throughout Europe are already selling through the same network, simply by accessing the WorldRes system, www.worldres-europe.com. "Online hotel bookings are the success story of e-commerce and Europe is the world's largest hotel market -- this joint investment in WorldRes Europe is a very important step for all of us," said Wolfgang Kitza, CEO of WorldRes. "We have been working with the world's leading hotel companies for years. Through our links to their reservation systems and our joint investment in WorldRes Europe, we will continue to work closely together to further improve the technology and efficiency of online booking." About WorldRes WorldRes is a leading online hotel reservation network with more than 30,000 properties. The network includes over 2,000 Web distribution partners, travel agents and global distribution systems. WorldRes also owns and operates the consumer Web site PlacesToStay.com (www.placestostay.com). Founded in 1995, WorldRes is headquartered in San Mateo San Mateo (săn mətā`ō), city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Mateo, Spanish for St. , Calif., with global offices in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. About Accor With 150,000 associates in 140 countries, Accor is the European leader and one of the world's largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services Activities that combine or consolidate certain enterprise-wide needed support services, provided based on specialized knowledge, best practices, and technology to serve internal (and sometimes external) customers and business partners. , with two major international activities: -- hotels: 3,835 hotels (418,000 rooms) in 90 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants; -- services to corporate clients and public institutions: each day, 13 million People in 32 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor. About Hilton International Hilton International (HI), an operating division of the UK based Hilton Group plc, owns the rights to the Hilton brand name throughout the world, with the exception of North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . HI operates over 400 hotels, with some 250 branded Hilton, over 150 under the mid-market Scandic scan·di·um n. Symbol Sc A silvery-white metallic element found in various rare minerals and separated as a byproduct in the processing of certain uranium ores. brand plus 15 luxury Conrad hotels Conrad Hotels is a luxury hotel brand controlled by Hilton Hotels Corporation and is based in Beverly Hills, California. History The chain was founded in 1982. At that time, Hilton and Hilton International were completely separate companies. . Hilton International employs over 44,000 staff in over 70 countries. A global marketing alliance between Hilton International and the North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. based Hilton Hotels Corporation Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT) is one of the leading global hospitality companies. As of April 2007 there are 2,645 hotels and 485,000 rooms employing 105,000 people in more than 80 countries. (HHC HHC Home Health Care HHC Headquarters Company HHC Health and Hospitals Corporation (New York, NY) HHC Hand-Held Computer HHC Hiphopcanada Inc. ), extends the number of hotels operated by both companies worldwide to over 2,400 -- over 500 of which are branded Hilton. For more information on Hilton Group, please visit our corporate website, at: www.hiltongroup.com About Six Continents Six Continents Hotels is a leading global hotel group whose brands include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn, Express by Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites. It owns, operates or franchises more than 3,300 hotels and over 515,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The following are some of the service marks owned by Six Continents Hotels, Inc., its subsidiaries or affiliates: Holiday Inn(R), Crowne Plaza(R), Express by Holiday Inn(TM), Holiday Inn Select(R), Holiday Inn Garden Court(R), Holiday Inn SunSpree(R) Resort, Staybridge Suites(R) by Holiday Inn, Holidex(R), Priority Club(R), InterContinental(R), Forum(R), Parkroyal(R), and Centra(R). Six Continents Club(R), Six Continents(TM), and 6 Continents(TM) are service marks of Six Continents PLC and used under license. Six Continents Hotels, Inc. offers information and reservations capability on the Internet -- www.sixcontinentshotels.com, www.intercontinental.com for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, www.crowneplaza.com for Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, www.holiday-inn.com for Holiday Inn hotels, www.hiexpress.com for Express by Holiday Inn hotels, www.staybridge.com for Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn, and www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from Six Continents Hotels, visit our online Press Office at http://www.pressoffice.sixcontinentshotels.com/. |
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