Red Lion and WestCoast Hotels Launch Enhanced GDS Connectivity on the New MICROS Opera Central Reservations Platform
October 04 2004 - 2:12PM
PR Newswire (US)
Red Lion and WestCoast Hotels Launch Enhanced GDS Connectivity on
the New MICROS Opera Central Reservations Platform Travel Agents
Benefit by Receiving Access to Real-Time Rates and Availability
SPOKANE, Wash., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WestCoast
Hospitality Corporation (NYSE:WEH), representing Red Lion and
WestCoast Hotels in the U.S. and Canada, now participates at the
highest level of connectivity in the three largest Global
Distribution Systems (GDS') serving travel agents in North America.
This new level of functionality was implemented by leveraging the
enhanced GDS interface of MICROS Opera Central Reservations
platform by MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS). The GDS' are the
sales and inventory distribution backbone for travel agents,
in-house corporate travel departments, and many of the Internet
distribution systems. In an effort to increase travel agent hotel
sales, the GDS' recently launched data integrity initiatives that
provide their customers with data sourced directly from a hotel
company's reservations system. This new level of connectivity is
referred to in the industry as "Next Generation Seamless." In
short, this enhancement provides GDS users with real-time rates and
availability that is 100% identical to the information used by a
hotel company's own reservations staff. This increased accuracy
allows travel agents to sell more confidently and reduces the
instances where the GDS' are bypassed as travel agents book via
telephone to assure their clients the lowest rates. Galileo Inside
Shopper, Worldspan Integrated Hotel Source, Sabre Direct Connect
Shop, the respective GDS' Next Generation Seamless products, were
implemented by WestCoast between July and September, 2004. The
certification process is underway with Amadeus to provide their
customers with enhanced connectivity via their next-generation
seamless product, Dynamic Access. A cutover date is expected to be
announced shortly. "Travel agents remain a very important market
channel for our hotels," said Barry Hughes, VP - Marketing and
Distribution for WestCoast Hospitality. "While many travel vendors
are turning their backs on travel agents and trying to displace
them, they still play an important role in the fulfillment process
for many leisure and corporate customers. Our investment in Next
Generation Seamless Connectivity should be viewed by our travel
agent partners as our commitment to their future success," said
Hughes. Hughes added, "We were the launch customer for the MICROS
Opera Central Reservations platform eighteen months ago, and since
then we've continually offered new booking enhancements to make it
easier for travel agents to sell our hotels. Agents have responded
in kind, and have commented on the increased ease and confidence in
booking our hotels electronically through the MICROS Opera Central
Reservations system." "We are very pleased to see customers like
WestCoast Hospitality use the tools we have developed to grow their
businesses and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace,"
said Tom Giannopoulos, Chairman and CEO for MICROS Systems. "We
developed the new Opera platform that was launched by WestCoast, to
provide hotel companies with access to the tools and functionality
once limited to only the largest hotel brands," Giannopoulos added.
WestCoast Hospitality is the first independent hotel company of its
size to participate in the GDS Next Generation Seamless programs.
"To be successful in hotel automation, MICROS must keep its
customers on the leading edge of technology, with the broadest
connectivity to the GDS and ADS Channels," Giannopoulos said. About
WestCoast Hospitality WestCoast Hospitality Corporation is a
hospitality and leisure company primarily engaged in the ownership,
management, development and franchising of mid-scale, full service
hotels under its WestCoast(R) and Red Lion(R) brands. In addition,
through its entertainment division, which includes its
TicketsWest.com, Inc. subsidiary, it engages in event ticket
distribution and promotes and presents a variety of entertainment
productions. G&B Real Estate Services, its real estate
division, engages in traditional real estate-related services,
including developing, managing and acting as a broker for sales and
leases of commercial and multi-unit residential properties. This
press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of federal securities law, including statements concerning
plans, objectives, goals, strategies, projections of future events
or performance and underlying assumptions (many of which are based,
in turn upon further assumptions). The forward-looking statements
in this press release are inherently subject to a variety of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed. Such risks and uncertainties
include, among others, matters discussed in the Company's annual
report on Form 10-K for the 2003 fiscal year and in other documents
filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About MICROS Systems MICROS Systems, Inc. provides enterprise
applications for the hospitality and retail industries worldwide.
Over 150,000 MICROS systems are currently installed in table and
quick service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure and
entertainment, and retail operations in more than 130 countries,
and on all seven continents. In addition, MICROS provides property
management systems, central reservation and customer information
solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 15,000
hotels worldwide, as well as point- of-sale and loss prevention
products through its subsidiary Datavantage for more than 50,000
specialty retail stores worldwide. MICROS stock is traded through
NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS. For more information on MICROS and
its advanced information technology solutions for the hospitality
industry, please contact Louise Casamento, Director of Marketing at
(443) 285-8144 or (800) 638-0985. You can also visit the MICROS
website at http://www.micros.com/ or send an email to . DATASOURCE:
MICROS Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Julie Langenheim, Executive Services
and Investor Relations Manager of WestCoast Hospitality
Corporation, +1-509-777-6322, , or Louise Casamento, Director of
Marketing of MICROS Systems, Inc., +1-443-285-8144, or
+1-800-638-0985 Web site: http://www.micros.com/
http://www.westcoasthotels.com/
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