MICROS Systems, Inc. , a leading provider of information technology
solutions for the hospitality industry, is playing a key role in the early
success of an ambitious initiative launched by WestCoast Hospitality
Corporation on August 1, 2003. Using the MICROS OPERA Enterprise Solution
to centralize reservations data for all of its properties with all major
hotel booking websites, WestCoast Hospitality’s properties have already
enjoyed incremental gains of more than 19%.
As part of its Alternative Distribution Channel (ADS) Management program,
WestCoast Hospitality has signed corporate agreements with the top nine
leading hotel booking websites, thereby eliminating the need to have each
property negotiate its own contract. The top nine booking websites
collectively represent over 80% of all hotel rooms booked online. In
addition to beneficial terms, WestCoast’s ADS Management program was able
to negotiate features for all its properties such as priority placement on
search lists and real-time rate and inventory flexibility with the various
channels.

“While only a small portion of overall room revenue for the industry is
achieved through the online booking sites, these Alternate Distribution
Systems continue to grow,” said Barry Hughes, Vice President of Marketing
and Distribution for WestCoast Hospitality. “One can’t dismiss the value
the leading ADS channels have amassed through aggressive investments in
both technology and marketing.”

The technological key to the success of WestCoast’s new program was the
implementation of MICROS’s OPERA Reservation System (ORS). All rates,
availability and rules for the nine ADS web channels are entered into
OPERA at the property level and transferred either electronically or via
extranet to the appropriate channel. “With the amount of resources needed
for effective ADS participation, it would be impossible to efficiently
manage each of the nine ADS channels independently without the
centralization OPERA provides,” said Kirk Shearer, General Manager of one
of WestCoast’s premier properties, the Red Lion Hanalei in San Diego.
“With MICROS OPERA, managing nine channels is now no more difficult than
managing one.”

“As a hospitality industry specialist, MICROS is always developing and
refining the most sophisticated set of tools for multi-faceted operations
like WestCoast Hospitality,” stated Tina McClay, Vice President of the
MICROS Independent Hotel Sales Division. “OPERA is a fully integrated,
Windows(R)- based solution that is easily deployed, taught and maintained.
Its modular design allows customers to add new functionality in response
to changing needs at any point, and its scalability assures that a
customer’s technology investment is protected as its business grows. We’re
proud to be playing a central role in the success of WestCoast’s
forward-thinking ADS Channel Management program.”

WestCoast Hospitality Corporation is a NYSE-listed 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. Registered trademarks of WestCoast
Hospitality Corporation and its affiliates protect the use of “WestCoast,”
“Red Lion,” “TicketsWest” and “G&B” and various derivatives of those
usages.
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