Siebel Systems, Inc., a leading provider of business applications software, today announced that Luxe Worldwide Hotels, a premier independent hotel representation company, has selected Siebel CRM OnDemand to enhance the ability of its 25-member sales force to manage relationships with member hotels, expand the number of hotels in its portfolio, and enhance sales of hotel services to travel agencies and corporations. “As a rapidly growing firm with international operations, we need a solution that can be deployed worldwide quickly and easily, without a huge investment in hardware, software, and IT support,” said Eve LeGrand, Vice President of Operations. “Siebel CRM OnDemand gives us leading-edge sales, marketing, analytics, and reporting capabilities that enable us to provide better service to our member hotels and ensure the highest-quality representation for each of them. Siebel Systems is unique in its ability to support the local language requirements of our salespeople—and ultimately, our members—around the world.”

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Luxe Worldwide provides global sales, reservations, marketing, and e-business services to independent hotels in interesting and vibrant locales. The company’s sales efforts involve two distinct groups: member hotels and the travel agencies, corporations, and other consumers who are potential customers of these hotels. Senior management selected Siebel CRM OnDemand after a six-month evaluation of available hosted solutions. Primary factors in the decision included ease of use, extensive analytics and reporting, IBM hosting services, international support, and flexibility in customizing the software for specific needs.

The Siebel hosted solution replaces manual sales and marketing processes such as spreadsheets and contact management software. With Siebel CRM OnDemand, Luxe now has a central repository for maintaining customer and hotel information and managing contacts and opportunities. As a result, sales representatives who call on travel agencies and corporations will have greater access to information on member hotels. Additionally, they will be able to leverage automated tools that enhance sales effectiveness, and help drive sales revenues, for both Luxe Worldwide and its individual portfolio hotels. The IBM-hosted Siebel solution will also benefit business development managers who work with prospective members to better manage those opportunities and increase the number of member hotels in the Luxe Worldwide portfolio.

“Siebel Systems supports our major goal for 2005, which is to increase our success in sales and marketing,” said Efrem Harkham, President and CEO. “Siebel CRM OnDemand will be an important tool for bringing new hotels into our brand and for promoting the offerings of member hotels in a highly effective way that drives revenues and business success for all of us.”
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