PurchasePro.comsm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PPRO), a leading provider of business-to-business e-commerce services and Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT), recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company, today announced their intent to establish a proprietary hospitality procurement network for Hilton’s family of branded hotels and to establish the industry’s largest purchasing exchange. The network is expected to launch in early summer 2000 and be fully deployed by year end 2000 and will be available to Hilton’s hotel system, which features such well-known and highly regarded brands as Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Harrison Conference Centers, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Red Lion Hotels & Inns and Conrad International.
PurchasePro.comsm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PPRO), a leading provider of business-to-business e-commerce services and Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT), recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company, today announced their intent to establish a proprietary hospitality procurement network for Hilton’s family of branded hotels and to establish the industry’s largest purchasing exchange. The network is expected to launch in early summer 2000 and be fully deployed by year end 2000 and will be available to Hilton’s hotel system, which features such well-known and highly regarded brands as Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Harrison Conference Centers, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Red Lion Hotels & Inns and Conrad International.
PurchasePro.comsm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PPRO), a leading provider of business-to-business e-commerce services and Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT), recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company, today announced their intent to establish a proprietary hospitality procurement network for Hilton’s family of branded hotels and to establish the industry’s largest purchasing exchange. The network is expected to launch in early summer 2000 and be fully deployed by year end 2000 and will be available to Hilton’s hotel system, which features such well-known and highly regarded brands as Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Harrison Conference Centers, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Red Lion Hotels & Inns and Conrad International.
PurchasePro.comsm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PPRO), a leading provider of business-to-business e-commerce services and Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT), recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company, today announced their intent to establish a proprietary hospitality procurement network for Hilton’s family of branded hotels and to establish the industry’s largest purchasing exchange. The network is expected to launch in early summer 2000 and be fully deployed by year end 2000 and will be available to Hilton’s hotel system, which features such well-known and highly regarded brands as Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Harrison Conference Centers, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Red Lion Hotels & Inns and Conrad International.
PurchasePro.com’s proven online browser-based, e-commerce solution has been in use for more than three years at major hotel chains nationwide, including such industry leaders as Best Western, Meristar Hotels, Sunstone Hotels, Richfield Hospitality, Mirage Resorts, Mandalay Resort Group and one of the largest hotels in the world - the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
State-of-the-art functionality including fully automated sourcing tools for identifying new suppliers, including minority and women-owned businesses.
Access to more than 21,000 businesses offering the lowest possible pricing from suppliers.
Time-to-market advantage enabling member hospitality companies to get up and running in days, instead of months.
Patented bidding technology allowing one-to-many and many-to-one bidding, creating increased corporate efficiencies.
Web-based solution with XML support allowing connectivity to any and all enterprise resource planning (ERP) and other existing IT systems.

“Having utilized a web-enabled system for years, Hilton has long appreciated and acted upon the benefits of using technology to achieve purchasing efficiencies. This project represents the next logical step in our evolution, and is consistent with our intent to continue as the industry leader in e-commerce,” said Dieter Huckestein, president - hotel division of Hilton Hotels Corporation. “Our initiative with PurchasePro.com is designed to further improve our company’s efficiencies and profitability, which translates into value for our shareholders, franchisees and owners, and will bring us an even greater competitive advantage.”

“While newcomers are simply planning a marketplace solution for the hospitality industry, PurchasePro.com has been providing a robust and usable bid and purchase network since its inception more than three years ago,” said Christopher Carton, president and chief operating officer of PurchasePro.com, Inc. “With thousands of hotels on our network, we have set the industry standard for hospitality procurement. Creating the hospitality exchange with an industry leader like Hilton is a natural evolution for PurchasePro, bringing our vertical expertise to bear in making e-procurement even more streamlined for hospitality businesses.”

Gartner Group, a leading Internet research firm, has projected that the number of private e-marketplaces could soon number more than 7,500. PurchasePro.com is quickly aligning itself to meet this private marketplace demand with a complete suite of products that are rapidly deployed and highly scalable, meeting the procurement needs of many types of businesses and industries.

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