Tim Durant, executive vice president for Passkey International
, announced recently that Passkey has responded to the overwhelming demand from international convention and visitors bureaus, as well as meeting planners, to be included in the Passkey-enabled network.
According to Durant, “Passkey`s move into the worldwide marketplace is a natural progression for us and fits nicely with our other expansion plans within the global community. We have been hearing for some time from international meeting planners the desire to access our timesaving functionality and technology. We waited until now to make absolutely certain that we could seamlessly service and expand our capabilities to serve this important market”.

The first international Passkey office has opened in Dublin, Ireland. It will serve as a springboard to outreach to other parts of the continent. In anticipation of this growth, Passkey has initiated discussions with a number of technology companies in the European marketplace to form strategic alliances that will provide an even firmer foothold internationally. Passkey`s corporate website is now available in four languages - English, French, German and Spanish.

The Lyon CVB has signed on as Passkey`s first international customer. Bruce Redor, chief executive officer of the Lyon CVB, recently stated, “we selected Passkey because of their ability to connect all parties, enabling the entire city of Lyon - including the Professional Congress Organizers (PCOs) and hotels - to leverage one common system.

With Passkey, Lyon acquires valuable competitive advantage and will be able to deliver superior destination marketing while better serving the needs of our clientele”. Meanwhile, Omni Hotels is the first hotel corporation to implement Passkey`s Enterprise Solution. This innovative opportunity creates a significant competitive advantage for Omni by providing clients with a brand-consistent portfolio of services that drive incremental group business through a reliable, seamless group inventory management process that meeting planners view as best-in-class.

All 40 Omni owned, managed, and franchised properties will offer meeting planners and delegates access to Passkey, the most streamlined group booking solution available in the marketplace. Every meeting at an Omni Hotel, regardless of size, will be automated with the Passkey group reservation processing system. As a result, attendees will enjoy a simplified online or call-in booking experience and meeting planners will have tremendous visibility into how their meetings progress and actualize. Additionally, Omni will also have immediate access to a variety of reports for any meeting that has taken place at an Omni Hotel, further saving time and money.

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Related stories on ITN:

(18/07/2002) New Appointment for Passkey

(25/03/2002) Passkey`s Management Technology in High Demand

(30/01/2002) Passkey Appoints Alliances VP.

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