Richard W. Gray, chairman and co-CEO of TravelCLICK, today announced a new partnership through which Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, will be extending the use of TravelCLICKå‘s electronic marketing products and competitive intelligence tools across all of its owned hotel properties.

This represents TravelCLICK`s
first partnership with a hotel ownership group. As a result of the proliferation of options and choices within the past year for electronically distributing hotel rooms, ownership groups have of late become more actively involved in managing net revenue from electronic channels.

Blackstone
owns The Savoy Group, five luxury hotels located in the UK; Homestead Studio Suites, 112 extended stay hotels located throughout the US; the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco; the Hyatt Maui Resort in Hawaii; the Hyatt Regency in Bethesda, MD; and The Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.  Blackstone also has part ownership of Libertel Hotels and several Sofitel properties in Europe.

The Savoy Group, already a TravelCLICK client, was recognized as an “e-Marketer of the Year” finalist at the HSMAI Annual Conference in January 2002.  Their hotels more than doubled GDS bookings in the past two years, thereby significantly increasing their revenues from electronic channels and their operating profits.

“Blackstone has realized that proactively managing business from the electronic marketplace significantly enhances the bottom line and the value of its hotel assets.  TravelCLICK’s unique electronic marketing tools, combined with the expertise of its field people, invariably translate into improved performance in the rapidly growing electronic channels,” said Gray.

Within this partnership, each Blackstone-owned property will be able to utilize TravelCLICK for electronic distribution advice, personalized business reviews, e-marketing strategies and tactics, and preferred pricing on TravelCLICK’s competitive intelligence and media products.

“Blackstone is committed to extending the example set by The Savoy Group to all of our owned hotel properties,” said John Ceriale, Blackstone’s Hotel Advisor.  “We work closely with our hotel managers to ensure the best net revenue performance of our properties, and TravelCLICK’s products and people are essential in that regard.  The results have been impressive.”

“We are delighted to provide our electronic marketing tools and on-site consultative support to such a leading ownership group as Blackstone,” said Ray Cohen co-CEO of TravelCLICK.  “Industry leaders are leaders because they embrace and adopt proven best practices early on.  That is certainly the case here with Blackstone.”

Related stories on ITN:

(05/09/2002) TravelCLICK Issues Top 10 European Hotel Markets for 2Q

(21/08/2002) TravelCLICK Issues 2Q Hotel Bookings eMonitor Report

(13/08/2002) TravelCLICK Advises Hotels to Face Challenging Budget Period Head-On

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