Active Hotels

has been appointed as the preferred provider for France`s second largest hotel group, Groupe Envergure. Groupe Envergure has nearly 900 establishments in nine European countries under several major brands including Bleu Marine, Kyriad, Campanile and Premi̬re Classe.

Groupe Envergure has grown rapidly to become the second largest European group in the hotel and catering trade. With plans to extend and develop its network of hotels across Europe in 2003 in both the budget and luxury sectors, Groupe Envergure`s strategic alliance with Active Hotels will strengthen the group`s online visibility. Already the No.1 online reservation provider in the UK, Active Hotels is now a leading player in the French online reservations market with over 1,200 hotels in France currently using its online distribution system to access an international audience of over one million Internet users each month. 

Andy Phillipps, CEO of Active Hotels, comments, “Our partnership with the Groupe Envergure secures our position as a leading provider of online reservations to the European hotel market. Active Hotels` rapid expansion into Europe has been enabled by the development of our robust technical platform which can quickly incorporate thousands of hotels. We now have excellent coverage in the French hotel market, which, at €30 billion, remains the number one accommodation market in Europe. Hotel recruitment across the rest of the continent has been equally impressive, with over a thousand hotels across eight countries now working in partnership with us.

Douglas Whittaker, International Sales Manager, Groupe Envergure, says, “We are delighted to be working with one of the leading providers of online distribution solutions in Europe. The integration platform created by Active Hotels allows us to sell Groupe Envergure inventory online without the need for our hotel managers to manually update the system, a huge advantage in terms of administration and management cost savings. Active Hotels has had a huge impact on the online distribution market since its inception in 1999 and we are pleased to align our online growth strategy with their increasing success in Europe.” 

Active Hotel`s software will be integrated directly with Groupe Envergure`s central reservation system. It will automatically provide Active Hotels with up to the minute information on availability and rates across the Groupe Envergure properties, thereby enabling online bookers to secure accommodation across Europe through real-time online reservations. 

Related stories on ITN:

(26/03/2003) Active Hotels Leads Online Reservations Market

(11/03/2003) Active Hotels Launches Speech-Activated Booking Service

(24/01/2003) Active Hotels Signs New Deal With Citotel

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