Coast Casinos became the first
hotel chain to install Expedia’s direct connect interface into its
Hotel Information Systems epitome for iSeries property management system
(PMS). The technology streamlines the reservations process for more than
30,000 bookings made annually on Expedia across all four Coast Casinos
properties in Las Vegas. Hotel Information Systems was the first third-party PMS vendor to develop
and roll-out Expedia’s direct connect interface, which reduces booking
transaction costs by providing a more efficient method to process
reservations. Since August, all four Coast Casinos properties—The
Orleans, the Gold Coast, the Suncoast, and the Barbary Coast—have
benefited from automated notification for reservations booked through
Expedia.com(R). In the coming months, Coast Casinos will also add a
notification system for Hotels.com(TM) bookings.

“The benefits of direct connect have been tremendous—not only have we
seen immediate financial returns, but Expedia provides the technology at
no cost and delivered a quick and seamless integration with our existing
property management system,” said Kim Kane, corporate reservation manager
at Coast Casinos. “The time savings alone are equivalent to one full-time
employee, so we have been able to reallocate the much needed resources
across the company. As our relationship with Expedia expands, we’re seeing
increased value and reduced costs every step along the way.”

In January, Hotel Information Systems announced it would link all three of
its epitome PMS systems to Expedia’s direct connect technology, which
streamlines the reservations process and automates the management of
available rates and inventory. Hotels and resorts using epitome for
Windows, Unix, or iSeries were offered access to Expedia’s direct connect
technology through this existing arrangement.

“Our property management system coupled with Expedia’s direct connect
technology ensures prompt delivery of reservations for hotel operators
through greater automation,” said Alan Young, chief marketing officer for
Hotel Information Systems. “We are pleased that, with Expedia, we can
provide our hotel customers with additional resources and tools to
dramatically increase efficiency while also enabling greater flexibility.”

“Our overarching goal with our direct connectivity is to deepen the value
we provide to hotel partners by reducing their distribution costs and
maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction, which we’ve achieved in
this case by working closely with Coast Casinos and Hotel Information
Systems,” said Michael Reichartz, vice president of lodging of Expedia and
Hotels.com. “Coast Casinos and other chains and independent properties are
reaping the benefits of our direct connect technology to operate in a more
cost-effective environment.”

Earlier this year Expedia began the first phase of deploying direct
connect technology with participating hotels, which automated the delivery
of bookings, thereby reducing labor costs. The second phase of the
deployment, now underway, will give hotel partners the ability to
automatically push real-time availability, rates, and inventory
information to Expedia, thus enabling two-way communications between the
different systems. This phase will also save hotels significant time and
money by eliminating the need for loading rates manually into an extranet
system. Expedia’s direct connect technology was designed from the ground
up to serve the unique needs of the hotel industry.
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