Comprehensive Website for Hotel Searching Offers
Consumers Greater Flexibility, Accuracy and Assurance in
their Booking Decisions
Provides Powerful, Cost-effective Booking Channel to
Industry Participants.
DALLAS, January 11, 2012 - Room Key, a new venture owned by
six of the world's leading hotel companies, today announced
that it has launched Roomkey.com, an innovative new online
hotel search engine that will provide the simplicity,
transparency and breadth of choice consumers expect from a
search engine, while delivering the flexibility, accuracy
and assurance consumers expect from the hospitality
industry.
Wyndham Hotel Group, part of the Wyndham Worldwide
Corporation (NYSE: WYN), or their respective affiliates,
and led by a highly regarded management team, Roomkey.com
provides travelers a search and book experience tailored
for ease of hotel shopping through an uncluttered and
trustworthy site. It will give consumers confidence that
they have made the right choice by providing accurate hotel
information straight from the source. From searching
through to booking directly with the hotel, Roomkey.com
enables consumers to search, book and relax.
This unique offering will quickly evolve to offer
independent reviews, and the ability to compare, plan
and share with friends and family. Room Key will initially
focus on serving U.S. travelers, followed
shortly after launch by the expansion of the site to
English-speaking regions outside the U.S.
John F. Davis III, a highly experienced hospitality
industry visionary with a history of entrepreneurial
successes, is Chief Executive Officer of Room Key. He leads
a veteran executive team with deeply relevant and
complementary experience and accomplishments, including
Chief Marketing Officer Stephany Verstraete and Chief
Technology Officer J. Kurt Zimmer.
The Company acquired its technology platform from
hotelicopter in an asset deal that closed last year. This
innovative and flexible hotel search and direct connect
platform allows Room Key to evolve and enrich the user
experience quickly. Additionally, hotelicopter's affiliate
platform will provide destination marketing organizations
with a hotel marketing platform that helps drive more
direct bookings to their local hotels, now under the Room
Key Solutions brand.
Mr. Davis said, "Finding the right hotel is complex and,
unlike booking a flight or reserving a car, it is a
personal decision process - one which no one understands
better than hoteliers. We believe
Roomkey.com will provide consumers with an innovative
resource that will give them unprecedented confidence in
their booking decisions by fulfilling their hotel search
needs with comprehensive and trusted content, and over
time, through additional features such as the ability to
connect and share their plans with family and friends - all
provided through a simple and flexible site
experience."
Robert McDowell, Senior Vice President, Global
Distribution, Choice Hotels International, said, "We at
Choice are thrilled to be a part of Room Key alongside
these five other global hotel companies. In the face of a
staggering number of online booking options, our goal is to
make the experience of finding the right hotel as personal
and enjoyable as the experience of staying in one."
Chuck Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Global Online
Services, Hilton Worldwide, said, "Hilton
Worldwide is extremely pleased to join this unique venture
that will provide customers with a wide
range of travel options and the confidence that they will
receive exceptional rates by booking directly with
suppliers through Room Key."
John Wallis, Global Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy,
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, said, "With an experienced
management team in place and a compelling search tool
unique to the market today, Room Key is well positioned for
success and will quickly become a large scale marketplace
offering highly qualified hotel booking leads to our owners
and franchisees. We welcome and encourage additional
hospitality companies to become commercial partners with
Room Key."
Steve Sickel, Senior Vice President, Distribution and Relationship Marketing, InterContinental Hotels Group, said, "IHG is always seeking new ways to innovate in order to consistently deliver a world class experience for guests - from the moment they choose to book one of IHG's seven hotel brands, through to the quality of their stay and beyond. Like so many of IHG's online innovations, Roomkey.com is another industry first, offering guests breadth of choice alongside all the benefits from booking directly through our own websites."
Shafiq Khan, Senior Vice President of eCommerce, Marriott International, said, "Room Key'snew and unique offering will embody the best of what hotel company websites offer consumers, giving them confidence in their booking decisions - a personalized and welcoming experience that offers flexibility, accuracy, and benefits of booking with the hotel companies' proprietary sites. In addition, the immediate scale of this venture will deliver meaningful value to our owners and franchisees by showcasing their properties. This is an exciting new venture, and Marriott International looks forward to actively supporting Room Key's growth."
Flo Lugli, EVP Marketing, Wyndham Hotel Group, commented, "This offering will be of great value for our owners and for consumers as well. The Room Key website will enable our owners and franchisees to expand the reach of our own, cost-effective direct booking channels, and will also provide consumers with all of the information they'll need to have confidence in their booking decisions. We believe consumers will value the relevant pricing information, independent reviews, and in-depth property information the site will offer, and we are proud to be part of an effort that brings such clear benefits to the industry and consumers."
Management Biographies
John F. Davis III, Chief Executive Officer
Most recently CEO of BirchStreet, John is a well-respected
veteran entrepreneur in the online commerce and hospitality
sectors with many successful ventures to his credit.
In 1989, he launched Pegasus, the first hotel distribution
switch technology, which streamlined GDS and Internet
connectivity for hotels worldwide. In 1992, he
launched the industry's first hotel commission
clearinghouse for payments to travel agents. In 1996,
he led the launch of the Web's first hotel online booking
service. In 1982, he co-founded the world's first
toll-free floral ordering company, 1-800 Flowers.
Stephany Verstraete, Chief Marketing Officer
A seasoned marketing executive with over 15 years of broad
experience working for respected industry leaders in the
consumer goods and online travel industries, Stephany has
built young companies and brands into global market
leaders. She spent 6 years at Expedia, Inc., where
she held several marketing leadership roles overseeing all
online demand generation and worldwide customer retention
efforts for Expedia.com. Stephany began her career in
marketing and sales roles at Kraft Foods North America and
Frito Lay.
J. Kurt Zimmer, Chief Technology Officer
Kurt is a deeply experienced senior information technology
executive with a track record of delivering innovative,
industry-leading solutions. Kurt comes to Room Key
from TIAA-CREF, where he was a Vice President and Head of
Enterprise Architecture, IT Strategy and Application
Development responsible for leading a broad transformation
of front, middle and back office systems. Prior to
that, he held several technology leadership positions at
well-known companies in the financial and consulting
industries. He began his career at Dupont in 1981,
serving in several IT roles there, including Chief
Technology Architect.
About Room Key
Room Key is a new venture that has developed an innovative
online hotel search engine, Roomkey.com,which provides the
simplicity, transparency and breadth of choice consumers
expect from a search engine, while delivering the
flexibility, accuracy and assurance consumers expect from
the hospitality industry. Room Keywasfounded by six
of the world's leading hotel companies - Choice Hotels
International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels Corporation,
InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International and
Wyndham Hotel Group- and is led by a highly regarded
management team.
Contacts:
Tom Marder and Stephanie Hampton
(301) 380-2553/(301) 380-1217
thomas.marder@marriot.com
or stephanie.hampton@marriott.com
Additional Media contacts:
Denise DesChenes / Briana Kelly / Robyn Nentwig
Sard Verbinnen & Co
212-687-8080
Roomkey-sardverb@sardverb.com
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