Boscolo Hotels Selects Several Reservations-Related Services from Pegasus Solutions
DALLAS and PADOVA, Italy — Pegasus Solutions Inc.
Boscolo signed a multi-year agreement to use Pegasus' RezView® central reservations system, its electronic distribution service for private-label seamless connectivity to global distribution systems and the Internet, and Utell voice services through Pegasus' call centers around the world. Boscolo transferred to Pegasus' services from its previous vendor in a recent cutover. Six of the company's hotels had been represented previously by the Utell voice service; now, all 18 are represented through the service. Additionally, Pegasus completed the integration with Boscolo's Micros Opera property management system, meeting Boscolo's tight deadline.
"With Pegasus, we get unrivalled distribution and a CRS that really works for us," said Giorgio Boscolo, president of Boscolo Hotels. "Additionally, we are using Pegasus call centers around the world to assist our guests, which increases our brand's global presence. In having our reservations processes handled end to end by one company, Pegasus, we now can serve travel agents better and improve our service to them and to travelers."
John F. Davis III, chairman, president and CEO of Pegasus, said: "Another hotel chain has switched to Pegasus for multiple services, which validates our position as a one-stop shop. We're very pleased to welcome the Boscolo Group and its hotels around Europe."
As part of Boscolo's switch to Pegasus services, Boscolo implemented a new rate strategy and now is able to offer a flexible set of rates covering all important market sectors through all distribution channels, improving its responsiveness to market conditions. Additionally, Boscolo has taken advantage of RezView's capabilities to ensure optimum display of its properties and room types to the GDSs and Internet. Pegasus and Boscolo teams designed these display schemas in advance so that they could be implemented smoothly at the point of cutover.
In the first quarter of 2004, Boscolo and Pegasus will continue to strengthen their relationship. At Boscolo's central reservations office in Padova, Pegasus will implement its Windows Agent Interface (WinAI) software, for use by reservations agents to collect information from callers. WinAI offers an easier, intuitive interface that allows agents to enter information directly into the CRS. Additionally, Pegasus and Boscolo will complete the implementation of a full "two-way" interface between the RezView CRS and Boscolo's PMS. The two-way connection will enable reservations made locally at individual properties to appear in the RezView CRS. Boscolo also has chosen to implement a Pegasus-managed, wide area network to connect its Padova headquarters more efficiently to the Pegasus data center in Scottsdale.
Pegasus' RezView service is the industry's leading CRS — used by thousands of hotels and recently recognized with a World Travel Award as the World's Leading Hotel Reservation Service. Pegasus' electronic distribution service connects more than 50,000 hotels to the Internet and the GDSs, such as Sabre and Galileo, used by travel agents. Pegasus voice services enable agents at Pegasus' nine call centers around the world to provide professional call answering and service for hoteliers.
About Boscolo - The Boscolo Group has been active in the tourism industry for more than 20 years, as hotel manager, tour operator and provider of hotel services. Established in 1978, over the years the Boscolo Group has grown to become a European-wide operator, without losing its Italian identity. Today the Group, structured in three divisions, controls various companies: Boscolo Hotels in the Hotels division; Boscolo Tours, Rallo Worldwide, Boscolo Incentive and Liberty in the Tours division; Boscolo Group Service, Hotels Engineering and Boscolo Etoile in the Services division. With 170 million euros of turnover in 2001, the Boscolo Group is led and fully controlled by the four Boscolo brothers: Angelo, Giorgio, Rossano and Romano.
About Pegasus - Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, Inc. PEGS is a leading global provider of hotel reservations-related services and technology. Founded in 1989, Pegasus' customers include a majority of the world's travel agencies and more than 50,000 hotel properties around the globe. Pegasus' services include central reservation systems, electronic distribution services, commission processing and payment services, property management systems, and marketing representation services. The company's representation services, including Utell by Pegasus and Unirez by Pegasus, are used by nearly 7,000 member hotels in 140 countries, making Pegasus the hotel industry's largest third-party marketing and reservations provider. Pegasus has 17 offices in 12 countries, including regional hubs in London, Scottsdale and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.pegs.com.
Some statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding future events, financial performance and financial projections, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions or strategies regarding the future. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from current expectations. Factors that could cause or contribute to such difference include, but are not limited to, terrorist acts or war, global health epidemics, variation in demand for and acceptance of the company's products and services and timing of sales, general economic conditions including a slowdown in technology spending by the company's current and prospective customers, failure to maintain successful relationships with and to establish new relationships with customers, the success of the company's international operations, the level of product and price competition from existing and new competitors, changes in the company's level of operating expenses and its ability to control costs, delays in developing, marketing and deploying new products and services, as well as other risks identified in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including those appearing under the caption Risk Factors in the company's 2002 Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Michael Brophy
(214) 234 4400
