Amadeus to Provide North American Hoteliers with Full Suite of Technnology Solutions Enabling New Generation Success
Revenue management technology will be the first focus for Amadeus in helping hoteliers increase revenue and streamline operations
MIAMI 13 May 2006 - Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced the availability of a full suite of technology solutions for the North American hospitality industry.
“We are extremely excited to begin the roll out of our best-in-class and operational technology solutions to North American hoteliers,” said Andy Ahluwalia, General Manager, Hotel Business Group for Amadeus North America. "Traditionally many hoteliers in North America have viewed technology as a necessary evil, but today's forward thinking hoteliers are seeing technology as an enabler of new generation success."
Ahluwalia said Amadeus continues to develop new distribution and technology solutions with one goal in mind – to help travel and tourism companies maximize their business growth goals while delivering the highest level of service to their customers.
Revenue management is Amadeus Hotel Business Group's first focus. Ahluwalia said bringing advanced revenue management to North American hoteliers will be his group's first focus for the hospitality sector.
"Adoption of advanced revenue management systems is critical for new generation success," said Ahluwalia. "The Amadeus Hotel Centralized Revenue Management solution will help hoteliers optimize their revenues while supporting their key business goals of customer retention, sales and marketing efficiencies, and sophisticated revenue management."
Amadeus Hotel Centralized Revenue Management is a seamlessly integrated system that hoteliers can leverage to gain real-time visibility into the overall financial performance of their hotels with the ultimate goal of achieving the right price for the right customer at the right time. Other products in the suite include a property management system module and a multi-channel distribution solution to serve the key performance and operational needs of the hotel industry.
“We have designed our hotel solutions to be easily integrated with existing hotel IT systems through a rapid implementation timeline so hoteliers can get the system working to pay for itself by uncovering new revenue-building opportunities,” said Ahluwalia.
Hoteliers will be able to take a look at this comprehensive revenue management system and other Amadeus hotel and hospitality technologies at the HITEC Conference, June 22-26, in Minneapolis.
Positioned for customer and company success
In 2005, Ahluwalia said Amadeus made significant changes to its hotel and hospitality business for the benefit of its customers as well as the company.
“Amadeus realized that now is the time to exploit the huge opportunity in providing distribution and technology services to the leisure travel industry," said Ahluwalia. "As a distribution and technology leader, we are in the best position to help our hotel and hospitality customers attain and maintain success."
In February 2005, Amadeus successfully completed its acquisition of Optims, the leading European supplier of IT services to the hospitality industry. Ahluwalia said the acquisition has already delivered benefits to Amadeus customers including the improvement of bookable content and the enhancement and expansion of technology solutions offered to the hospitality industry.
In the area of distribution, today Amadeus distributes 63,000 hotels to 75,000 online and offline travel agency locations in 217 countries around the world. Hotel bookings through Amadeus doubled from 2001 to 2005, precisely the most difficult period for the travel industry. Since the acquisition, Amadeus has also added over 4,000 additional hotel properties to its system.
"This performance is a testament to Amadeus’ dedication and focus on securing additional revenues, occupancy and therefore revenue to our partner hotels," said Ahluwalia.
In the area of information technology, Amadeus offers a complete suite of products and services for the distribution and management of hotel rooms, covering all processes from booking to check-out. This wide range of IT solutions includes property management systems, hotel accounting solutions, point of sales and revenue management systems both for individual properties and central offices.
With 6,500 hotel IT customers in more than 70 countries, Amadeus is a leader in information technology solutions dedicated to the optimization of management methods and revenue in hospitality, catering and tourism.
Amadeus is also pioneering the development of a new generation Hotel Distribution Platform. Slated for an early 2007 debut, this integrated platform will provide property reservations, central reservations, channel management, revenue management and global distribution through off- and online channels.
In June 2005, Amadeus reorganized to take advantage of opportunities in hospitality and leisure. Amadeus’ two hospitality business lines – distribution and technology services – were brought together into a single unit under the leadership of Antoine Medawar, who became Managing Director for Hospitality worldwide with Ahluwalia in charge of North America.
Boosting the growth of Amadeus’ hospitality distribution and IT businesses, today the Amadeus Hospitality Business Group now represents 320 staff in Europe, Asia and the US.
"Amadeus is poised and well on its way to bringing next generation distribution and technology solutions to hoteliers and hospitality companies in North America as well as worldwide," said Ahluwalia.
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast-changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travelers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing center) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company has nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus’ revenue for the year ended 31 December was €2,418.7m. More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com
Source : www.hospitalitynet.org
