Amadeus signs over 70 leading hotel brands to Best Available Rate programme

Madrid, 10 October, 2006 – Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced that 76 hotel brands have signed up to its Best Available Rate programme since it was launched in February 2006. Participating hotels guarantee to supply Amadeus with rates that are the same or lower than those available through other distribution systems, branded websites or the hotel’s own call centre.

A sample of seven of the largest hotel chains to participate, representing over 6,000 properties, all saw their bookings through Amadeus increase following participation in the programme. In the majority of cases, bookings grew by between 10% and 30%.

"Amadeus' Best Available Rate programme fits well with our global policy to offer rate parity across all distribution channels," says Claudia Hammerstein, VP Operations, Worldhotels, "It enables us to demonstrate the control we have over our rates and assures Amadeus travel agents that they always sell the best deal to their customers when choosing a Worldhotels property."

"There’s a lot of confusion out there over who has the best rate. Agents don't want to spend time searching for the best rate, they want to spend that time understanding our customers needs and serving those needs," says Maria Udy, Vice President, Global Marketing, for RADIUS, "Amadeus' Best Available Rate programme allows us to do that."

The following world-leading hotel brands have signed up to the programme:

Abba Hoteles
AC Hotels
Accor
Amerihost Inn
Atel Hotels
Barcelo Hotels & Resorts
Baymont Inn & Suites
Caesar Park Hotels
Chateaux and Hotels de France
Columbus
Copthorne
Country Inn
Days Inn
Derag Hotels
Dorchester Group Hotels
Exclusive Hotels
Fiesta Americana
Golden Tulip Hotels
Golden Tulip Resorts
Grand Hyatt
Graves Hotels & Resorts
Great Hotels
Guoman Hotels
Hawthorn Suites
Hilton International
Hotusa
Howard Johnson
Hyatt Regency
Hyatt Resorts
IBIS
Kempinski Hotels
Keytel
Kingsgate Hotels
Knights Inn
Leading Hotels
Mandarin Oriental Hotels
Maritim Hotels
Mercure
Millennium & Copthorne
Movenpick
NH Hotels
Novotel
Oberoi
Omni Hotels
Otedis
Pacific International
Park Hyatt
Park Inn
Park Plaza
Performance Connections
Protea
Quality Reservations
Radisson
Raffles Hotels and Resorts
Ramada
Red Lion Hotels
Regent Hotels
Romantik Hotels
Scandic Hotels
Sercotel Hoteles
Small Luxury Hotels
Sofitel
Stamford Hotels & Resorts
Star Hotels
Steigenberger Hotel Group
Super 8
Supranational
Swiss Hotels and Resorts
Thistle Hotels
Top International Hotels
Travellodge
Tulip Inns
Westcoast Hotels
Wingate Inn
Worldhotels
Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

About Amadeus
Amadeus distributes 68,000 hotels to 75,000 online and offline travel agency locations in 217 countries around the world. During 2005, Amadeus completed the development of Direct Connection technology and the implementation of nearly 4000 additional properties, many of them through our Otedis connectivity platform.

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 travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consultancy.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 76 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company is owned by WAM Acquisition, whose shareholders are BC Partners, Cinven, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa. Amadeus employs nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus’ revenue for the six months year ended 30 June was EUR1,381.6m.

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