Hilton Hotels in the Middle East Sign an Agreement with HMC to Relaunch the Premium Club

NEWPORT BEACH – June 24, 2009 – Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), the leading solution provider of loyalty membership programmes, has been selected by Hilton Hotels Corporation to relaunch a new Premium Club throughout the Middle East.

The new Premium Club programme will feature comprehensive membership benefits and will be available at Hilton Hotels throughout the Arabian Peninsula and in Egypt. Hilton offers a range of business, meeting and resort hotels with several signature restaurants and recreational facilities.

“As announced during Arabian Travel Market, one of our strategies during the downturn is to count on partner support. HMC was selected to be one of our key partners and through the new Premium Club we will ensure that Hilton maximises our share of the market,” revealed Essam Abouda, Vice President, Hilton Hotels, Arabian Peninsula & Indian Ocean.

Premium Club members receive special benefits including 20% off the best available room rate, 20% off all food and beverage and the “Experience Hilton” booklet, which includes cash certificates for complimentary dining at Hilton Hotels throughout the region.

“We are delighted that Hilton Hotels has selected HMC to develop and manage the Premium Club which will be strategic in driving new revenue to Hilton Hotels,” said Marwan Ramadan, Group Senior Vice President and President EMEA of Hospitality Marketing Concepts. “HMC will use our experience and state-of-the-art systems to give Hilton Hotels a dynamic and successful loyalty programme that is proven to generate results even during difficult times.”

Additionally, as part of HMC’s CLUBHOTEL® network, Hilton Hotels throughout the Middle East will benefit from the exposure to over one million members globally, and the potential to generate significant incremental revenue in both rooms and F&B. CLUBHOTEL members are local and international business owners, executives, professionals and travellers with genuine interest in booking rooms and patronizing establishments where they can receive the best value and quality.

ABOUT HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION

Hilton Hotels Corporation is the leading global hospitality company, with more than 3,300 hotels and 550,000 rooms in 77 countries and more than 130,000 team members worldwide. The company owns, manages or franchises some of the best known and highly regarded hotel brands including Hilton®, Conrad® Hotels & Resorts, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations™, Homewood Suites by Hilton®, the Waldorf Astoria™ and the Waldorf Astoria Collection™, as well as the recently launched Home2 Suites by Hilton™.  The company also manages the world-class guest reward program Hilton HHonors®.

The company currently operates 41 hotels in the Middle East & Africa – 16 hotels in Egypt, nine hotels in the UAE, five in Saudi Arabia and one each in Oman and Kuwait, plus another nine hotels in Africa and the Indian Ocean.

Hilton Hotels has a signed development pipeline of an additional 20 properties across Middle East & Africa in the U.A.E, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Equatorial Guinea, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria and Cape Verde.

The Hilton Family of Hotels adheres to founder Conrad Hilton’s philosophy that, “It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality.”  The company put a name to its unique brand of service that has made it the best known and most highly regarded hotel company:  be hospitable®.  The philosophy is shared by all brands in the Hilton Family of Hotels, and is the inspiration for its overarching message of kindness and generosity.

For more information about the company, please visit www.hiltonfamily.com.

The Hilton Reservations and Customer Care telephone numbers in the Middle East are as follows:
UAE        – 8000 20000 11            Qatar        – 800 97103
KSA        – 800 82000 10            Egypt        – 19009
Bahrain        – 8000 4058            Jordan        – 00 202 5805927
Kuwait        – 222 56 200            Lebanon        – 00 202 5805928
Oman        – 800 788788            Syria        – 00 202 5805926

For further information please contact:

Samantha Wood
Area Director of PR & Communications
Hilton Hotels, Middle East & Africa
Tel: +971 4 365 4886
Fax: +971 4 391 6792
Email: Samantha.Wood@hilton.com

or

Keren Gatty Saunt
Associate Account Director
d’pr
Tel: +971 4 313 3668
Fax: 00971 4 323 3669
Email: keren@d-pr.ae

About Hospitality Marketing Concepts

Headquartered in Newport Beach, Southern California, HMC is the leading provider of travel industry paid consumer membership and database management programmes. HMC provides services to more than 1,000 full-service hotels worldwide. A selection of clients includes InterContinental, Le Meridien, Starwood, Ritz, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Husa, Orbis, Raffles and Swissotel. HMC is a global company with offices in more than 50 countries including Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, UAE, Egypt, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. Established in 1997, CLUBHOTEL is a worldwide network of four and five-star hotels, providing common benefits and recognition to an international membership base.  Members enjoy preferential room rates along with dining benefits at more than 600 branded and independent properties around the world. More information about HMC may be found on the company’s website www.hmcloyalty.com or by contacting Peter Gorla, Vice President of Marketing at +1 (949) 260-9538 or via email at gorlap@clubhotel.com.

NEWPORT BEACH – June 10, 2009 – HMC (Hospitality Marketing Concepts), the leading solution provider of loyalty membership programmes, is proud to announce the addition of Red Carnation Hotels to its CLUBHOTEL network.

Red Carnation is a collection of 13 luxury boutique hotels located in some of the world’s top cities, including The Milestone Hotel in London, Hotel D’Angleterre in Geneva, The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town, and The Chesterfield in Palm Beach, Florida.  Four hotels in the Red Carnation portfolio were nominated to the prestigious Condé Nast Gold List 2009, a readers’ poll of the world’s best places to stay.

As part of the CLUBHOTEL network, Red Carnation Hotels will benefit from an immediate and new business source consisting of over a million members globally, with the potential to generate significant incremental revenue in both Rooms and F&B.  CLUBHOTEL members are local, European and international business owners, executives, professionals and travellers with genuine interest in booking rooms and patronizing establishments where they can receive the best value and quality.

“Red Carnation Hotels has an excellent reputation and many of our hotels have received both industry and consumer accolades,” said David Eck, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Red Carnation.  “But we can certainly use more exposure and marketing leverage, especially in the global marketplace.  In the current economic climate and with HMC’s ‘no cost’ business model, CLUBHOTEL should appeal to any hotelier interested in incremental revenue and effective marketing.  There is no easier or more cost-efficient way to reach a targeted audience already known to enjoy luxury lifestyle and travel.”

“It is truly a pleasure to welcome a reputable group like Red Carnation Hotels to the CLUBHOTEL family,” said Marwan Ramadan, Group Senior Vice President & President EMEA of Hospitality Marketing Concepts. “Unlike third party reservations services and travel portals, CLUBHOTEL provides hotels with self-directed, active marketing opportunities through our proprietary CRM platform at no cost.  Our hotel partners can create email campaigns and select marketing targets by various criteria, with full access to our database of over 1 million members.”

CLUBHOTEL is a worldwide network of four and five-star hotels, providing common benefits and recognition to an international membership base.  Members enjoy preferential room rates along with dining benefits at more than 600 branded and independent properties around the world.  Established in 1997, the synergy of CLUBHOTEL has, to date, generated staggering results, representing tens of thousands of incremental room nights for its participating hotels each year.

About Hospitality Marketing Concepts

Headquartered in Newport Beach, Southern California, HMC is the leading provider of travel industry paid consumer membership and database management programs. HMC provides services to more than 1,000 full-service hotels worldwide. A selection of clients includes InterContinental, Le Meridien, Starwood, Ritz, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Husa, Orbis, Raffles and Swissotel. HMC is a global company with offices in more than 50 countries including Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, UAE, Egypt, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. More information about HMC may be found on the company’s website www.hmcloyalty.com or by contacting Peter Gorla, Vice President of Marketing at 1 (949) 260-9538 or via email at gorlap@clubhotel.com.

Points-based frequent guest programme allows
independent hotels to compete with mega brands

Great Hotels Organisation, (GHO: http://www.ghorg.com), a sales and marketing alliance for mid range to luxury hotels, has announced the launch of Great Hotels Rewards (http://www.greathotelsrewards.com), a new hotel loyalty programme developed for frequent guests of the member hotels of Great Hotels of the World and Special Hotels of the World.

Great Hotels Rewards is part of the VOILÀ Hotel Rewards network (www.voilahotels.com) operated by Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC) and is the only points-based, frequent guest programme that unites independent mid-range to luxury hotels and resorts around the world under one global value, rewards and recognition programme.

VOILÀ Hotel Rewards, which has experienced strong growth since its launch in June 2008, allows hotels to co-brand their programmes under the VOILÀ umbrella so consumers can earn points and redeem rewards such as complimentary nights or room upgrades at its network of nearly 200 premier properties worldwide.

The programme will bring small chain and individual hotels all the benefits and exposure of a major rewards programme while allowing them to maintain their unique identity. Great Hotels Rewards can help hotels to increase both ADR and occupancy with little or no spend required. By joining Great Hotels Rewards, hotels will be able to compete with the major brands, create loyal guests, boost incremental business and enlarge their consumer database.

“VOILÀ Hotel Rewards is a product that levels the playing field for independent hotels in a world market dominated by mega brands,” said Peter Gould, chief executive officer of Great Hotels Organisation. “We believe a frequent guest programme to be an important part of our group’s marketing strategy. The ability to co-brand the programme as Great Hotels Rewards gives us the opportunity to build brand awareness, while VOILÀ takes away the challenges we would face operating a programme of this magnitude on our own. VOILÀ has our endorsement and we highly recommend it to all member properties in our portfolio.”

“VOILÀ’s mission is to provide four- & five-star independent hotels with a global loyalty solution that allows them to compete effectively and profitably.” said Gabi Kool, VOILÀ’s senior vice president and managing director. “We are certain corporate travelers are looking for alternatives to the standard global mega-brands. By linking a large number of leading independent hotel groups through the VOILÀ network via Great Hotels Rewards, members can stay in independent hotels while earning reward points. We couldn’t be more excited to expand the VOILÀ network by partnering with Great Hotels Organisation in the launch of Great Hotels Rewards.”

Enrollment in the Great Hotels Rewards programme is free to consumers and allows members to earn valuable points for their stays that can later be redeemed for complimentary room nights or room upgrades. Members are also eligible for a range of personalized benefits based upon their customer profiles such as exclusive member-only offers, priority check-in and welcome amenities.

For further information on Great Hotels Rewards please contact Carly Gotz on 44 (0) 20 7383 2335 or cgotz@ghorg.com.

For media enquiries please contact:
Brooke Jester
Marketing and PR Executive
Great Hotels Organisation
bjester@ghorg.com
44 (0) 20 7380 8561

About VOILÀ Hotel Rewards

VOILÀ is the world’s first and only points-based, guest loyalty programme built specifically for a global alliance of independent hotels and small groups. VOILÀ is operated by Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), a global company with offices in more than 50 countries in North America, Central/South America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. VOILÀ has a portfolio of over 170 hotels, including Husa Hotels, Coral Hotels & Resorts, Hoteles Lucerna, Continental Hotels Group and Great Hotels Organisation.

For additional information, visit the company’s website at www.voilahotels.com or contact Peter Gorla, vice president of marketing at 1 (949) 260-9538 or via email at peter@vhr.com.

About Great Hotels Organisation

Great Hotels Organisation (GHO) is part of Big Worldwide, a global, privately owned travel, technology and media company headquartered in London. Great Hotels Organisation’s family of brands include Great Hotels of the World (http://www.ghotw.com), Special Hotels of the World (http://www.shotw.com), Metro Hotels and G-rez (http://www.g-rez.com). GHO provides a range of products, services and innovative technology solutions for over 1,500 hotels worldwide including trade shows, e-marketing, business travel consortia sales, meeting and incentive sales, public relations, Meeting Forums and a private label GDS chain code (GW). G-rez provides bespoke solutions to hotels with the technology to manage GDS, ADS (internet), website and voice reservations easily, as well as a booking engine for a hotel’s own website, G-wiz (http://www.g-rez.com/g-wiz.htm).

Membership of GHO is by invitation only and hotels must meet strict criteria before being accepted. By acknowledging that each hotel has a different set of marketing requirements, GHO allows its member hotels to choose from a comprehensive collection of sales and marketing initiatives in order to build their own ‘à la carte’ membership programme tailored to meet their individual objectives. By doing this, members are able to choose and purchase only the services they require, thus ensuring that membership fees are focused on their specific requirements.

Further information on Great Hotels Organisation can be found at http://www.ghorg.com.

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA – April 23, 2009 – HMC (Hospitality Marketing Concepts), the leading solution provider of loyalty membership programmes, has announced exceptional growth in Q1 2009 amidst gloomy outlook in the industry.

HMC signed a number of new contracts in the first 3 months of 2009, adding nearly 300 hotels to its global client portfolio – a 30% growth to the number of its hotel clients. These new projects are both single hotels as well as group-wide programmes, including hotels in China, Philippines, Greece, Turkey, Poland, Spain, U.K., Ireland, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and more. While not all properties qualify to be part of HMC’s exclusive and proprietary CLUBHOTEL© network, this portfolio expansion brings the total number of CLUBHOTEL properties globally to over 600 hotels.

Over its 20-year history, HMC has operated thousands of successful private-label loyal programmes for both individual hotels and hotel groups around the world. HMC is known for its excellent client retention rate as a direct result of its business integrity, results-oriented membership recruitment expertise and unparalleled after-sales support.
“During this global economic challenge, hotels have come to realize that their local and regional market has substantial revenue potential that they simply have not tapped into,” said Mokhtar Ramadan, CEO of Hospitality Marketing Concepts.

“The small and medium businesses that we particularly target – especially executives and professionals with high disposal income – have escaped the hotel’s own efforts because individually they are not cost-effective for the hotel to pursue. However, when you look at their combined revenue potential, we are talking thousands of roomnights at above ADR, and tens of thousands in F&B covers.”
“Building loyalty within the local markets makes sense, because it is almost recession-proof,” said Ramadan. “This affluent market continues to maintain their lifestyle and their need to entertain for business or personal reasons remain. During our years in business we have seen this phenomenon over and over again despite economic and political instability.”

The true test came during previous recessions and crisis such as the SARS outbreak in Asia and the Gulf War in the Middle East and Europe. Client hotels of HMC fared substantially better than their competitors by immediately leveraging their local and regional membership database to stimulate incremental revenue from viable markets. Similarly in Latin America, HMC hotel partners continue to perform remarkably well despite political unrest and currency devaluation. And with HMC’s continual reinvestment in its proprietary, state-of-the-art CRM technology, hoteliers today are achieving even more immediate and effective results.

HMC offers a turnkey business model that requires no cash outlay or human resource from the hotel. This, in itself is a key consideration for many hoteliers while budget cuts and tight cashflow further limit their sales and marketing resources. Now, more than ever, hoteliers are looking to HMC’s proven track record to speed them along the road to recovery.
For more information on HMC’s loyalty solutions, visit www.HMCloyalty.com or contact us for more details and a marketing agreement at partners@clubhotel.com.

ABOUT HMC

Headquartered in Newport Beach, Southern California, HMC is the leading provider of travel industry paid consumer membership and database management programs. HMC provides services to more than 1,000 full-service hotels worldwide. A selection of clients includes InterContinental, Le Meridien, Starwood, Ritz, Shangri-La, Mandarin Oriental, Husa, Orbis, and Swissotel. HMC is a global company with offices in more than 50 countries including Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, UAE, Egypt, Venezuela, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom and United States. More information about HMC may be found on the company’s website www.hmcloyalty.com or by contacting Peter Gorla, Vice President of Marketing at +1 (949) 260-9538 or via email at gorlap@clubhotel.com.

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA – March 4, 2009 – VOILÀ Hotel Rewards today announced it is increasing its presence globally with the launch of Hadaya, a loyalty programme developed for frequent guests of Coral Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East.

VOILÀ, which has experienced strong growth since its initial launch in June 2008, is the first points-based frequent guest programme that unites a network of four- and five-star independent hotels and luxury hotel brands worldwide. Hotels co-brand their programmes under the VOILÀ umbrella and members earn points and redeem rewards through its network of over 170 premier properties worldwide. With its global presence, VOILÀ supports hotels and guests in nearly 100 cities and on three continents by delivering world-class service wherever members travel.

Hadaya, which translates in Arabic to “gift”, marks VOILÀ’s first network of hotels based in the Middle East. The programme will provide members special benefits and reward opportunities at properties within the VOILÀ network as well as at the nine hotels in the Coral chain throughout the Middle East and Africa.

“VOILÀ is the perfect partner to deliver the solutions, high level of service and recognition our frequent guests expect and deserve,” said Michel Noblet, managing director of Coral Hotels & Resorts. “With the dramatically changing market landscape, we are increasingly focused on identifying and engaging our most loyal customers. Through our partnership with VOILÀ we can effectively reach this important market segment and deliver benefits that truly meet their travel needs both locally and around the globe.”

Enrollment in the Coral Hadaya programme is free-of-charge and provides members the opportunity to earn valuable points for their stays that can later be redeemed for complimentary nights or room upgrades. Hadaya members also enjoy a host of special “members-only” perks like exclusive room rates, welcome amenities, VIP access to hotel facilities and more through VOILÀ’s private label-regional programmes including Husa Plus, Lucerna Rewards, Great Hotels Rewards, and now, Hadaya.

“Maintaining occupancy levels and keeping a healthy ADR are among the biggest challenges facing luxury hoteliers today. By joining VOILÀ, hotels can discreetly target offers to new and existing customers without engaging in public bidding contests to attract business. The VOILÀ programme requires a very short time to launch making it a great solution for independent hotels in these difficult times. Our comprehensive, world-class, and easy-to-implement programme attracts new stays via a network of over 170 four- and five-star hotels worldwide and a vast member base,” said Gabi Kool, senior vice president and managing director of VOILÀ Hotel Rewards. “We are pleased to increase the VOILÀ network once again by partnering with Coral Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East. We will continue supporting independent hotels and luxury hotel groups as they protect and grow their market share against the mega brands. Our vision remains the same: to be the largest and most respected frequent guest programme worldwide.”

For more information, visit www.voilahotels.com.

ABOUT VOILÀ HOTEL REWARDS

VOILÀ is the world’s first and only points-based, guest loyalty programme built specifically for a global alliance of independent hotels and small groups. VOILÀ is operated by Hospitality Marketing Concepts (HMC), a global company with offices in more than 50 countries in North America, Central/South America, Europe, Middle East and Asia. VOILÀ has a portfolio of over 170 hotels, including Husa Hotels, Coral Hotels & Resorts, Hoteles Lucerna, Continental Hotels Group and Great Hotels Organisation. For additional information, visit the company’s website at  www.voilahotels.com or contact Peter Gorla, vice president of marketing at +1 (949) 260-9538 or via email at peter@vhr.com.

ABOUT CORAL HOTELS & RESORTS

Founded in September 2003, Coral Hotels & Resorts is quality-driven 5-star brand with a vision of excellence based on attention to detail and maximum efficiency. Created in Dubai, the group has very quickly spread across key destinations in the Middle East and North, South and East Africa and offers an array of exciting properties. Designed for discerning travellers who seek intimate surroundings, distinctive service and safe environment, Coral Hotels & Resorts is dedicated to ensuring the highest levels of comfort and hospitality.