Middle East Hotel Marketing Company Expands Distribution Options with Utell to Drive International Leisure Bookings
SCOTTSDALE, DALLAS and LONDON (April 6, 2011) – Egyptian marketing company Marketer has contracted Utell to provide Utell Connect<http://www.utell.com> services to Marketer’s hotels , including the provision of award-winning reservations services, world-class distribution and online bookings. The agreement will connect Marketer’s hotels to the global distribution systems (GDSs) and alternative distribution systems (ADS) via the Pegasus Solutions<http://www.pegs.com> switch, while also supporting business from travel agencies, global travel management companies (TMCs), corporations, and consortia groups.
Marketer will also implement Pegasus’ Internet booking engine, NetBooker(r) NG<http://www.pegs.com/reservation/Pegasus_NetBookerNG.asp> to drive growth of Internet bookings for its hotels directly from consumers. The agreement increases Utell’s presence in Egypt’s popular tourist regions, especially Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan, the Red Sea Region including; South Sinai; Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba, as well as the South of the Red Sea including Hurghada, Safaga, Quseir & Marsa Alam.
“This relationship is a win-win for both Marketer and Utell, who together will soon make hotels in famous oases like Siwa, Dakhla and Kharga available through online channels for the first time,” said Avelina Iglesias, vice president of sales and account management in EMEA for Utell Hotels & Resorts. “Marketer has enlisted Utell Connect for our proven reservation and global distribution services, while also tapping Pegasus’ powerful booking engine to sell hotels internationally to the right booking audience. Utell benefits from the addition of several sought-after Red Sea properties in a region we’re currently focused on developing.”
Marketer’s properties will also be able to offer rate and availability information in Pegasus’ Hotel Content Database (HCD), the largest repository of hotel descriptive content in the world, which houses images, property and room descriptions for approximately 90,000 hotels. This information will also be distributed to online travel agencies (OTAs), corporate travel departments, tour operators and consortia groups, which are all important booking audiences for Marketer’s hotels.
“Marketer occupies a unique position in the Middle East, specializing in marketing our hotels and agencies through the GDS, online channels and to the consortia. Egypt is considered to be one of the leading tourism markets in Middle East, and Marketer is working to position Utell as the preferred provider of online booking tools, as well as GDS and ADS marketing and distribution for hotels and resorts in the Egyptian tourism market,” said Ayman Galal, Managing Director of Marketer. “Utell and Pegasus have pioneered the sales and marketing of hotels across these channels, offering proven processes and tools to do so, which is why they are the natural choice for us to work with.”
