SCOTTSDALE, DALLAS and LONDON (August 22, 2011) – Utell® Hotels & Resorts has expanded its diverse international portfolio, adding more than 10,000 rooms in June, including several five-star and major destination properties. Utell credits member referrals for a good portion of its growth in 2011.
While new members joined from all regions of the world, Utell saw more than +40% of its June growth occur in the burgeoning ASPAC market, and more than +20% of the growth result from new five-star properties. New hotels in major destinations were also strongly represented, with new member hotels hailing from Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Tokyo, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Paris, and Dublin, among others.
“Five-star and major city properties enrich our offering to the travel management companies and consortia with which we maintain preferred relationships,” said Tom Gallagher, executive vice president of revenue generation. “Additionally, expansion in these areas fuels new opportunity for our member hotels as we can further concentrate and target business opportunities per market or audience. This likely explains why much of our growth was driven by customer referrals. Hotels also switched to Utell from competitors, or returned after lackluster experiences elsewhere.”
Noteworthy wins included the Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, the Artmore Hotel in Atlanta, five Seekda hotels in Austria, and three Bourbon Hotels in Brazil. Important additions in the Asia Pacific region range from three Constellation Hotels in Australia to two Jinling Hotels and seven Zhejiang New Century Hotel Management Company properties in China. Avenues World added four properties in India, while long-time member Warwick Hotels added The Palace at Playa Grande in the Dominican Republic. Fulfilling expected additions to the Utell portfolio from previously announced agreements, Marketer enlisted two further hotels in Egypt, five Japan Ryokan properties joined, and another Seekda hotel was added to the portfolio in Japan.
Utell is chosen by more than 6,000 hotels in more than 130 countries. Hotels use the service to increase selling opportunities to both business and leisure audiences. Through proven distribution and reservations technology provided by Pegasus Solutions, and preferred travel agent and online partnership agreements, Utell helps hotels compete for business worldwide from TMCs, corporations, online distributors and consortia groups.
Utell is exhibiting this week at Global Business Travel Association Convention booth #1427.
Utell Hotels & Resorts, part of Pegasus Solutions Inc, is the world’s leading hotel representation service providing a specialized range of powerful sales, marketing and distribution solutions for hotels and travel distributors. Utell is chosen by more than 6,000 independent hotels and small groups in more than 130 countries, and comprises an extensive and diverse international portfolio that includes luxury, boutique, value, business and resort properties for both business and leisure travelers. Utell offers an unrivaled combination of 80 years’ experience representing hotels by delivering first class business generating solutions. These include preferred travel agent and online partnership agreements, a range of worldwide marketing programs, leading edge Internet booking engine solutions, comprehensive business intelligence reporting capabilities and award-winning hotel Web site marketing. Utell’s products and services are used by thousands of travel agencies, travel providers and businesses worldwide, including major global TMC’s (travel management companies), corporations, online distributors and consortia groups. Visit