WorldPay Contact:
Jim Crawford
Crawford Public Relations
703-318-5460
jcrawford@crawfordpr.com
All-Hotels Contact:
Sara Forbes
Citigate SMARTS
44-131-555-0425
Sarah.Forbes@citigatesmarts.co.uk.
Agreement Provides Access to Best Rates at 60,000 Hotels Worldwide and Lets
Travelers Book Rooms Online in Multiple Currencies
STERLING, VA, MARCH 25, 2002 - WorldPay, the global leader in multi-currency
secure payment processing, and All-Hotels.com have announced a partnership
to provide Internet payment solutions for All-Hotels` international hotel
bookings and services web site, which handles business for 60,000 hotels
worldwide.
All-Hotels, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, is a leading provider of online
hotel room bookings for consumers, and of technology and services to
independent hoteliers. All-Hotels makes use of the opportunities and new
distribution channels the Internet offers to provide a service for hotels to
reach consumers across the globe. The site currently attracts some 600,000
visitors per month.
WorldPay`s payment solutions provide All-Hotels with its eCommerce backbone.
It enables the company to receive payment and provide services in multiple
currencies and therefore cater to an international clientele. All payments
are protected by WorldPay`s secure payment technology, which offers
comprehensive transaction security as well as multiple online protections
against card fraud.
Jane Karwoski, CEO of All-Hotels said: "The Internet provides a wealth of
opportunities for locating and booking accommodation throughout the world.
It is vital, however, that we offer a system that is as secure as possible.
WorldPay`s payment technology and security guarantees this."
Nick Ogden, WorldPay CEO, added: "Hotel and leisure services are becoming
major eCommerce drivers, and both are sectors in which substantial sums are
spent in an individual transaction. Low-price airfares are of course also
continuing to fuel this hotel and leisure upswing. We are delighted to be
enabling All-Hotels` eCommerce operations and also very pleased to be
strengthening our foothold in the hotel and leisure sector, where our
customers already include Asia Hotels, Dollar Rent-a-Car and
Travelcoverdirect.co.uk."
During the past few months, All-Hotels has negotiated special prices with
hotels all across Europe and has branded them as "Great Rates" on its web
site.
About WorldPay Inc.
WorldPay (www.worldpay.com) was founded in 1993 and throughout its history
has consistently developed innovative and secure Internet-based products and
services.
Today, as the globally acknowledged and trusted leader in secure,
multilingual and multi-currency Internet payment solutions, WorldPay enables
over 14,000 customers in 115 countries to sell to shoppers around the
globe - in the language and currency of their choice.
At WorldPay`s virtual mall, www.shopatworldpay.com, thousands of retailers
from around the globe are open for business, 24 hours a day, seven days a
week and searchable by category, name or location.
WorldDirect, WorldPay`s multi-currency payment system, is integrated to all
the leading eCommerce storebuilding applications, including its own Click
and Build. Other WorldPay services include repeat billing solution
FuturePay.
Based in Cambridge, UK, WorldPay`s Asia Pacific regional center is in
Singapore and its Americas center is Sterling, Virginia, USA.
WorldPay shareholders include NatWest Bank Plc. and Energis Plc.
About All-Hotels
All-Hotels is one of the world`s largest online hotel booking companies for
consumers as well as a leading provider of technology and services for the
hotel industry. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland and established in 1997,
All-Hotels provides a 24-hour, seven day a week service to customers all
over the world. While receiving only £4.7 million ($6.5
million) of investment capital since its inception, All-Hotels has sold over
320,000 hotel rooms online during the past three years.
For consumers, the website, www.all-hotels.com, offers a convenient, fast
and secure way to book from a choice of over 60,000 hotels in over 9,600
locations worldwide. Accommodation listed on the site includes everything
from bed-and-breakfast accommodation to luxury 5-star hotels, and many
hotels that cannot be found anywhere else.
For the hotel industry, All-Hotels provides its own web-based booking engine
called a-Res that gives hotels the ability to sell rooms via the Internet to
the vast and growing market of online travelers. All-Hotels also assists
hotels by providing additional support services through its sister website,
www.all-hotels.org, which now has a membership of over 5000 hotels and
hoteliers worldwide.
About Online Travel
Travel is the most dynamic and successful area in e-commerce. $0.30 of
every $1.00 spent on the Internet is for travel according to PhoCusWright, a
market research company that specializes in this field. PhoCusWright
estimated that online travel sales were more than $20 billion in 2001, a 40%
increase over the previous year. The convenience of booking online and the
ability to find the best deals are the reasons
most often cited as to why online travel is doing so well.
Online hotel bookings are among the fastest growing areas in Internet travel
services. PhoCusWright predicted that online reservations would reach $3.6
billion in 2001. The hotel industry is recognizing the potential of the
Internet both to drive more bookings and to reduce distribution costs. The
industry`s support of the Internet explains why
online reservations are expected to increase as high as 15% of all hotel
reservations in three years time from 2% today.
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