Bezurk Announces Partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group
Bezurk Delivers Direct Relationships between Consumers and Global Hotelier
Singapore. June 28th, 2005 - Bezurk. (www.bezurk.com), poised to be Asia Pacific’s premier travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group, the world’s largest and most global hotel company. Through this partnership, Bezurk will drive consumers directly to InterContinental Hotels Group’s brand web sites, www.ichotelsgroup.com, to book their travel.
“InterContinental Hotels Group has been a pioneer in online bookings, launching the world’s first hotel booking website with www.holiday-inn.com in 1995. They revolutionized the industry with the first Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee program in May 2002, and more recently with their certification programme for third-party online distributors. Their industry leadership has ensured that online customers booking via one of their brand sites can book with assurance”, said James Vaile, Bezurk’s Chairman.
Craig Hewett, Director of E-commerce, InterContinental Hotel Group said the Group had enjoyed great success with vertical search engines in the US. “Coupled with Bezurk’s distinguished management team, we are pleased to be partnering with Bezurk as it launches to be Asia Pacific’s premier travel search engine,” he stated. “Recent Hitwise analysis has shown that specialized travel search engines are gaining in popularity and we want to be part of the action. By sending customers direct to our branded websites, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Priority Club Rewards, Bezurk not only helps us to further develop our most cost-efficient sales channel, it also enables us to forge direct relationships between travelers and our brands.”
Added Mr Vaile: “InterContinental Hotels Group is eager to extend their branded reach among Asia Pacific’s growing number of customers searching for hotels both within Asia as well as globally. As their marketing partner, Bezurk will help to build awareness and promote their distinctive offerings to a large and valuable target audience.”
Bezurk will receive product, pricing and availability information from InterContinental Hotels Group. Bezurk can efficiently communicate with a partner using the travel provider’s preferred protocol – XML, SOAP, HTML, EDI or even CORBA. Bezurk’s flexibility enables new partners to begin working with Bezurk in a short period of time with no changes to their systems.
About Bezurk
Poised to be Asia’s premier travel search engine, Bezurk is the one-stop site for consumers to search, compare pricing and directly book flights and accommodation. The search engine sorts and filters available inventory from travel suppliers and online travel agencies around Asia Pacific to give users ease-of-use, speedy, transparent and direct booking capabilities, thereby saving them precious time and money. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
About InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world’s largest hotel group by number of rooms. InterContinental Hotels Group owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, more than 3,500 hotels and 535,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel IndigoTM, and also manages the world’s largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards, with over 25 million members worldwide. In addition to this, InterContinental Hotels Group has a 47.5% interest in Britvic, one of the two leading manufacturers of soft drinks, by value and volume, in Great Britain. InterContinental Hotels Group offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ichotelsgroup.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from InterContinental Hotels Group, visit our online Press Office at: www.ihgplc.com/media.
For further press information and photos, please contact:
Press Team
Bezurk Pte Ltd
Email: press@bezurk.com
Joanna Ong
Manager, Brand PR & Communications
InterContinental Hotels Group, Asia Pacific
Tel: (65) 6395 6074
Email: joanna.ong@ichotelsgroup.com
Rick Clements
Rick Clements & Associates
Tel: (65) 65360977 or (65) 97528316
Email: rclements@rcapr.com.sg