Best Western Italy selects Optims Revenue Management Solution

The most interesting feature of this project is the implementation of a centralised Revenue Management Service for 4 of the Best Western member hotels, located in different cities and operating different PMSs. The system will be operated by a Revenue Manager based in the company's headquarter in Milan and will be supervised by Flavio Serra and Paolo Catoni, respectively Managing Director and Marketing Director for Best Western Italy. This is the first time in the world that Revenue Management will be sold as a full service and not as a sole product. It is an ideal opportunity for Best Western Italy to provide real added value to its member hotels that are not yet ready to operate the Optims Revenue Management System directly.

The Optims Revenue Management System assists hotels to maximise revenues and increase their occupancy and average room rates by providing accurate recommendations in terms of pricing and quality customer services and by enabling hotels to develop a better knowledge of their customers. These attributes form an important strength in the worldwide hospitality industry today : "The efficiency and reliability of a Revenue Management solution were two primary conditions. This is why Optims.Hotel V3 perfectly answers the needs and requests of Best Western, that is one of the leading hotel groups in the market," explains Paolo Catoni.

"The growing success of our Revenue Management solutions all over the world, and particularly in Italy, brought the creation of a subsidiary in this country last year," comments José Roblès, General Manager of Optims Italia. He adds "The confidence of our customers in the quality of our services and IT solutions is the best demonstration that Revenue Management is becoming a real challenge in the Italian hospitality industry."

Best Western Italy now joins other major players that have already selected Optims' Revenue Management solutions : Accor, Boscolo, Protea, Thistle, Le Meridien, Charming, Radisson SAS, Metha, Oberoi, Savoy, Golden Tulip or Dorint. Optims supplies two different Revenue Management solutions (RMS) : Optims.Hotel which provides revenue optimisation for single, independent properties, or hotels within a hotel chain or group ; City.Optims brings centralised Revenue Management that helps hotel chains or groups improve their revenue with consolidated forecasting and revenue optimisation.

ABOUT OPTIMS - Optims develops and implements Information Technology solutions dedicated to optimising management methods and revenues. For the past decade, Optims has been serving the Hospitality, Tourism, Catering, Transport and Travel industries with three complementary technologies. These include Property Management Systems (PMS) ; Yield Management Solutions known as Revenue Management Systems (RMS) ; and Central Reservation Systems (CRS). Optims is now the leading European developer of IT solutions for the Hospitality industry. The Company has over 5,500 customers in more than 70 countries, with over 400 installations of its Revenue Management Solutions worldwide. Among Optims' prestigious clients are Accor, Le Meridien, Châteaux & Hôtels de France, Thistle, Boscolo, FRAM, Nouvelles Frontières, Radisson SAS and Savoy Group. Optims issued its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Nouveau Marché in the Paris Stock Exchange in June 2000 (SICOVAM code: 7652).

ABOUT BEST WESTERN - Best Western is the world's largest hotel brand that offers members the unique advantage of retaining their independence while providing the benefits of a full-service, international lodging affiliation offering a global reservations system, marketing, advertising, purchasing, training and quality standards. 1996 marked the 50th anniversary of Best Western's growing success and experience. In 1946, Best Western is founded and was, already by 1963, the largest motel chain in the industry with 699 member motels and 35,201rooms. The following year, it started its expansion out of the United States, first in Canada then in Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. In 1978, Best Western arrived in Europe and has now 4.082 hotels in 84 countries, for a total amount of 309.371 rooms and almost 60 millions guests.