Vicinity to supply Business Finder svcs to Best Western
Vicinity's Business Finder(SM) Drives Customers from www.bestwestern.com to Nearest Brick-and-Mortar Hotel Location
New York--Aug. 30--Vicinity Corp. will provide Business Finder services for Best Western International properties, using which a visitor will be able to find its hotels and other related information in North America and Europe.
RESPONDING TO CUSTOMER DEMAND FOR INCREASED CONVENIENCE IN TRAVEL PLANNING, VICINITY CORP.
"Vicinity is the best choice for companies doing business in the click-and-mortar arena, and specifically, for its sophisticated, private-label Business Finder technology that maintains the Best Western brand," said Mary Beth Knight, managing director of intermediary marketing for Best Western. "Vicinity was unique in the level of support, hosting, reliability and scalability that we needed to manage thousands of locations worldwide, and for our continued growth in the future."
WITH VICINITY'S BUSINESS FINDER, VISITORS TO THE BEST WESTERN WEB SITE (
By selecting "Hotel Quick Search" on the Best Western home page, Web site visitors can search by city and state to obtain a list of nearby hotels with links to specific property pages, maps, driving directions and detailed hotel information, such as rates and reservation policies, hotel amenities and local weather information. Web site visitors also have the option to select hotels within a certain distance from a city center as well as view their selections on a customized map, with each Best Western location plotted on the map. Trip Planner allows users to enter any starting point and final destination and subsequently plots the entire route with all the Best Western locations along the way.
"Successful businesses need to have both a strong online and offline presence, and we are thrilled to be bridging those worlds for Best Western," said Emerick Woods, chief executive officer and president of Vicinity Corporation. "Best Western is the newest hotel partner to join our travel portfolio, which includes brands such as Alamo Rent-A-Car, British Airways, Rand McNally and Preview Travel."
About Best Western
Best Western International is the world's largest hotel chain with more than 4,000 hotels in 84 countries and territories. It is a membership association of independently owned and operated hotels that provides marketing, reservations and operational support to its member hotels.
About Vicinity Corp.
Vicinity Corp. is a leading provider of Internet-based marketing infrastructure services for brand-name Global 2000 companies and the No. 1 business-to-business site for June and July 2000 according to Media Metrix. The company's clicks-and-mortar solutions, available in 14 countries and in 10 languages, enable its approximately 370 clients to direct consumers searching for a specific product or service to the nearest brick-and-mortar store that carries that product or service.
Vicinity's customers include FedEx, Ford, GM, Hilton Hotels Corp., Marriott, McDonald's, NEC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels, Taco Bell, Toyota, Levi Strauss & Co. and UPS. Its suite of private-label and co-branded content and services -- available via the Internet, cellular phones, WAP phones, PDAs, wireless devices and landline telephones -- includes Vicinity Business Finder(SM), Telephone Business Finder(SM), Wireless Business Finder(SM), BrandFinder(SM), SiteMaker(SM), MailMaker(SM), GeoSearch(r), MapBlast!(r) Syndication Services, and Business Directory.
Publicly traded on Nasdaq under the symbol VCNT, Vicinity's investors include CMGI