As a preferred vendor of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT),Systems Associates Inc. has been selected by Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc. (SVO) to implement its SynergyMMS maintenance management solution at all villa resort properties. This initiative was recently rolled out in Hawaii at The Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas on the island of Maui and The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on Kaua'i. Sixteen resorts – with a total of 7,000 villas – will be equipped with SynergyMMS by November. The remaining six mixed-use resorts – consisting of 500 villas – in the SVO portfolio are company-owned and already have SynergyMMS as part of Starwood's preventive maintenance program.

Systems Associates Inc. is a developer of software and hardware solutions for maintenance and energy management in the hospitality, education, government, commercial real estate and retail markets. SynergyMMS is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution designed exclusively for hospitality to enhance asset life and longevity by creating "synergy" between front office, engineering and housekeeping staff for enhanced workflow and communications. Starwood Vacation Ownership offers flexible vacation options from spacious villa accommodations in the best locations in the most sought-after destinations to distinctive experiences around the world—all through Starwood Vacation NetworkSM.

"Our goals, through this asset management and preventive maintenance initiative, are to extend the lifecycle of equipment, reduce energy consumption, minimize equipment downtime, and reduce guest-reported maintenance requests," said CJ Khan, Sr. Project Manager for SynergyMMS in SVO Facilities Management department. "In the vacation ownership environment, there are a number of additional electronics and appliances in villas that need to be maintained, from ovens, refrigerators and microwaves to entertainment systems. This is quite different from the usual hotel environment. As part of Starwood Vacation Ownership's Maintenance Week program, each villa is taken out of inventory for a week once a year and every piece of equipment is checked. By tracking workflow in SynergyMMS for the maintenance of these assets, the tasks are completed efficiently. This also aids in establishing the equipment's useful life, prolonging replacement cycles for equipment, and reducing energy and water consumption.

"In addition to improving the lifecycle of equipment, SynergyMMS also adds accountability for our Engineering teams," Khan said. "SynergyMMS not only helps identify what work needs to be done and when — both in the villas and across the entire property — but the system tracks exactly when work is completed. SynergyMMS provides another tool for our engineering leaders to monitor productivity and efficiency of the preventive maintenance program."

Saving Time, Saving Money

SynergyMMS is the next step in the evolution of maintenance management products. Hailed as the ultimate solution for today's mobile and multilingual workforce, SynergyMMS offers tools that help hotel maintenance staff work together without increasing demands on their time. Behind the scenes intelligence enables the program to direct the flow of activity and keeps staff constantly working towards the same solution. SynergyMMS is all about time, efficiency, and solving today's most tedious preventive maintenance tasks.

"SynergyMMS has served as the brand standard for Starwood's maintenance management program for many years, and Starwood Vacation Ownership is demonstrating true leadership in how they approach asset management — especially in this challenging timeshare environment," said John Clark, SAI Director of Sales & Marketing. "We are thrilled that SynergyMMS has been selected as the business engine to drive the SVO initiative to success. Through this initiative, each unit will be managed more efficiently and owners will receive even higher standards of service. Everybody wins."

Upon completion of the rollout, SVO will equip its maintenance teams with iPhones to leverage the mobile communication benefits of SynergyMMS. In 2014, SVO will phase in SynergyMMS Inventory for even more efficient operations.

For more information on SAI and its comprehensive product line, visit www.saicorporate.com, or call 419-354-3900.

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About Systems Associates Inc.
Systems Associates Inc. is a developer of software and hardware solutions for Maintenance and Energy Management in the hospitality, education, government, commercial real estate and retail markets. Operating in the cloud, our enterprise solutions give our customers global access to our technologies. CONTROLIQ is an enterprise solution for Heating, Ventilating and Cooling (HVAC), lighting, irrigation and other building systems. SynergyMMS improves the condition of a property by creating "synergy" between the various departments involved in the maintenance process thereby increasing the productivity of staff and the longevity of assets. For more information on SAI and/or its CONTROLIQ and SynergyMMS solutions, visit www.saicorporate.com, www.controliq.com, and www.synergymms.com respectively, or call 1-800-433-9855.

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1,134 properties in nearly 100 countries and 154,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, Aloft®, and ElementSM. The Company boasts one of the industry's leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. Starwood also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., a premier provider of world-class vacation experiences through villa-style resorts and privileged access to Starwood brands. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

David Codding
President