ZDirect Expands into Spain

Sunway Hotels in Barcelona turns to ZMail for hotel marketing automation to enhance its

guest-communications process and initiate surveys on the fly to better identify preferences and more quickly deliver on expectations

Hallandale Beach, FL - June 17, 2014 - Sunway Hotels & Apartments,

an operator of nine facilities in tourist and coastal areas of Spain, has recently partnered with ZDirect to automate the way they communicate with hotel guests. Today, the Hotel Club Sunway Punta Prima, located in Formentera on the beach of Es Pujols, and the Hotel Sunway Playa Golf Hotel & Spa, located on the beachfront promenade of Sitges, are installing ZDirect's ZMail® electronic communication platform. ZMail will enable Sunway management and staff to automatically send intelligent and personalized confirmations, pre-arrival emails, post-departure emails, and guest satisfaction surveys via email, mobile communication, SMS, and social networks. This new relationship marks ZDirect's entrance into the Spain hotel market.

"Sunway has been running properties across Spain for more than 50 years without many

software systems, and the time has come for us to use technology in our favor to stay better connected with travelers," said J. Oskar Stöber Blázquez, Sunway Hotels & Apartments deputy manager. "Although the hospitality industry has changed dramatically in the past 10 years (mainly through the increase of online travel agents), we had not, and we knew we needed to enter the digital age in order to remain competitive.

"A few years ago we tried using an email marketing software, but we soon realized that

it had issues that we could not address," he said. "First, the software had no connection to our PMS. This meant customer data had to be uploaded manually in order to keep it fresh. Second, it was impossible to address campaigns in an efficient way, since the software offered no CRM capabilities. Third, we had to rely on a freelance designer and a programmer in order to change any campaigns, which meant a lot of time before it went live. We did a thorough search for an automated solution, and found that ZMail from ZDirect offered everything we needed and more."

Installation of ZMail is now underway. Stöber Blázquez said he and his staff are

extremely excited to begin training on ZMail so staff can automatically build a guest history database and subsequently free up more time to take care of guests at check in, rather than doing tedious manual data input.

"Our expectations for ZMail are high," Stöber Blázquez said. "We plan to see an

increase in sales. Now that our staff is not sending confirmation or cancellation emails manually, they have more time to improve the way we manage our rates and availability across the distribution channels. ZMail will enable our staff to start sending pre-arrival emails to build better relationships with customers. Previously, we didn't have the time or manpower to do this. ZMail will also help us build a better knowledgebase of our customers. Being able to send surveys whenever we want will help us discover critical preference and behavioral data about each guest. Giving them more personalized service will directly increase satisfaction. More importantly, we believe that as soon as we can initiate our first email campaign, we will see a direct increase in revenues. At first I was skeptical, but the ZDirect team showed us proven examples of how ZMail is making a huge different to operations, guest satisfaction, and the bottom line for other satisfied customers. We are eager to get started."

ZDirect has more than 2,000 hotels and resorts worldwide using its ZMail® electronic

communication platform. Today, it's easier than ever before for hotels to build lasting relationships with targeted and personal communication . . . generate last-minute offers to sell un-booked room inventory . . . and turn profiles into profits with ZDirect.

"At ZDirect, we understand the importance of communication

flowing both ways, and often," said Caren de'Ath, ZDirect vice president of sales. "With an interface to a hotel's property-management, ZMail® is streamlining and centralizing a hotel's electronic messaging initiative by capturing guest behavior, purchase history and preferences information. Our patented Dynamic Content Engine enables hotels to create individualized transactional emails; from confirmations to pre-stay promotions and post-stay thank you. As such, our customers can send surveys to prospects and customers, send triggered custom tailored emails to their loyalty members and send targeted marketing messages based upon profile data.

"All these elements will directly help Sunway Hotels reach their goal of better

communicating with customers, and it will have a huge direct impact on guest loyalty and their bottom line," she said. "We are thrilled to be bringing ZMail to Spain and we look forward to growing our relationship with Sunway Hotels and watching them achieve their goals."

For more information on ZMail, visit ZDirect at HITEC (Hospitality Industry

Technology Exposition & Conference) June 24 to 26 in Booth 735 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. More information on ZDirect can be found by visiting www.zdirect.com.

About ZDirect

Based in Hallandale Beach, Florida, ZDirect, an Enterprise Email Service Provider (ESP) for the Hospitality Industry, is a leading provider of electronic customer relationship management solutions for the hospitality industry. The maintenance of a single guest profile is essential for an effective eCRM strategy. With the Dynamic Content Engine and PMS integration, ZMail^® automatically sends intelligent and personalized confirmations, pre-arrival emails and post-departure emails with guest satisfaction surveys via email, mobile communication, SMS, social networks and more. Learn about the real people behind every reservation. Let ZDirect help you convert your prospects to customers and your customers to loyal customers. Real People. Real Profiles. Real Results. www.zdirect.com

Shallana Edwards
(480) 347-9173