London, UK – BridgeStreet Global Hospitality announced today the next phase of its ongoing plan to connect the sharing economy with the extended-stay travel market: the official launch of the first OTA built for business travel.

With this launch, the BridgeStreet supply partner community's vast and growing portfolio of unique living spaces—over 65,000 professionally managed serviced apartments and homes available in 60+ countries, providing experiences from economy to luxury— will be searchable on BridgeStreet.com while providing easy connectivity to the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that have traditionally been difficult to access for this sector. BridgeStreet.com will be available through many of the most prominent channel managers and accessible via the BX GDS code.

This is a unifying step that instantly democratizes the alternative accommodation world – bringing material improvements in revenue and supply, and providing the industry with much needed transparency.

President and chief executive officer of BridgeStreet Global Hospitality, Sean Worker, announced the launch: "Our mission was to solve one of the industry's most persistent problems; 'simply offer wider choices - across a range of price points and hospitality accommodation experiences - with ease'. We've not only succeeded, here, we are uplifting the extended stay industry - and for the first time, giving Travel Managers - and business - exactly what they need: transparency, immediacy and unparalleled customization."

BridgeStreet has curated the most trusted suppliers in professional accommodations. Each operator is thoroughly vetted, inspected, and must comply with a complete BridgeStreet Guarantee ensuring that each stay is perfect: timely delivery of keys, clean and comfortable rooms and reliable wireless ready to go. BridgeStreet's global supply partner community is quality-assured through our partnership with a global leader in quality management, is ASAP accredited, and will ultimately include industry peer-to-peer review: the backbone to BridgeStreet's Guarantee and their steadfast industry reputation.

Industry Asset

For corporations located around the globe with needs as wide ranging as short- and extended-stay business travel, relocation, project-driven travel, and intern groups, this channel will be the single, most impactful tool available for generating value and increasing efficiency while providing peace of mind and duty of care. Up to now, the process for booking extended stay products such as serviced apartment and homes had been laborious, primarily because properties were difficult to book and hard to compare. BridgeStreet.com removes those obstacles and enables business travelers to book fun spaces and provides access to localized experiences with on-demand, real-time booking with a guarantee. Corporate travel managers will also be able to easily program their travel guidelines onto customized portals linked to BridgeStreet.com enabling employees to find the perfect space to fit their needs while remaining compliant with their company's requirements.

"Consumers and guests shape technology. It is our job to try and keep up with their needs by directly influencing guests and making it easy for the travel managers. Companies like BridgeStreet will have to continue to focus on quality for the services they provide while adding more services and amenities and doing it faster and cheaper and better than anyone else," said Aaron Turner, CTO of BridgeStreet.

Built-in Demand

BridgeStreet's Supply Partner Community is connected to a marketplace where BridgeStreet creates unique high-quality demand. With this enhanced level of visibility, BridgeStreet.com gives serviced-apartment and home operators access to extensive global reach along with built-in demand from BridgeStreet's stellar 4000+ client portfolio and 100+ global sales team. Corporate travel companies, who have access to Global Distribution Systems (GDS), will be able to see a supply partner's offerings and have a wide array of serviced apartments, homes, and extended-stay hotels. This immediately puts them on a level playing field with the industry's major legacy hospitality players, while bridging the sharing economy with serviced apartments and homes.

About BridgeStreet Global Hospitality

With more than 65,000 apartments in over 60 countries, BridgeStreet Global Hospitality – comprised of six unique brands – is the leading hospitality solution offering serviced apartment experiences for travellers seeking an alternative to typical hotel accommodations real-time through BridgeStreet.com. Using OTA technology, BridgeStreet.com is built for business travellers and gives serviced apartment and home operators access to extensive global reach along with built-in demand from BridgeStreet's 4000+ client portfolio and 100+ global sales team. Widely recognized for uncompromising standards of quality, comfort and service, BridgeStreet Global Hospitality is a renowned award winner in both the Americas and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). For more information on BridgeStreet Global Hospitality, please visit www.bridgestreet.com or call 800 278 7338/ +44 (0) 20 7792 2222.

Gordon Smith
The PC Agency
+44 (0) 207 768 0001
BridgeStreet