SITEMINDER receives major investment for global expansion

Online hotel distribution switch SiteMinder is accelerating its global rollout after a multimilliondollar investment by Bailador Investment Management .

The funds from Bailador will assist SiteMinder in further accelerating growth in Europe , Asia and the Americas with new products and marketing programs aimed at hotels .

“ The additional capital will allow us to quickly build on an already strong European presence ,” says SiteMinder Managing Director Mike Ford . “ We will fast-track the development of innovative product features , expand our sales and support capabilities in new and existing markets and drive further adoption of our platform internationally .”

MARRIOTT selects BrightEdge for SEO management

Marriott International has selected BrightEdge ’ s S3 SEO platform to manage and improve its footprint for organic search . BrightEdge ’ s S3 platform incorporates deeper social and SEO insight , more customization in dashboards and flexible reports . It also adds functionality such as Adobe integration .

“ It was important for us to fi nd an enterprise SEO solution that offered both automated reporting and customizable dashboards that scale for multiple brands and thousands of keywords ,” says Lynne DeRoche , senior director , online acquisition marketing , Marriott International . “ We also needed a partner that had a solid understanding of the travel and hospitality market — and BrightEdge fit the bill .”

MICROS-FIDELIO pioneers innovative car key

Micros-Fidelio is currently live-testing car keys with an integrated near field communication ( NFC ) link at the Holiday Inn Munich City Center Hotel in cooperation with BMW and VingCard Elsafe / Assa Abloy .

Linked to the car ’ s navigation system , the key allows the driver to choose a hotel room via an interface with the Micros Opera online reservation system . Details are downloaded to the car and stored on the car key , which allows guests to bypass traditional check-in and go straight to their room , their car key also functioning as their room key . Being encrypted and a closed system , the NFC car key becomes the guests ’ secure identification media during all stages of their journey .

SOUTHERN ALUMINUM calculates ROI of linen-free tables

Magnolia , Arkansas-based linenless table maker Southern Aluminum is helping facility managers determine the ongoing costs of using linen-covered tables via a calculator at southernaluminum . com / roi . Managers can input the number and size of tables per room , quantity of personnel hours per event for setting up linen-covered tables , average hourly wage of the employees and number of events per week to calculate the ROI of linenless tables .

“ Our lightweight , linenless tables save businesses thousands of dollars in laundry services , linens and linen replacements while increasing operational efficiency ,” says Amanda Blanchard , marketing director for Southern Aluminum .