Genares Press Releases & News Articles

Genares Worldwide Reservation Services Appoints VFM Interactive As Their Exclusive Provider of Rich Media Production and Distribution Services

TORONTO, ON August 8, 2008 – Genares Worldwide Reservation Services, the hotel industry’s newest and fastest growing global reservations company, announced today that it has selected VFM Interactive, the world’s leading full service provider of rich media production and distribution solutions for the travel industry, as its exclusive partner for the distribution and production of hotel rich visual content.

Under the agreement, Genares will utilize VFM’s web-based digital media management platform, Vscape®, as the single point for the entry, storage, management, and seamless distribution of all of its hotels’ images and other rich visual content. VFM Interactive will manage the rich media for the 3,000+ Genares hotels worldwide and distribute it to its vast distribution network, recognized as the largest and fastest growing network in the industry. Additionally, Genares and VFM will team-up to provide a customized production offering for Genares hotels so they can reap the rewards of enhanced online presence that rich media provides.

VFM has distribution contracts in place to provide rich visual content on behalf of its hotel clients to major travel intermediaries such as Pegasus and the four global distribution systems (GDSs) – Amadeus, Galileo, Worlspan and Sabre – as well as more than 25,000 travel and travelrelated sites. VFM’s distribution network enables hotels to compete more effectively across the Web by ensuring that their photos, virtual tours, videos and other rich marketing content can be viewed by, and influence the purchasing decisions of, consumers shopping for hotels on major online travel agencies, travel research sites, search and meta-search engines, portals, meeting planner sites, as well as corporate booking engines.

"This partnership with VFM Interactive allows us to provide additional value-added services to our properties and ensure integrity in distribution of their images. Every hotel is different and only through exceptional visual content can our diverse properties begin to tell their story," said, Ursula Rhode, Executive Vice President, Global Services, GENARES. "VFM is the leader in this space, providing the only full-service media solution in the industry. It only makes sense for the best to partner with the best."

"We are proud to partner with Genares, known throughout the industry as an innovator and leader in providing solutions to the hotel industry. Our goal is to help Genares properties incrementally increase their revenue by adding rich media, a proven ROI enhancer, both in terms of increased bookings and price per room," said Paolo Boni, president and CEO of VFM Interactive. "Recent studies indicate that consumers who viewed rich media, virtual tours and videos, are 67% more likely to book than those who do not. We look forward to delivering these impressive results to the Genares properties."

About VFM Interactive

VFM Interactive is the leading end-to-end provider of online media production and distribution solutions for the hotel and travel industry. VFM helps hotel and travel companies enhance their online marketing through rich visual content including still images, videos, 360º virtual tours and Flash presentation. VFM’s Vscape® platform allows hotels to manage and distribute their rich media content on the industry’s largest and fastest-growing distribution network of more than 25,000 websites where consumers most often research and purchase travel products. This network includes online travel agencies, travel suppliers, search portals and Global Distribution Systems such as Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, TripAdvisor, American Airlines, Yahoo!, SideStep, Sabre Travel Network, Galileo and Worldspan. VFM’s Vscape media distribution platform is utilized by more than 35,000 hotels from dozens of major hotel chains and resorts from brands and management companies including Best Western, Choice, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Interstate, La Quinta, Marriott, Outrigger, Radisson, Regent, Sheraton, Sol Meliá, W, Westin and Wyndham. For more information, visit www.vfmii.com.

About GENARES

Genares Worldwide Reservations Services Ltd. was launched in 2004 by former Lexington Services Corp. founders and executives. As the first new central reservation system (CRS) to come to market since 1999, Genares' gReserve web-based CRS and related services are provided on an ASP basis and designed for properties ranging from small independents to large chain hotels worldwide. The lodging industry's only privately-held reservations technology provider created by hoteliers for hoteliers, Genares' services include: seamless GDS and Internet connectivity, a private-label Internet booking engine, a web-based CRS with two-way XML property management system interfaces, and private-label voice reservations/call center services. Genares is headquartered in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburb of Las Colinas, Texas, and has sales representation worldwide, with offices throughout Europe and Asia. The company is owned by Ricky A. Wilkins, Michael G. Wilkins and Eugene Harris.

For more information, visit www.genares.com.

Editor's Note: Photos of Genares executives available on request.