REDMOND, Wash., and DALLAS, Nov. 7, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ
“MSFT” ) and Pegasus Systems Inc. (NASDAQ “PEGS”) today announced that Microsoft will use Pegasus Systems’ hotel reservations processing services and will license information from Pegasus Systems’ hotel database in connection with the Microsoft® Travel Technologies (MTT) platform. The connection to Pegasus Systems will offer existing and future MTT platform licensees access to approximately 100 hotel brands and detailed information on more than 17,000 hotels in 143 countries.
Microsoft Travel Technologies provides booking functionality and selected editorial content to Internet travel sites including the online booking sites for the Microsoft Expedia
™
.com online travel service ( http://expedia.com/ ), Northwest Airlines ( http://flynwa.com/ ) and Continental Airlines ( http://cooltravelassistant.com/ ), and to the American Express Interactive (AXI) private-label product for booking corporate travel. Microsoft will begin working on the Pegasus Systems connection immediately, planning availability to customers of Expedia.com in the first half of 1998. Other existing and future licensees of the MTT platform may now have the option of providing their customers with enhanced hotel booking functionality.
“This agreement will dramatically improve the hotel shopping and reservations experience for customers shopping for travel options on Internet sites that take advantage of this new Microsoft Travel Technologies functionality,” said Richard Barton, travel business unit manager at Microsoft. “We plan to make improved hotel shopping available to customers of Expedia.com as soon as possible. We can now offer the hotel industry an alternative distribution outlet, and also offer our participating MTT companies improved hotel booking functionality. We are pleased to reach this agreement with the company whose major shareholders and customers include most of the world’s largest hotel companies.”
Under the agreement, Pegasus Systems will connect MTT to its THISCO UltraSwitch, enabling direct access into the central reservations systems of nearly 100 hotel brands. Pegasus Systems will also provide MTT with access to Pegasus Systems’ unique and extensive hotel information database.
“We are extremely proud to be chosen as the Microsoft Travel Technologies provider of hotel reservations,” said John F. Davis III, president and CEO of Pegasus Systems. “This deal will likely have a major impact on the number of hotel rooms booked through the Internet. With this combination of our unique reservations capabilities and Microsoft’s global reach and travel distribution platform, more and more consumers will be attracted to the benefits of booking hotel rooms online.”
About the Companies
Microsoft Travel Technologies is a platform suite comprising server, applications and content designed to create the best buying experience for travel-related services online. Microsoft Travel Technologies is created with Microsoft BackOffice® family products including the Windows NT® Server operating system, Internet Information Server and Microsoft SQL Server
™
. It will support an interactive travel product that operates within an Internet or intranet environment, using any popular Web-browser software, and is compatible with the top computer reservations systems.
With offices in Dallas and London, Pegasus Systems Inc. provides global electronic distribution technology solutions to hotels, travel agencies, meetings and convention planners, and corporate travel departments around the world via its three services: TravelWeb ( http://www.travelweb.com/ ), THISCO (The Hotel Industry Switch Co.) and HCC (Hotel Clearing Corp.). The company’s THISCO and TravelWeb hotel room reservation services improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the reservation process by enabling travel agents and individual travelers to electronically access hotel room inventory information and conduct reservation transactions. The company’s HCC service is the global leader in hotel commission payment processing.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Expedia, BackOffice and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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