Active Hotels trebles investment to accelerate European expansion

27 January 2004, Cambridge, UK – Active Hotels, Europe’s leading provider of online reservations to the hotel industry, is trebling investment in its expansion across mainland Europe and expects to continue the record growth it achieved in 2003 by processing over 2 million room nights by the end of 2004. Following a two year growth rate of 4289%, Active Hotels was named in 2003 the fastest growing technology company in Britain and Ireland by Deloitte, the professional services firm. This record growth is set to continue with the company already recording a 250% growth in hotel booking volumes in January 2004 compared to January 2003. Andy Phillipps, CEO, Active Hotels, comments, “Booking hotel rooms online is continuing to grow in popularity for both leisure and business travellers. We are now recording a year on year online booking growth rate of 90% across London, the cities and regions, and we expect similar growth across the rest of Europe. Our priority for 2004 is to strengthen further our hotel offering across Europe by investing heavily in marketing our services to other European countries, in particular, France, Germany, Italy and Spain and capitalise on this growth. The company’s investment in European expansion is already paying dividends with over 500 European hotels per month now signing up to the service. Brian Murphy, Marketing & Sales Director, Active Hotels, recently appointed from American Express to manage European expansion says, “Our offering to hotels is particularly attractive because of the high booking volumes it delivers, coupled with the ability for hotels to actively control their inventory. There are over 165,000 suitable properties for us to partner with across Europe which is a huge opportunity for us.” The latest figures year on year from Active Hotels show that achieved room rates are continuing to rise outside London, with a 2.3% growth recorded in regional cities and 2.5% in the regions, compared to London which has seen a drop of 1.9%. In 2003, Active Hotels partnered with, among others, French hotel group Envergure, SRS-WORLDHOTELS and Sol Meliá, the largest resort hotel chain in the world. The company also added Q-Jump, Mappy, Routard, British Waterways (Waterscape.com), Loganair and Lycos to its growing distribution network. The company was named the fastest growing technology company in Britain and Ireland by Deloitte, and Dr Andrew Phillipps, Active Hotels CEO, was named the 2003 UK Ernst & Young’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year. – ends – Notes to the editor: About Active Hotels Active Hotels is Europe’s leading online reservation provider, offering the best choice of hotels and room prices available across Europe. The company works with over 5,000 leading European hotels, which it promotes across 1,500 distribution partner websites and electronic networks. Active Hotels is rapidly growing its hotel base to reach 10,000 European properties by the end of 2004. The company is predicted to process over €200 million worth of bookings for hotels throughout Europe in 2004. Active Hotels was launched in Cambridge, UK, in 1999. For further information visit:www.activehotels.com Press contacts: Rebecca Sims, Marketing and Communications, Active Hotels Tel: 01223 578134. Email: [email protected] Gina Blackie, PR Consultant, Active Hotels Tel: 01189 333777/107. Email: [email protected]