Pegasus Solutions' Utell Offers Hotel Web SiteHosting; Utell Hotel Members Can Establish Web...

Business Editors

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 17, 2000

To help its hotel customers expand their presence on the Internet, Utell is now offering its hotel members the capability to establish or equip their own proprietary Web sites with a real-time online booking engine.

Utell is a service of Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:PEGS), and with more than 6,400 hotel members, Utell ranks as the world's largest third-party provider of representation, reservations and marketing services to the hotel industry(1).

Utell's new NetBooker(TM) suite of Web site products provides individual hotel properties and small hotel chains with real-time, online booking capabilities on their own proprietary, branded Web sites.

According to Michael Prager, senior vice president and managing director, Utell, the NetBooker(TM) booking engine allows hotel branded Web sites to utilize the state-of-the-art booking functionality and architecture originally designed for Pegasus' popular travel site, TravelWeb.com. This technology is now used by more than 50 hotel branded Web sites hosted and "Powered by Pegasus(TM)," including BestWestern.com, Hyatt.com and LaQuinta.com.

"More and more hotels are realizing how critical it is to have their own sites on the Internet, but can be intimidated by the technology required to build and maintain a secure, e-commerce-enabled site. Consumers have no patience for email reservations -- they want instant availability and online reservations with instant confirmation. NetBooker is the perfect solution. It enables hotel companies to quickly and effectively implement Internet booking capabilities without making expensive technology investments needed to support enterprise-scale e-commerce sites," Prager said. "It's just one more benefit to being a member of Utell."

The NetBooker Web site hosting services include: NetBooker Express, NetBooker Link and NetBooker Custom.

NetBooker Express - designed for properties that currently do not have a site, NetBooker Express provides a complete, hosted Web site with detailed property information, photos and real-time booking capabilities. Hotels can select from four different design templates with various color and format schemes, and, typically within 24 hours, launch their own site and begin taking online reservations.

NetBooker Link - For those hotels that already have a site, Utell can make the sites "bookable" with its NetBooker Link booking engine. It provides full online booking capabilities with booking pages similar to those found on Pegasus' TravelWeb.com site.

NetBooker Custom - Also designed for hotels that already have established Web sites, NetBooker Custom provides a more customized booking engine. The booking functionality is totally integrated into the hotel's site with customized booking pages that seamlessly mirror the "look and feel" of the hotel's site.

"Our Utell members are already enjoying a significant Internet presence through the Utell Web site, Hotelbook.com, as well as through other Utell and Pegasus strategic Internet partners," Prager said. "With NetBooker, we take our hotel members' Internet distribution a step further, to include their own, branded Web sites. We are delighted to be able to extend to our Utell customers the latest in Internet technology as we are now part of Pegasus Solutions."

Company Information

With more than 6,400 member hotels in 180 countries, Pegasus Solutions' Utell service is the hotel industry's largest third-party marketing and reservations provider(1). Member properties range from budget to deluxe, city center to resort, and include major international brands, as well as independent hotels. For more information, or to make reservations with a Utell-represented property, visit Utell's Web sites at http://www.hotelbook.com or http://www.Utell.com.

Dallas-based Pegasus Solutions, Inc. (http://www.pegsinc.com) is a leading provider of end-to-end reservation distribution solutions to the hotel industry worldwide. Its services include central reservation systems; third-party marketing and reservation representation services; electronic distribution services that connect more than 32,000 hotels to the Internet and to the global distribution systems (GDS), commission processing and payment services, the consumer travel Web site TravelWeb.com (http://www.travelweb.com), and data warehousing and database marketing and consulting services. Pegasus' customers comprise more than 90,000 travel agencies around the world, including eight of the 10 largest U.S.-based travel agencies(2), approximately 35,000 hotel properties around the globe, including nine of the 10 largest hotel companies in the world based on total number of guest rooms(3), and 107 Web sites/services have contracted to have their hotel reservations Powered by Pegasus(TM). In addition to its corporate headquarters in Dallas, Pegasus has 39 offices in 25 countries, including regional hubs in Phoenix, London and Singapore. The company's stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol PEGS.

-------- (1) Hotels Magazine, "Hotels Consortia 25" July 1999.

(2) Travel Management Convention Daily, "Top 25 U.S. Agencies," July 18, 1999

(3) Business Travel News, May 31, 1999