Bezurk.com Pressroom
Press Releases
Press Coverage
FastBooking® Signs Agreement with Bezurk.com To Drive Online Presence and Hotel Booking
PARIS & SINGAPORE, 9 April, 2008 - FastBooking, the global provider of advanced Internet Booking Systems and E-Marketing Services for the hospitality industry and Bezurk.com, Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine today announced a marketing partnership, which will enable the integration of FastBooking's portfolio of hotels into the Bezurk travel search.
Under this agreement Bezurk.com will display real-time room availability and rates for all of FastBooking's hotel clients to visitors searching for accommodation and direct potential guests to FastBooking.com to complete the booking process.
This new integration will provide visitors to Bezurk.com with the opportunity to search and compare an extended selection of more than 3700 hotels in the world and more specifically on European destinations.
FastBooking's hotel portfolio mainly includes independent and group hotels from 3 to 5 stars, offering Bezurk's visitors a high quality choice while guaranteeing the most competitive rates, and the necessary availabilities to satisfy their demand.
The alliance with Bezurk.com is a key element in the FastBooking's development strategy in Asia and will enable the company to build brand awareness and promote its distinctive hotels offering to a large and valuable target audience. It follows several partnership agreements signed with international key players in the travel & tourism industry in Europe and America.
"This partnership is a valuable addition to FastBooking's distribution program designed to provide hoteliers with an additional distribution channel and maximize their on-line revenue. As Asia's premier travel search engine Bezurk.com is the ideal platform to reach highly qualified consumers across the Asia Pacific region, drive more visitors to fastbooking.com thus bringing increased visibility and high value bookings to our hotel partners" states Alain Hirschfeld, Deputy Director Business Development, FastBooking.
"We are delighted to be working with FastBooking because it expands the breadth of hotel results that our users get to see," says Bezurk Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, Craig Hewett. "This year is set to be a year of great growth for Bezurk, in terms of new product features and increasing user traffic, which will in turn benefit partners like Fastbooking."
About Bezurk.com
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights hotels and other travel products across multiple travel websites. Bezurk searches airline and hotel chain websites directly and also hotel aggregator and online travel agency sites. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. Business 2.0 magazine recently named Bezurk as one of "31 of the world's hottest international web startups".
About FastBooking
FastBooking is a leading provider of advanced Internet booking systems and E-marketing services for the hospitality industry. FastBooking's solutions help independent and chain hotels worldwide increase their revenue on the Internet and maximize their distribution strategy while simplifying the management of rates and availabilities across multiple channels.
A whole global program is available to hoteliers including a multilingual Internet Booking Engine with advanced property merchandising facilities, GDS/IDS representation, e-marketing tools and a network of hotel distribution websites (fastbooking.com, hotels-paris.fr , only-recommended-hotels.com ...) and partners. Headquartered in Paris with subsidiaries in Italy, USA, Canada, Asia, India, the company has 3i Group plc and E. de Rothschild as anchor investors. It employs 130 persons and has gained the trust of 3 700 customers.
More information on www.fastbooking.org
Contacts
FastBooking
Carole Chevreux
+33 (0)1 44 71 03 23
cchevreux@fastbooking.com
or
Miguel Bernas
+6564388242
press@bezurk.com
News Digital Media invests in Bezurk
Investment comes as the Asia Pacific online travel market is estimated to currently be worth more than US$25 billion, and growing
Singapore, 15 January, 2008 - Bezurk.com, Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine, today announced that it has received investment from and sold a minority stake to News Digital Media, the digital media arm of Australia-based News Limited.
Headquartered in Singapore, and one of the fastest growing online travel aggregators on the internet, Bezurk.com is a quick and easy-to-use travel search engine that empowers travellers based in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to search real-time price and availability information from more than 80 partner travel websites in one go.
Chief executive officer of Bezurk.com, Martin Symes, today welcomed News Digital Media's investment saying, "To have the backing of such a major player is recognition of our success to date and will accelerate our product development and international expansion plans."
"Our position in the Asia Pacific region will be further strengthened through the vast promotion, business development and integration opportunities available to us through News' investment."
Bezurk.com's revenue model is based on "Pay Per Click" and other performance-based commercial agreements. News Digital Media's investment in Bezurk.com comes as the Asia Pacific travel region is estimated to currently be worth more than US$25 billion and growing (source: PhocusWright "Asia Pacific Online Travel Marketplace" Second Edition).
News Digital Media chief executive officer, Richard Freudenstein said, "This strategic investment is significant for us as we continue to identify new commercial opportunities locally and overseas."
"Bezurk.com makes it easy for the traveller by empowering them to compare travel information and choose the best possible deal."
"We look forward to working with Bezurk.com to ensure it becomes the authority travel search engine throughout the Asia-Pacific region," Mr Freudenstein said.
Founded in 2005, Bezurk.com employees more than 20 staff and will continue to operate separately to News Digital Media, which will be represented on the Bezurk board.
In a separate transaction concurrent with the News Digital Media investment, Singapore based firm OWW Capital Partners also acquired a stake in Bezurk and will also be represented on the Bezurk board.
Relevant information on the online travel industry for editors
A recent survey of more than 2,500 people in Australia conducted by News Digital Media in partnership with CoreData found:
- Nine out of ten respondents use the internet to search for travel information or prices when planning for their holiday.
- 72% of respondents would go online to research where to go next after coming home from a vacation.
- 85.8% of respondents have travelled for holiday or business within the past year
- More than 60% would be interested in seeing price comparison tools or maps/guides on a travel website
- Less than half of people surveyed go to travel agents for information.
About Bezurk.com
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travellers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights hotels and other travel products across multiple travel websites. Bezurk searches airline and hotel chain websites directly and also hotel aggregator and online travel agency sites. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travellers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. Business 2.0 magazine recently named Bezurk as one of "31 of the world's hottest international web startups". For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
About News Digital Media
News Digital Media, News Limited's digital business, is Australia's fastest growing digital media publisher. Its operations include digital properties, NEWS.com.au, truelocal.com.au, CareerOne.com.au, CARSguide.com.au, moshtix, Learning Seat and related activities involving News Limited newspaper websites, including dailytelegraph.com.au, theaustralian.com.au, heraldsun.com.au, couriermail.com.au, perthnow.com.au, adelaidenow.com.au, themercury.com.au and magazine websites, including, vogue.com.au, taste.com.au and notebookmagazine.com. News Digital Media also has investments in shopping comparison website, Getprice and web-based recruitment solutions company Recruitadvantage. News Digital Media informs, entertains, empowers and connects millions of people through compelling and highly engaging digital media properties.
For further information, please contact:
Sue Lynn Goh at Text100 on +65 6557 2717, or at SueLynn.Goh@text100.com.sg
Yellow Pages (Singapore) Limited collaborates with Bezurk.com to provide online travel search service
Yellow Pages Singapore integrates Bezurk's travel engine on www.yellowpages.com.sg
Singapore, 13 December, 2007 - Yellow Pages (Singapore) Limited, the leading multiplatform directory search and advertising solutions provider in Singapore, and Bezurk.com, provider of Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine, today jointly announced a collaboration to launch a new travel search service for Singaporeans on Internet Yellow Pages (www.yellowpages.com.sg).
Through this collaboration, Bezurk.com will provide Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) users the opportunity to search and compare travel deals across airlines, online travel agencies, hotel chains and hotel aggregators' websites quickly through a single integrated service.
The new service delivers a comprehensive range of real-time, detailed information on price, availability, scheduling and more. Search results are presented in a simple, easy-to-use interface, and supported by leading-edge AJAX-powered sorting and filtering tools.
Research from PhoCusWright and Gomez shows that an average traveller visits three to four websites to compare prices and products before making an online transaction. With this online travel search service, users can access unbiased information that allows precision decision-making with just a simple search.
"As the leading online directory search portal, IYP serves both business and home users, and travel is one of the popular searches across both segments. We see much synergy in this collaboration with Bezurk.com as we continually strive to enhance our offerings to meet our users' needs in the most convenient and efficient manner," said Yellow Pages Singapore's CEO Danny Chow.
"Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) has a proven business track record. It is the most comprehensive online directory in Singapore and was ranked as the #1 website in the Business and Finance categories by Hitwise in 2006. It attracts a high-value professional audience who are both Internet savvy and are frequent travellers," said Craig Hewett, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk.com. "We're excited to be working with IYP to extend our travel search engine to their online users."
The travel search engine will allow Singapore users (via IYP) to:
- Compare prices from dozens of merchants, including both online travel agencies and airline websites on the same screen
- Sort search results by price, departure time, arrival time or flight duration
- Search availability and room rates at more than 100,000 hotels, hostels and Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs) worldwide
- Filter search accommodation results by price range, star rating, hotel chain or brand, amenities (e.g. broadband Internet), property type and booking partner
IYP delivers comprehensive and up-to-date information from its extensive business and residentialdatabases to help users seeking precise answers. The portal serves more than 800,000 unique visitors with 4.5 million searches per month.
About Yellow Pages (Singapore) Limited
Established in 1967, Yellow Pages (Singapore) Limited is the largest publisher of telephone directories and provider of classified directory advertising and associated products and services in Singapore
The Group maintains, develops and updates extensive classified databases of information on businesses, the core of which are small and medium sized enterprises in Singapore. The Group's principal activities are in the sale of advertising in, and the preparation and publication of classified directories that connect businesses to businesses (B2B) and businesses to consumers (B2C) in both print and digital form. The Group's Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) is the most comprehensive online directory in Singapore and was ranked as the #1 website in the Business and Finance category - Business Directories 2006 in the Hitwise Singapore Online Performance awards programme.
In March 2007, the Group successfully blazed a new trail with the soft launch of its enhanced IYP and Mobile Yellow Pages (MYP). MYP is Singapore's first mobile directory that allows users to access shopping, dining and business information on their mobile phones. The Group was listed on SGXST on Dec 9, 2004. For further information, please visit www.yps.com.sg.
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travellers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agencies. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travellers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI.
Bezurk.com Media Contact:
press@bezurk.com
+65-6438-8242
www.bezurk.com
Yellow Pages Media Contact:
Contact: Jacqueline Yap / Alan Siow
Tel: 6351-1815 / 6351-1388
Fax: 6351-1800 / 6351 1389
Email: jacqueline.yap@yellowpages.com.sg / alan.siow@yellowpages.com.sg
Asiatravel.com partners with travel search engine Bezurk.com to drive hotel bookings and market new online flights booking service
Singapore, 25th October, 2007 - Asiatravel.com, the pan-Asia total travel reservation service and Bezurk.com, Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine today announced a marketing partnership as part of which Asiatravel's hotel and flight prices will be integrated into the Bezurk travel search which will expose Asiatravel to a large new audience.
Asiatravel.com recently launched an instant confirmation flight reservation service allowing customers the convenience of booking flights departing from Singapore. This service will subsequently be extended to departure from all major Asian cities.
"We've had great results to date working with Bezurk to promote Asiatravel's hotel offerings so now that Asiatravel has entered the online flights reservations business we're delighted to extend our already successful partnership to promote our new flights service," said Boh Tuang Poh, Asiatravel's Executive Chairman. "We're confident that our partnership with Bezurk will drive new users, increased bookings and repeat customers to Asiatravel.com"
"Asiatravel is one of the true pioneers of the Asian online travel space and are well known by many travellers for their attractively priced hotel deals," said Martin Symes, CEO Bezurk. "We're thrilled to be working with Asiatravel to promote their new flight online booking service and look forward to working with them as they extend this service to new markets across the region.
About Asiatravel (asiatravel.com)
Asiatravel.com is a pan-Asia online travel and hotel reservation service provider with network of offices in 8 countries. It is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Asiatravel has direct contracts with over 5,000 hotels in its core destinations in the region. In addition it has tie-up with various 3rd party on-line reservation systems giving instant access to over 60,000 hotels' inventories worldwide. Asiatravel ensures that travellers get to enjoy great value, last minute availability and instant confirmation with an option to pay on check-out at the hotel. The ultimate goal is to enable customers to make hotel and travel reservations with instant confirmation anytime, anywhere.
Soon Asiatravel will introduce last minute availability and instant confirmation on air tickets and dynamic air, hotel, transfer and tour packages from multi-departure points in Asia, giving travellers a comprehensive One-Stop-Service with choice and convenience.
AsiaTravel PR Contact:
Fay G. Luge,
Group Director, Marketing and PR.
Tel : +65 6730 4107
Email : fay@asiatravel.com
About Bezurk (bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travellers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travellers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. Business 2.0 magazine published by The FORTUNE/MONEY Group of Time Inc., has named Bezurk as one of "31 of the world's hottest startups in 2007" For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Bezurk PR Contact:
Craig Hewett
Chief Marketing Officer
Bezurk.com
Tel: +65 6438 8242
Email : craig@bezurk.com
Bezurk.com partners with Amadeus
Amadeus enters Asian travel search market with Bezurk.com
Bangkok, Thailand (Asia-Pacific), 23 August 2007 - Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced that Bezurk.com, Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine, has chosen Amadeus Meta Pricer in the Asia-Pacific region. Meta Pricer, based on the next generation Amadeus Web Services Interface, helps travel search companies efficiently and cost-effectively retrieve accurate information on flight availability and prices from their airline partners. The result is a fast, efficient low-fare search which yields better quality results for the end consumer.
Travel search companies allow consumers, in a single query, to search and compare results from multiple airline and travel provider websites and the results are merged and displayed on a single page. These companies first appeared in North America in 2000 to help consumers with their online shopping and to manage the large number of websites. Bezurk.com was founded to cover the booming Asian Pacific market which was, at the time, poorly served by travel search companies. Bezurk.com is run by senior executives formerly from Yahoo, InterContinental Hotels Group, ZUJI and Priceline.
Without Amadeus Meta Pricer, travel search companies must directly access the airlines' websites or reservation systems to retrieve results. This can generate a lot of traffic on the airline's website and often does not return the most accurate availability or fares to the consumer. By contrast, when a search is made with Amadeus Meta Pricer, the query is conducted within Amadeus' inventory of fares, vastly reducing the strain on the airlines' website and increasing the accuracy of results. The cost-efficient model facilitates mutually profitable relationships between travel search companies and airlines.
"Many airlines have been telling us loud and clear that they are excited about partnering with Bezurk.com and the incremental direct business we can drive for them but that they really don't want us to screenscrape their public websites in order to get their fares & availability", said Martin Symes, CEO Bezurk.com. "By being able to retrieve data from Amadeus, Bezurk is the only travel search engine in the Asia Pacific region that is able to offer carriers this state of the art solution."
"This is an extremely exciting time for online travel in the Asia Pacific region. PhoCusWright predicts that a fifth of all travel in the Asia Pacific market will be booked online by 2008. That is nearly double the figure for 2006, when 12% of travel in the region was booked online. With market-leading solutions like Meta Pricer and innovative partners like Bezurk.com, Amadeus hopes to be a key driver in an industry which is rapidly adopting new technologies," says David Brett, President, Asia Pacific, Amadeus.
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories - Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.
Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations - data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 76 countries covering more than 215 markets.
The company is owned by WAM Acquisition, whose shareholders are BC Partners, Cinven, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa. Amadeus employs over 7,600 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus' revenue for the twelve months ended 31 December 2006 was EUR2.683m.
More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com.
Contact details
LEWIS
Kristy Weller
Tel: +65 6534 7250
Mobile: +65 9069 3844
E-mail: kristyw@lewispr.com
Joanie Koh
Tel: +65 6534 7250
Mobile: +65 9783 0480
E-mail: joaniek@lewispr.com
Business 2.0 Magazine includes Singapore's Bezurk.com on list of "31 of the World's Hottest Startups"
Singapore, 31st July, 2007 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific Travel Search Engine, today announced that Business 2.0 magazine, published by The FORTUNE/MONEY Group of Time Inc., has named Bezurk as one of "31 of the world's hottest startups".
The feature article is headed "It's a Web, Web, Web 2.0 world" and leads in with "Not all of the startup action happens in Silicon Valley. Business 2.0 Magazine picks the top websites outside the U.S. that are changing the world." The list was compiled by Business 2.0 journalists Erick Schonfeld and Yi-Wen Yen. "This year, putting together the map was more an exercise of culling down the candidates than of finding good ones," says Erick Schonfeld in a blog post. "The point was to be selective."
"It's a win-win for Bezurk and travel providers", according to Business 2.0 Magazine because, "Bezurk gets traffic, and (travel) providers build direct relationships with new customers."
"We've assembled a great team in Singapore to apply leading edge technology and an innovative business model to the US$20billion Asia-Pacific online travel market," said Martin Symes, Bezurk CEO. "We're thrilled to be recognised by Business 2.0's as one of the hottest web startups outside the U.S."
Bezurk.com helps people save both time and money when shopping for flights, hotels, activities and travel deals by comparing rates and availability across multiple websites and then linking users into supplier websites to book.
Featured in the article was Bezurk's rich functionality, fat client AJAX interface that makes sorting, filtering and comparing travel products effortless for the end user. It also allows Bezurk to progressively stream search results from each partner straight to the user's browser without having to wait for all partners to finish returning results, delivering a fast and intuitive user experience.
Bezurk was the only Singaporean company featured in this years list.
Business 2.0's "31 of the world's hottest startups" article can be read in the upcoming August 2007 issue of Business 2.0 magazine, and online at:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0707/gallery.web_world.biz2/index.html
Complete list of all 31 sites featured:
- Afrigator (South Africa)
- Aprex (Brazil)
- Babelgum (Italy)
- Babytree (China)
- Bezurk (Singapore)
- Bliin (Netherlands)
- Burrp (India)
- Cambrian House (Canada)
- eDushi (China)
- eSnips (Israel)
- Joost (UK)
- Keotag (New Caledonia)
- Kichdee (India)
- Maxthon (China)
- Mobagetown (Japan)
- mTouche (Malaysia)
- Myubo (Slovakia)
- OhmyNews (South Korea)
- Pixrat (India)
- Rebtel (Sweden)
- Sky-Click (Switzerland)
- Spreadshirt (Germany)
- Stardoll (Sweden)
- Tangler (Australia)
- Tractis (Spain)
- Trendio (Sweden)
- Trivop (France)
- Vivapets (Portugal)
- Weblin (Germany)
- Widsets (Finland)
- YoYo Games (UK)
About Business 2.0
Business 2.0 magazine is published by The FORTUNE/MONEY Group of Time Inc. Business 2.0 informs readers on what is working today in management, technology, marketing and other areas. Business 2.0 provides comprehensive industry coverage including emerging technologies, business models and trends. Also learn strategies of groundbreaking companies and how to put them to use.
About Bezurk.com
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches airlines, hotel chains, hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI.
Further information for media:
press@bezurk.com
+65-6438-8242
Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts Signs On Bezurk.com To Drive Online Presence and Booking
Singapore, 25th June, 2007 - Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts partners with one of Asia Pacific's leading travel search engine Bezurk.com to further extend its reach to customers booking hotels online.
The tie up with Bezurk.com will enable Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts to promote its global portfolio of 20 hotels and resorts to visitors using Bezurk.com to search for accommodation. Bezurk.com will display real-time room availability, rates and packages for all hotels and resorts of Pan Pacific and direct potential guests to panpacific.com to complete the booking process.
"The alliance with Bezurk.com will increase the online presence of the Pan Pacific brand and more importantly, it will significantly drive more visitors and bookings to panpacific.com. This will translate into higher awareness and improved revenue for our hotels," states Kevin Croley, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
Visitors to panpacific.com will appreciate its enhanced website features which make travel planning faster, easier and more convenient for customers, resulting in stronger brand loyalty and value. Pan Pacific has invested close to US$1 million in e-commerce and distribution infrastructure and resources over a 12-month period to deliver a technologically advanced and efficient online booking platform.
"We chose Bezurk.com as our marketing partner as they understand our business model. It also has the technological infrastructure and market reach to help us achieve our objective to increase direct online revenue. We will continue to explore such strategic partnerships as part of our online distribution and marketing strategy", added Kevin.
Bezurk Founder & Chief Marketing Officer Craig Hewett said, "The Pan Pacific brand is already popular with our users and now through this partnership they can benefit from booking direct with Pan Pacific Hotels and be guaranteed best available rates with a broader range of room type options," added Craig. "We are very excited to have been chosen as their preferred marketing partner."
About Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts
Headquartered in Singapore, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts is a leading hotel management company in the Pacific Rim region. Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts has been recognised by Conde Nast Traveler magazine as one of the 25 hotel companies demonstrating social responsibility. Pan Pacific has a portfolio of 20 hotels with over 7,000 rooms in 11 countries throughout Asia, the Pacific and North America. It has offices in San Francisco, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts is a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance. For more information, visit panpacific.com.
About Global Hotel Alliance
Global Hotel Alliance currently comprises 7 luxury brands encompassing 153 upscale and luxury hotels with over 46,000 rooms in 39 different countries. Each brand is a key player in their main region of operation: Kempinski in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Omni in North America, Pan Pacific in the Pacific Rim, The Leela Group in India, Dusit in Thailand, Landis in Taiwan and China, and Marco Polo in China and Hong Kong. GHA will continue to grow to include selected hotel brands in those regions not currently covered by the alliance. For more information, visit www.globalhotelalliance.com
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo!, Priceline and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts
Brenda Tan
Marketing Communications Manager
DID: (65) 6622 2311
Tel: (65) 6622 2300
Fax: (65) 6334 8552
Email: brenda.tan@panpacific.com
Urban Scoop Consultancy
Joanna Ong
Mobile: (65) 9687 7910
Email: joanna@u-scoop.com
Bezurk.com
Tel: + (65) 6438 8242
Email: press@bezurk.com
Scoop.co.nz partners with Bezurk.com to provide online travel search service for New Zealanders
Scoop integrates Bezurk's travel engine on Scoop.co.nz
Singapore, 21st June, 2007 - Scoop, the leading independent news publication in New Zealand, today announced a partnership with the Asia-Pacific Travel Search Engine, Bezurk.com to launch a new travel search engine service for New Zealanders on Scoop.co.nz.
Under the agreement, Bezurk.com will give Scoop.co.nz readers the opportunity to search and compare travel deals across airlines, online travel agencies, hotel chains and hotel aggregators websites quickly at one easy-to-use service.
Research shows that an average traveller visits 3-4 websites to compare prices and products before transacting. Bezurk's travel search engine allows a user to save both time and money by automating and greatly expanding this comparison shopping process.
"Bezurk's supplier neutrality allows them to deliver an unbiased comparison of travel products which fits perfectly with the philosophy of our independent news service. We are delighted to be partnering with Bezurk.com and providing our readers with the ability to find the best deals across multiple airline and hotel websites at one time," said Wade Bishop, Scoop's Business Development Manager. "Bezurk's travel search product will be localised for Scoop to include New Zealand-based travel companies so that our readers are presented with the best of both NZ and globally based travel suppliers."
"Scoop is one of NZ's largest online news resources and attracts a high-value professional audience who are both internet savvy and frequent travellers." said Craig Hewett, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk.com. "We're delighted to be working with Scoop to introduce our travel search engine to a New Zealand audience.
The service allows users to feel confident that after visiting just one site, they have found the best possible deal. It delivers an incredible range of real-time, detailed information on price, availability, scheduling and more. Search results are presented in a simple, easy-to-use interface, and supported by leading-edge AJAX powered sorting and filtering tools. Because Bezurk isn't a travel agent and doesn't sell travel themselves users can be confident that the results they see are unbiased.
The upcoming travel search engine will allow New Zealanders to:
- Search for domestic and international flights and airfares
- Compare prices from dozens of merchants, including both online travel agencies and airline websites on the same screen
- Compare prices for domestic and trans-tasman flights inclusive of all airport charges, taxes, fuel surcharges
- Sort search results by price, departure time, arrival time or flight duration
- Search availability and room rates at 100,000+ hotels, hostels and B&Bs worldwide
- Filter search accommodation results by price range, star rating, hotel chain or brand, amenities (eg. broadband internet), property type, booking partner
The travel search engine will be launched in Q3-2007. Any travel supplier that is interested in participating should contact Bezurk.com for more information.
About Scoop.co.nz:
Scoop.co.nz is a "fiercely independent" news website established in 1999 and accredited to the New Zealand Parliament Press Gallery. It is New Zealand's largest online resource of "raw news content" generated from Business, Central and Regional Government, Education, Health, Science and Technology sectors.
Scoop.co.nz has a readership averaging 500 000 unique browsers a month and recently received 2 finalist awards at the Qantas Media Awards in the Best News Website and Best Single News Report categories.
For more information visit www.scoop.co.nz
Scoop.co.nz Media Contact
Wade Bishop
Business Development Manager
E: wade@scoop.co.nz
T: 64-9-420 8684
M: 64-21-406 715
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Bezurk.com PR Contact
+65 6438 8242
press@bezurk.com
Bezurk.com Signs Marketing Agreement with Qatar Airways
Singapore, 11th June, 2007 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific travel search engine announced a marketing partnership with Qatar Airways, a leading global airline now flying to more than 75 destinations worldwide.
Under the agreement, Qatar Airways will promote its fares on Bezurk.com's flights search engine and deals channel, and then direct consumers to book flights on www.qatarairways.com. Bezurk will access and display real-time Qatar Airways fares and availability throughout its network of Bezurk and partner branded websites. Consumers selecting a Qatar Airways' fare will be deep-linked into the Qatar Airways' website, allowing the airline to maximise sales through its recently enhanced online booking engine.
"The strategic initiative will drive more bookings through Qatar Airways' online distribution channel" said Peter Pohlschmidt, Manager E-commerce Qatar Airways.The partnership with Bezurk will allow the national carrier of the State of Qatar to very effectively market their fares to consumers, extending the Five-Star airline's brand exposure and awareness of their online booking capabilities.
"Bezurk offers a fantastic marketing platform for airlines to reach out to consumers across the Asia Pacific region and to drive direct bookings to their website," said Martin Symes, Bezurk's CEO. "We are very excited to have Qatar Airways on board and being a key part of their online growth strategy."
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
About Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways.com)
Qatar Airways is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world operating a fleet of 57 all-Airbus aircraft to 75 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and the Far East.
Ranked Five Star for service and excellence by Skytrax � the independent aviation industry monitoring agency - Qatar Airways has also been adjudged by the same organisation as having the best cabin crew in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006.
Qatar Airways plans to more than double the size of its fleet by 2015 with plans to acquire 80 Airbus A350s and 22 Boeing 777s, for deliveries of the latter beginning in November 2007.
From its hub in Doha, capital of the State of Qatar, the airline has plans to expand its fleet, frequency and number of destinations during the rest of 2007. With flights already launched this year to Dar es Salaam, Lagos, Chennai, Bali and Ho Chi Minh City, Qatar Airways is planning to start direct scheduled flights to the United States for the first time this summer. Flights to New York will begin on June 26, followed by Washington DC on July 19, together with services to Geneva on June 26. And on November 30, the airline launches non-stop flights to Stockholm.
Bezurk.com PR Contact
Steven Gong
Bezurk Pte Ltd
+65 6438 8242
steven@bezurk.com
Qatar Airways PR Contact
Peter Pohlschmidt
Qatar Airways
Tel (+974) 4496281
ppohlschmidt@qatarairways.com.qa
Bezurk.com secures marketing alliance with Carlson Hotels Worldwide
Agreement means Real-Time Rates and Availability for more than 900 Hotels
Singapore, 8th May, 2007 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced a marketing alliance with Carlson Hotels Worldwide®, the world's largest privately held hotel company to feature real-time rates and availability for all Carlson Hotels properties worldwide to their Asia Pacific based audience. The program will drive customers directly into the five Carlson Hotels websites to book their hotels. Carlson operates more than 940 hotels in 71 countries under the brands Regent Hotels & Resorts; Radisson Hotels & Resorts®; Park Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson : and Park Inn®.
"During the past two years we have made significant investments in our Direct Online capabilities. This has been complemented with a comprehensive redesign of our hotel branded websites providing more relevant and enriched content combined with even speedier booking capabilities" said Frank Trampert, Vice President of Distribution Services & IT, Carlson Hotels Worldwide. "Bezurk's leadership team clearly understands what hotels and travelers look for when booking travel. Their approach to travel search is clever and supplier friendly, which is a great fit with our strategy of increased direct bookings to our websites, reaching a highly qualified customer base motivated to book online."
Bezurk Founder & Chief Marketing Officer Craig Hewett said, "Carlson's world renowned hotel brands cater to both luxury and mid-scale travellers and will significantly enrich the range of real-time hotel properties searchable using Bezurk.com," said Craig Hewett, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk. "We are pleased to be selected as one of Carlson Hotels preferred marketing channels in the Asia-Pacific region and look forward to delivering customers direct to their branded websites."
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Further information for media:
press@bezurk.com
+65-6438-8242
About Carlson Hotels Worldwide
Minneapolis-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide operates 948 locations in 71 countries, including Regent Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts®, Park Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, and Park Inn®. Carlson Hotels Worldwide is one of the major operating groups of Carlson, a global leader in providing marketing, travel and hospitality services. Other names among the Carlson family of brands and services are: Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Carlson Marketing Group, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Results Travel, Cruise Holidays, T.G.I. Friday's and Pick Up Stix restaurants.
Carlson Hotels Worldwide Media Contact
Barbara Maunsell
VP Sales & Marketing
Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Asia Pacific
e-mail: bmaunsell@carlson.com
T: +65 6511 9274
F: +65 6274 9424
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Bezurk.com Launches Flight Search With Revolutionary New User Interface
New "Best Fares Matrix" helps users scan and filter thousands of airfare & flight combinations in real-time
Singapore, 2nd May, 2007 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific Travel Search Engine, today launched a new Flight Search product that searches multiple airline and travel agencies and features a revolutionary new user interface that allows users to easily scan and filter thousands of airfare and flight combinations in real-time.
A flight search entered on Bezurk.com is sent to all of Bezurk's airline and travel agency partners who respond to Bezurk with prices, flight details and seat availability. Results are then standardized and augmented with rich product information before being streamed to the user's web browser. This saves the user from having to visit each website individually and to perform the same search over and over in order to find the best flight deal.
A search for a busy city-pair such as Singapore-Hong Kong often returns a hundred or more airfares and thousands of different flight combinations. The new Bezurk flight search interface is designed to simplify the sifting process by allowing a user to apply multiple product filters to the results set in real-time and to see at a glance in the Best Fares Matrix the best 3 prices for each airline.
"We've been beta-testing and tweaking our flight search product for several months now," said Ross Veitch, Chief Product Officer, Bezurk.com. "Our new version includes more booking partners, is significantly faster, has more powerful filters and is much easier to use than our beta versions. For travel shoppers in the Asia Pacific region there is no better way to save both time and money when looking for the best deals on airfares."
The rich functionality, fat client interface utilises cutting edge AJAX technology to make sorting, filtering and comparing travel products effortless for the end user. It also allows Bezurk to progressively stream search results from each partner straight to the user's browser without having to wait for all partners to finish returning results, delivering a fast and intuitive user experience.
Features in the new user interface include:
- A comparison of prices inclusive of all airport charges, taxes, fuel surcharges (where available) is shown so a consumer can make a true price comparison between competing suppliers
- Filtering of search results by airline, price range, departure/arrival time, number of stops, stopover airports, plane type, airports, cabin class or booking website
- Sorting of search results by price, departure time, arrival time or flight duration
- Detailed flight information including: flight #, flight arrival and departure times, stopover information (where and for how long), type of plane, whether it is a code-share and if so which airline is operating the flight
- Fare details including booking partner name & website URL, base fare, tax and total fare (where available), fare type and fare rules (where available)
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, deals & activities across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Further information for media:
press@bezurk.com
+65-6438-8242
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News Digital Media partners with Bezurk.com to provide online travel search service
News Digital Media integrates Bezurk's travel engine on NEWS.com.au
Sydney, March 21st, 2007 - News Digital Media, the digital division of News Limited, today announced a partnership with the Asia-Pacific Travel Search engine, Bezurk.com to launch a new travel search engine service on NEWS.com.au's travel section (www.news.com.au/travel).
Under the agreement, Bezurk.com will give NEWS.com.au readers the opportunity to search and compare the websites of airlines, travel agents, hotel chains and accommodation websites quickly at one easy-to-use location.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Bezurk.com and providing our readers with the ability to find the best deals across multiple airline and hotel websites at one time," said group publisher for the media division of News Digital Media, Sigrid Kirk.
"We are constantly enhancing and extending our offering. By integrating the travel search engine with the comprehensive travel content available at NEWS.com.au, we are delivering readers with everything they need to save time and money when planning travel."
Today's announcement comes as the travel section of NEWS.com.au reports more than a 110% growth in audience over the past 12 months.*
"News Digital Media is one of Australia's leading digital businesses whose brands impact the daily lives of a rapidly growing number of everyday Australians," said chief marketing officer for Bezurk.com, Craig Hewett. "We're thrilled to be partnering with a media company like News Digital Media to integrate their comprehensive travel editorial content with our flight and hotel search service on NEWS.com.au."
The travel search engine available at www.news.com.au/travel gives users the ability to:
- Search for domestic and international flights and airfares
- Compare prices from dozens of merchants, including both online travel agencies and airline websites on the same screen
- Sort by search results by price, departure time, arrival time or flight duration
- Sort accommodation search results by price, brand or star rating
- Filter search accommodation results by price range, star rating, hotel chain or brand, amenities (eg. broadband internet), property type, booking partner
- Compare prices for domestic and trans-tasman flights inclusive of all airport charges, taxes, fuel surcharges and credit card fees
- Search availability and room rates at 100,000+ hotels, hostels and B&Bs worldwide
- Compare prices on offer from dozens of accommodation websites
Bezurk.com utilises cutting edge Ajax technology, a web development technique for creating interactive web applications that make sorting, filtering and comparing travel products effortless for the end user. The technology also allows a user to start reviewing initial search results while subsequent results are being streamed to the browser.
About News Digital Media (www.newsdigitalmedia.com.au):
News Digital Media, the digital arm of News Limited, is a dynamic new media company. News Digital Media oversees the business operations of digital properties, NEWS.com.au, FOXSPORTS.com.au, truelocal.com.au, CareerOne.com.au, CARSguide.com.au, in2mobi, Moshtix, along with partly-owned realestate.com.au and related activities involving News Limited newspapers, and the Australian versions of Fox Interactive Media sites myspace.com and IGN.com. News Digital Media has a diverse audience base that enables advertisers to hit many target markets
About NEWS.com.au (www.news.com.au):
NEWS.com.au is the flagship brand for News Limited's online arm, News Digital Media.
Committed to offering the latest news across entertainment, business, sports and travel, NEWS.com.au is unmatched in the depth and breadth of news it provides users. NEWS.com.au not only provides a daily news source but also delivers rich and detailed media coverage reports, along with a variety of blogs and user generated forums. With Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and content led emails, NEWS.com.au gives users the opportunity to tailer their news so it suits their personal needs. NEWS.com.au is also a gateway to News Limited's major metropolitan newspapers, including: The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, Herald Sun, The Advertiser and Sunday Times.
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travellers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travellers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
*Source Nielsen Net Ratings, Market Intelligence, Travel Domestic Category.
For more information, please contact:
Kate McQuestin
News Digital Media
(02) 9288 7552
0419 591 150
kate.mcquestin@newsdigitalmedia.com.au
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The China Post Partners with Bezurk.com to Provide Online Travel Search
The China Post Integrates Bezurk.com's Hotel Search Engine on ChinaPost.com.tw
Singapore, March 6th, 2007 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific travel search engine, and The China Post, Taiwan's leading English-language newspaper, announced the launch of a new hotel search engine service on the ChinaPost.com.tw news site's Travel section, one of Taiwan's largest English-language travel guides.
Under the agreement Bezurk.com will provide a hotel meta-search service that is able to search dozens of hotel suppliers globally in real-time with powerful sorting and filtering functions. With a fast and intuitive interface, Bezurk's search engine enables ChinaPost.com.tw users to quickly search for and be directed to hotel supplier websites where they can book the hotel.
“The China Post is constantly enhancing the functionality and user experience of our flagship news site,” said Jack Huang, Publisher of The China Post. “By integrating Bezurk's hotel search capability, we are able to provide our readers an industry-leading online hotel reservation solution for their travel needs around the globe.”
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Bezurk to deliver advanced hotel meta-searching capabilities to The China Post readers, empowering consumers to find the best hotel deals through searching multiple websites at one time,” said Martin Symes, Bezurk's CEO. “This distribution is fantastic for our travel partners, who will now be exposed to ChinaPost.com.tw's growing audience in Taiwan.”
Bezurk's hotel search can be accessed at www.chinapost.com.tw/travel/.
Bezurk.com PR Contact
Steven Gong
Manager, Strategy
Bezurk Pte Ltd
Tel: +65 6438 8242
Email: steven@bezurk.com
The China Post Media Contact
Heidi Chen
International Marketing & Advertising
The China Post
Tel: +886-2-2596-9971
Email: heidi@mail.chinapost.com.tw
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches travel suppliers like airlines and hotel chains directly but also hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Yahoo, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
About The China Post (chinapost.com.tw)
Founded in 1952 by distinguished World War II journalists Mr. and Mrs. Y.P. Huang, The China Post is Taiwan's leading English-language newspaper in daily readership and editorial coverage. As a daily newspaper, The China Post provides 400,000-plus readers with comprehensive news and entertainment coverage of Taiwan, China, and the world. The official news site of The China Post, China Post Online, holds the distinction as Taiwan's only English-language news site with around the clock news updates, everyday. To stay informed of what's happening in your world, visit www.chinapost.com.tw
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MediaCorp Press partners Asia Pacific travel search Bezurk.com to launch new hotel search service
Singapore, March 5th, 2007 - MediaCorp Press is proud to partner Asia Pacific travel search engine, Bezurk.com for the launch of a new hotel search service for users of todayonline.com website.
TODAY is the flagship newspaper of MediaCorp Press, which is part of MediaCorp. Under the agreement, Bezurk.com will provide a hotel meta-search service that is able to search dozens of hotel suppliers in real-time to check the pricing and availability of more than 100,000 hotels worldwide.
Powerful yet easy to use, sorting, filtering and comparison tools are provided to help users find the absolute best travel deal.
“MediaCorp Press is committed to giving todayonline.com users practical solutions to everyday problems,” says Mr Walter Fernandez, Managing Editor, MediaCorp Press. “We are excited to team with Bezurk.com to allow our users such an innovative way of searching for the best travel deals on the web.”
Says Mr Martin Symes, Bezurk's CEO, “Todayonline.com is one of Singapore's most popular websites and is visited daily by many Singaporeans for their news fix. As a Singapore-based Internet start-up, we are thrilled to welcome such a large and distinguished company as MediaCorp Press for a distribution partner. This distribution will greatly increase the exposure in Singapore of our travel partners, extending their reach to the hundreds of thousands of todayonline.com visitors.”
Jointly issued by MediaCorp Press and Bezurk
For more information, please contact:
Joni Ng
Marketing Manager
MediaCorp Press
Tel: (65) 6236 4910
Fax: (65) 6532 4966
E-mail: joni.ng@mediacorp.com.sg
Steven Gong
Manager, Strategy
Bezurk Pte Ltd
Tel: (65) 6438 8242
E-mail: steven@bezurk.com
About MediaCorp Press
TODAY is the flagship newspaper of MediaCorp Press, which is part of MediaCorp.
MediaCorp, the largest broadcaster in Singapore, offers a complete range of media businesses: TV, Radio, Entertainment Productions, Movie Productions, Newspapers, Magazines, Electronic Media and other broadcasting services.
TODAY, a free newspaper, offers busy working people quality content in a convenient, compact format. Each day some 584,000 readers in Singapore find in TODAY an unrivalled package of the top local and international news and views. News reports are succinct and commentaries, thought provoking.
For weekend reading, WEEKEND TODAY offers not just the news but also lively and highly readable features and profiles, and also WH?CH, a guide to some of the best deals in fashion, food, gadgets, cars and property.
The newspaper is delivered to homes and offices Mondays to Saturdays and is also available at MRT stations, bus interchanges, selected food and beverage outlets, office buildings and shopping malls. It is also available round-the-clock on the Internet at www.todayonline.com
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to partner websites to book.
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Bezurk.com signs marketing partnership with Accor Hotels & Resorts
Singapore. December 19th, 2006 - Bezurk.com, the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership with Accor Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest hotel and tourism group with more than 4,000 hotels and resorts in 90 countries, with the most comprehensive choice of hotel styles and locations.
Through this partnership, Bezurk.com will drive consumers directly to Accor's 7 new brand websites which have been specifically designed for Asia Pacific users (www.sofitel-asia.com, www.grandmercure-asia.com, www.novotel-asia.com, www.ibis-asia.com, www.mecure-asia.com, www.allseasons-asia.com, www.formule1-asia.com).
Accor's Vice President Distribution & Information Systems - Asia Pacific, Maria Taylor, said "This partnership aligns well with our strategy of broadening distribution reach for our hotels and at the same time engaging directly with customers through our brand websites." Maria added "Bezurk is the ideal platform to promote our best on-line 'Hot Deals' and to merchandise our up-sell options like breakfast and spa packages."
"With its extensive hotel network, competitive pricing and superior online functionality, Accor offers travellers substantial value," said Craig Hewett, Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk, "We're confident that this value will resonate with Bezurk users, and we are excited to be an important part of Accor's marketing strategy."
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Intercontinental Hotels Group, Yahoo! and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Further information for media:
press@bezurk.com
+(65) 6438 8242
About Accor Hotels & Resorts
Accor is the world's largest hotel and tourism group with more than 4,000 hotels and resorts in 90 countries, with the most comprehensive choice of hotel styles and locations.
Accor's hotel brands include the luxury of Sofitel, business class of Novotel, variety of All Seasons, flexibility of Mercure, value of Ibis and convenience of Formule 1.
Accor is also one of the global leaders in tourism, travel, casinos, restaurants and the provision of corporate and public institution services. Each day, more than 12 million people in 31 countries use a range of services created and managed by Accor.
Accor Media Contacts
Gaynor Reid
gaynor.reid [at] accor.com
+ (612) 9280 3235
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Lonely Planet partners with Bezurk.com for Travel Search
Bezurk.com to power air and hotel search in Asia Pacific for the Lonely Planet website
Singapore. August 22nd, 2006 - Bezurk.com, the Asia Pacific travel search engine and Lonely Planet, the world's premier independent travel publisher, today announced that Bezurk.com is to power flight and hotel search for the Asia Pacific region on lonelyplanet.com.
"As part of our commitment to delivering enhanced services to our travelers, we selected Bezurk.com for their unique travel search technology and extensive travel partnerships in the Asia Pacific region." said Mike McDermott, Travel Services Manager, Lonely Planet.
Lonely Planet Travel Services is a one-stop shop for all travelers trip planning needs. Lonely Planet carefully selects travel companies to partner with businesses that are ideally suited to service the needs of independent travelers.
Craig Hewett, Bezurk's Founder and Chief Marketing Officer said: "We are delighted to be working with Lonely Planet which is one of the truly iconic travel brands of our generation." Mr Hewett continued: "Lonely Planet is all about getting out and experiencing the best the world has to offer. Through our partnership we are confident that lonelyplanet.com users will save some time and money during their travel preparations and therefore be able to see a little bit more of the world than they would have otherwise."
Through this partnership lonelyplanet.com users will enjoy the convenience of searching for flights and hotels, across multiple airline, hotel and online travel agent websites in a single search. The search functionality will be included in the "Travel Services" section of the Lonely Planet website www.lonelyplanet.com/travel_services/flights/single_return.cfm
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Yahoo, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
About Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is the world's leading independent global travel information provider and publisher headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with regional offices in the US and UK. Founded in 1973 by husband and wife team Tony and Maureen Wheeler, the company publishes over 600 titles in English and sells more than 6.5 million books a year in 118 countries. Lonely Planet has an award-winning website and online stock photography library and more than 300 authors from over 20 countries research the world over and provide expert information.
Lonely Planet's Business Services Unit is dedicated to leveraging this travel expertise to create travel content for new distribution channels and business clients. Visit www.lonelyplanet.biz.
For Media Enquiries:
Bezurk Pte Limited
Bezurk.com
Tel: (65) 6438 8242
press@Bezurk.com
Lonely Planet Pty Ltd
Lonelyplanet.com
Mike.McDermott@lonelyplanet.com.au
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Bezurk.com signs marketing agreement with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Bezurk to play key role in promoting KLM's New Best Price Guarantee
Singapore. August 7th, 2006 - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Bezurk.com, the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership designed to market the carrier's web site, KLM.com.sg.
With this partnership, Bezurk.com will promote KLM's worldwide fares and globally recognized brand to Asia Pacific travelers within its industry-leading flights search engine. A combination of search results listings and geographically targeted sponsored advertising will enable KLM to reach active travelers as they search for specific trips. Customers will earn Flying Blue miles, avoid hefty booking fees, and obtain KLM best fares by booking directly on KLM.com.sg.
"Bezurk's supplier friendly model is aligned with our strategic focus on directing travelers to KLM.com.sg," said Arjan van de Bovenkamp , KLM Regional Marketing Manager "We're looking to engage directly with consumers, which enables us both to reduce our cost of sales and to build relationships between travelers and KLM.com.sg."
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is the first carrier in Singapore to implement a Best Price Guarantee for tickets bought on KLM.com. In addition to the guarantee, KLM.com has also introduced Internet Bank Transfer as an alternative way of payment.
"KLM Royal Dutch Airlines offers travelers a great online booking experience which is supported by competitive pricing," said Craig Hewett, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk.com. "Bezurk adds value in terms of extending the reach for KLM and strategically placing KLM in front of qualified customers as they are making their purchasing decision. We're confident that our users will respond well to KLM's marketing initiatives, and we're pleased that Bezurk.com will be a key partner for the airline's online marketing plans."
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk, which is headquartered in Singapore, was founded in 2005 by former executives from Yahoo, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, and ZUJI. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com.
Further information for media:
press@bezurk.com +(65) 6438 8242
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Bezurk.com Partners with Yahoo! Southeast Asia
Bezurk.com becomes reseller and listing agent for Yahoo! Travel in Southeast Asia
Singapore. June 20th, 2006 - Bezurk.com, the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced its partnership with Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leading global Internet company. Under the terms of the agreement, Bezurk.com becomes the exclusive partner for Yahoo! Travel's meta-search service in Southeast Asia. The travel industry, including airlines, hotels and online travel agencies, can now offer their air and hotel products through listings on Yahoo! Travel with search marketing solutions sold by Bezurk.com.
Yahoo! users are highly qualified leads for travel-related marketers and we are excited to partner with Bezurk.com to allow travel service providers access to this qualified consumer base, said Reza Behnam, Managing Director, Yahoo! Southeast Asia. On the consumer side, Yahoo! Travel provides our visitors with an easy-to-use and a locally relevant service to research destination content and to book air-tickets and accommodations directly from travel service providers added Mr. Behnam.
Search marketing is essential to the travel industry to achieve measurable marketing and sales goals and Yahoo! Travel allows multiple touch points for marketers to target and reach users of the service, said Martin Symes, Chief Executive Officer, Bezurk.com. With the travel, advertising and Internet industries set for compound growth upwards of 30% on average in the region over the next three years, Yahoo! and Bezurk.com are well positioned to keep ahead of user and marketer demand for Internet travel services, said Symes.
Yahoo! Travel offers the most comprehensive travel research experience through its robust list of major airlines, hoteliers and online travel agencies, access to travel guides content and advice of other travelers through message boards. The new Southeast Asia service, currently in beta - is available from Yahoo! Singapore by clicking Travel from the home page or, alternatively, by visiting http://sg.travel.yahoo.com/. Travel Partners can sign up for particpation in Yahoo! Travel by contacting Bezurk.com at www.bezurk.com/contact
About Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Yahoo! Southeast Asia is headquartered in Singapore.
About Bezurk (www.bezurk.com)
Bezurk.com is a new kind of search engine which specializes in travel products such as flights and hotels, Unlike some of the big online travel sites, Bezurk is not a travel agent � travelers do not book directly through Bezurk. Bezurk is an independent search engine that will help consumers quickly compare the latest deals across multiple travel websites with just a few clicks. Once Bezurk has helped consumers find the right offer, they are linked through to the relevant partner website to make their travel booking directly with the partner.
For Media Enquiries:
Craig Hewett
Bezurk Pte Ltd
+65 6438 8242/+65 9762 9287
craig@bezurk.com
Jason Coates
Yahoo! Southeast Asia
+65 6477 6746 /+65 9126 3823
jcoates@yahoo-inc.com
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Bezurk.com Expands Hotel Offering with Cendant Travel Distribution Services
Singapore. May 1st, 2006 - Bezurk.com, the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership with Cendant Travel Distribution Services , one of the world's largest and most geographically diverse collections of travel brands and distribution businesses. Through this partnership, Bezurk.com will drive consumers directly to HotelClub(www.HotelClub.com), RatesToGo (www.RatesToGo.com) and OctopusTravel (www.OctopusTravel.com), to book their travel.
Yury Gilkin, Senior Business Development Manager said “Our decision to partner with Bezurk was made easier because of its advanced technology and supplier-friendly business model. We have one of the largest range of accommodation choices and Bezurk’s advanced searching, filtering and sorting technology provides us with access to a wider and more qualified base of consumers.”
“The range and depth of hotels offered across HotelClub, RatesToGo and OctopusTravel is tremendous and will significantly enhance the already excellent choice of hotels users can search on Bezurk.com” said Craig Hewett, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer, Bezurk.com. “Cendant is a recognized travel industry leader and we’re excited to be a part of Cendant’s online distribution and marketing strategy.
In order to support the new agreement, Cendant Travel Distribution Services have provided Bezurk with access to their partner XML API to search for both pricing and availability across HotelClub, RatesToGo and OctopusTravel
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk which is headquartered in Singapore was founded in 2005 by former executives from Expedia, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and Zuji. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
About HotelClub
HotelClub (www.HotelClub.com) is a global accommodation specialist website offering hotel bookings for up to 12 months in advance. It offers users the choice of over 21,000 hotels - at savings of up to 60% , in 102 countries and 2,500 cities worldwide. HotelClub is available in nine languages - Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish. HotelClub is a truly global website offering its customers access through country specific sites in 10 countries including HotelClub.com, HotelClub.com.au, HotelClub.de, HotelClub.fr, HotelClub.it, HotelClub.es and HotelClub.co.uk.
About RatesToGo
RatesToGo (www.RatesToGo.com) is a last minute accommodation booking service featuring rates that are up to 70% less than usual hotel rates.RatesToGo.com offers bookings up to three weeks in advance (similar sites offer 14 days in advance) at over 9500 properties, ranging from one to five stars. RatesToGo covers 1200 cities across 45 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. RatesToGo also offers customers a lowest rate guarantee - find a cheaper deal and RatesToGo will match it. RatesToGo is available in nine languages- Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.
About OctopusTravel.com
OctopusTravel.com Ltd (www.OctopusTravel.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation and part of Cendant Travel Distribution Services, is an innovative online travel company with a huge choice of more than 21,000 hotels and 3,000 apartments with instant confirmation throughout 122 countries. Other travel services include car hire, sightseeing tours and attractions, private transfers, group travel and rail passes. The site boasts destination information, including 300 extensive city and country travel guides, weather reports, currency conversion and travel health advice.
About Cendant Travel Distribution Services
Cendant Corporation's (NYSE: CD) Travel Distribution Services Division, is. HotelClub and RatesToGo are operated by Flairview Travel a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Travel Distribution Services Division. OctopusTravel.com is also a part of this division. For more information about Cendant, please visit www.cendant.com.
Media Contact:
Chloe Lim
Director of Marketing
Flairview Travel
Tel: 61 2 8263 5106
Fax: 61 2 9264 0559
Email: chloe.lim@flairview.com
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Former ZUJI Executive Goes Bezurk!
Travel meta-search company Bezurk.com appoints new Chief Executive Officer
Singapore. March 28th, 2006 - Bezurk.com today announced that Martin
Symes, until recently Executive Director, Commercial, at online travel retailer
Zuji, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. He will also make a financial
investment in the company, and become a significant shareholder.
With the business poised for rapid growth, we are delighted to have someone
of Martin's calibre to lead Bezurk, said James Vaile, Bezurk's Chairman and
former Expedia VP Asia Pacific. Martin's experience of running pan-Asian
travel businesses will be invaluable to Bezurk as it embarks on a program of
new product launches, new markets and major distribution partnerships. His
experience perfectly complements Bezurk's dynamic young team. Bezurk.com
founder Craig Hewett, who has been acting CEO, will continue to drive the
company's marketing, business development and distribution activities.
Said Martin: I am excited to be joining Bezurk just as meta-search is taking off
in the Asia Pacific online travel space. Craig and the Bezurk team have done a
great job in building by far the most sophisticated meta-search technology in
the Asia Pacific region and generating strong travel industry support. The
challenge now is to scale the business across the region.
Martin resigned from ZUJI in January 2006 after almost five years of playing an
instrumental role in establishing the company and brand as Asia/Pacific's
leading full service online travel retailer, including building businesses in six
countries and negotiating partnerships with airlines and travel suppliers, online
portals and other partners.
Prior to ZUJI, Martin held senior positions at Hutchison-Priceline, British
Airways and American Airlines, where he was Managing Director, Asia Pacific
from 1997-99. He has a degree from Oxford University and an MBA from
London Business School.
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk which is headquartered in Singapore was founded in 2005 by former executives from Expedia, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and Zuji. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
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Bezurk.com Announces Agreement With Active Hotels
Singapore. April 11th, 2006 - Bezurk.com, the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership with Active Hotels, one of Europe's leading online hotel reservation providers owned by priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN). Through this partnership, Bezurk.com will drive consumers directly to Active Hotels web site, www.activehotels.com, to book their travel.
Brian Bunyan, Partner Account Manager, Active Hotels, said Bezurk.com is an exciting and valuable addition to Active Hotels' distribution network and we look forward to delivering a good value-for-money, user-friendly online hotel booking service to Bezurk's users. In addition, this is great news for all our accommodation suppliers, who can expect increased levels of Asia Pacific business as a direct result of this new partnership.
Active Hotels offers travelers an excellent selection of hotels across many price points, and we're enthusiastic about this opportunity to promote Active Hotels to our Asia Pacific users," said Craig Hewett, Founder, Bezurk.com. "By selecting Bezurk.com, Active Hotels, has reaffirmed Bezurk's key role in the rapidly growing Asian Pacific market. We appreciate this vote of confidence and will help build awareness and promote their distinctive offerings to a large and valuable target audience across the region
In order to support the new agreement, Active Hotels have provided Bezurk with their partner XML to search for both pricing and availability across more than 11,000 hotels.
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk which is headquartered in Singapore was founded in 2005 by former executives from Expedia, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and Zuji. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
About Active Hotels
Active Hotels was founded in 1999 in Cambridge, UK and is one of Europe's leading online reservation providers to the hotel industry. The company was acquired by priceline.com in September 2004 and with its sister company Bookings (headquartered in Amsterdam) now forms the entity Priceline Europe.
Priceline Europe currently sells over 5 million room-nights a year for a transaction value of approximately 500 M euros. Together Active Hotels and Bookings work with over 20,000 hotels in 40 European countries and have 11 offices across Europe, in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Cambridge, Dublin, London, Paris, Pisa, Rome and Vienna. They operate the following websites: www.activehotels.com, www.bookings.net, www.priceline.co.uk, which are available in up to 12 languages and include over 600,000 reviews of European hotels
Media relations
Mandy Zakhour, Priceline Europe
mandy@activehotels.com, tel: 020 8612 8382
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Former ZUJI Executive Goes Bezurk!
Travel meta-search company Bezurk.com appoints new Chief Executive Officer
Singapore. March 28th, 2006 - Bezurk.com today announced that Martin
Symes, until recently Executive Director, Commercial, at online travel retailer
Zuji, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. He will also make a financial
investment in the company, and become a significant shareholder.
With the business poised for rapid growth, we are delighted to have someone
of Martin's calibre to lead Bezurk, said James Vaile, Bezurk's Chairman and
former Expedia VP Asia Pacific. Martin's experience of running pan-Asian
travel businesses will be invaluable to Bezurk as it embarks on a program of
new product launches, new markets and major distribution partnerships. His
experience perfectly complements Bezurk's dynamic young team. Bezurk.com
founder Craig Hewett, who has been acting CEO, will continue to drive the
company's marketing, business development and distribution activities.
Said Martin: I am excited to be joining Bezurk just as meta-search is taking off
in the Asia Pacific online travel space. Craig and the Bezurk team have done a
great job in building by far the most sophisticated meta-search technology in
the Asia Pacific region and generating strong travel industry support. The
challenge now is to scale the business across the region.
Martin resigned from ZUJI in January 2006 after almost five years of playing an
instrumental role in establishing the company and brand as Asia/Pacific's
leading full service online travel retailer, including building businesses in six
countries and negotiating partnerships with airlines and travel suppliers, online
portals and other partners.
Prior to ZUJI, Martin held senior positions at Hutchison-Priceline, British
Airways and American Airlines, where he was Managing Director, Asia Pacific
from 1997-99. He has a degree from Oxford University and an MBA from
London Business School.
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk which is headquartered in Singapore was founded in 2005 by former executives from Expedia, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and Zuji. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
About Active Hotels
Active Hotels was founded in 1999 in Cambridge, UK and is one of Europe's leading online reservation providers to the hotel industry. The company was acquired by priceline.com in September 2004 and with its sister company Bookings (headquartered in Amsterdam) now forms the entity Priceline Europe.
Priceline Europe currently sells over 5 million room-nights a year for a transaction value of approximately 500 M euros. Together Active Hotels and Bookings work with over 20,000 hotels in 40 European countries and have 11 offices across Europe, in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Cambridge, Dublin, London, Loul�, Paris, Pisa, Rome and Vienna. They operate the following websites: www.activehotels.com, www.bookings.net, www.priceline.co.uk, which are available in up to 12 languages and include over 600,000 reviews of European hotels.
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Bezurk.com Appoints Quenten Smith Regional Sales Director for Asia Pacific
Seasoned search and display media sales executive to further strengthen Bezurk's relationships with travel advertisers
Singapore. March 3rd, 2006 - Bezurk. (www.bezurk.com), the comprehensive Asia Pacific travel search site, today announced the addition of another internet industry heavy weight to it's executive team by appointing Quenten Smith as Sales Director for Asia Pacific. Smith will be responsible for developing and deepening relationships with Bezurk's travel industry partners.
A seasoned executive with over six years of online search and display media sales experience, Quenten was formerly with Looksmart and Overture in Australia where he helped develop the whole sponsored search industry in Australia & New Zealand. Most recently Quenten has been working at Yahoo! South East Asia where he has been in charge of travel industry partner development across the region.
Quenten will leverage his travel relationships and his search media experience to develop Bezurk's advertising network. Bezurk.com being a media orientated travel search engine is committed to serving travel advertisers with revenue driving opportunities using either cost per click (CPC) campaigns or display media based on CPM
We're thrilled that we have attracted a candidate of Quenten's calibre, who has worked for some of the biggest players in the search space said Craig Hewett, CEO, Bezurk.com.
"It's an honor for me to accept this position and I'm looking forward to working closely with leading travel companies to help drive incremental bookings through their online channels," said Quenten. "Any travel marketer who has had a taste of the power of search marketing using generic search advertising networks like Google or Overture is going to love the travel specific search marketing opportunities offered by Bezurk. I look forward to helping Bezurk create the next generation of travel marketing solutions."
About Bezurk
Bezurk.com is a comparison-shopping web site that helps travelers from the Asia-Pacific region search for flights, hotels, rental cars, packages and tours across a multitude of travel websites. Bezurk searches suppliers like the airlines and hotel chains directly but also includes hotel aggregators and online travel agents. Searching is done in real-time so that results show only the latest pricing and availability. Bezurk links travelers directly through to our partners websites to book. Bezurk which is headquartered in Singapore was founded in 2005 by former executives from Expedia, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Yahoo! and Zuji. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
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Bezurk Announces Partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group
Bezurk Delivers Direct Relationships between Consumers and Global Hotelier
Singapore. June 28th, 2005 - Bezurk. (www.bezurk.com), poised to be Asia Pacific’s premier travel search engine, today announced a marketing partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's largest and most global hotel company. Through this partnership, Bezurk will drive consumers directly to InterContinental Hotels Group’s brand web sites, www.ichotelsgroup.com, to book their travel.
“InterContinental Hotels Group has been a pioneer in online bookings, launching the world's first hotel booking website with www.holiday-inn.com in 1995. They revolutionized the industry with the first Lowest Internet Rate Guarantee program in May 2002, and more recently with their certification programme for third-party online distributors. Their industry leadership has ensured that online customers booking via one of their brand sites can book with assurance”, said James Vaile, Bezurk’s Chairman.
Craig Hewett, Director of E-commerce, InterContinental Hotel Group said the Group had enjoyed great success with vertical search engines in the US. “Coupled with Bezurk’s distinguished management team, we are pleased to be partnering with Bezurk as it launches to be Asia Pacific's premier travel search engine,” he stated. “Recent Hitwise analysis has shown that specialized travel search engines are gaining in popularity and we want to be part of the action. By sending customers direct to our branded websites, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Priority Club Rewards, Bezurk not only helps us to further develop our most cost-efficient sales channel, it also enables us to forge direct relationships between travelers and our brands.”
Added Mr Vaile: “InterContinental Hotels Group is eager to extend their branded reach among Asia Pacific’s growing number of customers searching for hotels both within Asia as well as globally. As their marketing partner, Bezurk will help to build awareness and promote their distinctive offerings to a large and valuable target audience.”
Bezurk will receive product, pricing and availability information from InterContinental Hotels Group. Bezurk can efficiently communicate with a partner using the travel provider’s preferred protocol – XML, SOAP, HTML, EDI or even CORBA. Bezurk's flexibility enables new partners to begin working with Bezurk in a short period of time with no changes to their systems.
About Bezurk
Poised to be Asia’s premier travel search engine, Bezurk is the one-stop site for consumers to search, compare pricing and directly book flights and accommodation. The search engine sorts and filters available inventory from travel suppliers and online travel agencies around Asia Pacific to give users ease-of-use, speedy, transparent and direct booking capabilities, thereby saving them precious time and money. For more information, please visit www.bezurk.com
About InterContinental Hotels Group
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. InterContinental Hotels Group owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, more than 3,500 hotels and 535,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. The Group owns a portfolio of well recognised and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel IndigoTM, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty programme, Priority Club® Rewards, with over 25 million members worldwide. In addition to this, InterContinental Hotels Group has a 47.5% interest in Britvic, one of the two leading manufacturers of soft drinks, by value and volume, in Great Britain. InterContinental Hotels Group offers information and online reservations for all its hotel brands at www.ichotelsgroup.com and information for the Priority Club Rewards programme at www.priorityclub.com. For the latest news from InterContinental Hotels Group, visit our online Press Office at: www.ihgplc.com/media.
For further press information and photos, please contact:
Press Team
Bezurk Pte Ltd
Email: press@bezurk.com
Joanna Ong
Manager, Brand PR & Communications
InterContinental Hotels Group, Asia Pacific
Tel: (65) 6395 6074
Email: joanna.ong@ichotelsgroup.com
Rick Clements
Rick Clements & Associates
Tel: (65) 65360977 or (65) 97528316
Email: rclements@rcapr.com.sg
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