MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRS), a leading provider of information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries and VFM Interactive, the industry's leading provider of rich media production and distribution services, announced today a cooperation to provide a complete solution for the sourcing, management and distribution of hotel photos, virtual tours and videos to all electronic distribution channels.
All hotels using the myfidelio.net services will be provided VFM's Vscape(R) Lite digital still image management and distribution solution. The state-of-the-art web-based tool will allow participating hotels to upload and distribute up to 10 digital still images per property to all 4 GDS (Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan), Pegasus and thousands of websites. Hotels will also be able to use the same tool to manage and distribute other forms of media, like virtual tours, videos and flash presentations, to VFM's extensive network of distribution partners.
Vscape functions as a 'switch' for hotel visual content. It simplifies and shortens the process of ensuring that a hotel's photos and other rich media are distributed and kept up-to-date on the electronic channels by providing hotels with a single point of entry for their visual content, thereby reducing the need to upload that content to multiple channels. Features of Vscape include automated image de-duping and replacement and deletion of outdated images on connected distribution channels, ensuring consistency and freshness of a hotel's image display across the Internet.
'Hotel guests expect to see high quality images of a property before making a booking and rich media is an indispensable part of every hotel's marketing content on any electronic channel. As a result, a substantial amount of time is invested in distributing images and managing them,' stated Andrea Carrillo Bianchi, Director Business Development for Distribution Logistics at Micros Fidelio. 'Vscape provides our hotel customers with an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution that considerably simplifies and reduces the effort required to distribute and manage, and increases visibility and control over their images and other rich media across all electronic channels'.
'We are very proud that a global hospitality technology leader such as Micros Fidelio has selected our Vscape solution to help its client hotels better manage and distribute their images and other rich media', said Paolo Boni, President & CEO at VFM Interactive. 'We look forward to Micros Fidelio's client hotels joining the over 30,000 hotels already using the Vscape solution to market themselves effectively through visual content across all electronic channels'.
Myfidelio.net is the 'Software as a Service' model of the OPERA Reservation System, an enterprise solution for the hospitality industry, providing central reservation management services and connections to worldwide distribution channels, such as the GDS, Third Party Intermediaries on the Internet and the hotel corporate website. Myfidelio.net offers full integration with all hotel solutions offered by MICROS, including OPERA PMS, Fidelio Suite 8 in Europe, Fidelio Version 6, and Fidelio Version 7.
About MICROS Systems, Inc.
MICROS Systems, Inc. provides enterprise applications for the hospitality and retail industries worldwide. Over 310,000 MICROS systems are currently installed in table and quick service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure and entertainment, and retail operations in more than 130 countries, and on all seven continents. In addition, MICROS provides property management systems, central reservation and customer information solutions under the brand MICROS-Fidelio for more than 20,000 hotels worldwide, as well as point-of-sale and loss prevention products through its subsidiary Datavantage for more than 50,000 specialty retail stores worldwide. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.
About VFM Interactive
VFM Interactive is the leading end-to-end provider of online media production and distribution solutions for the hotel and travel industry. VFM helps hotel and travel companies enhance their online marketing through rich visual content including still images, videos, 360º virtual tours and Flash presentation. VFM's Vscape(R) platform allows hotels to manage and distribute their rich media content on the industry's largest and fastest-growing distribution network of more than 25,000 websites where consumers most often research and purchase travel products. This network includes online travel agencies, travel suppliers, search portals and Global Distribution Systems such as Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, TripAdvisor, American Airlines, Yahoo!, SideStep, Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan. VFM's Vscape media distribution platform is utilized by more than 30,000 hotels from dozens of major hotel chains and resorts from brands and management companies including Best Western, Choice, Crowne Plaza, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Interstate, La Quinta, Marriott, Outrigger, Radisson, Regent, Sheraton, Sol Meliá, W, Westin and Wyndham. For more information, visit www.vfmii.com.
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