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March
18th, 2004 - The Westin Dublin and
3C Communications Lead the Way in
Cardholder Preferred Currency
“London
15 March 2004 Starwood Hotels &
Resorts announces today that it is
the first global hotel group to implement
a fully integrated Cardholder Preferred
Currency (CPC) system in its hotels.
CPC within the hotel industry is also
known as Dynamic Currency Conversion
(DCC). The first hotel to receive
this new technology is the Westin
Dublin, Ireland. This innovative new
system allows guests to settle their
account paying in the currency of
their credit card, rather than the
currency of the country they are visiting.
This enables the guest to know immediately
upon check out how much they will
be charged on their credit card statement
in their home currency - perfect for
the busy executive who needs to complete
their expenses voucher on the plane
on the way home.
In
partnership with Streamline International
and 3C Communications, for the last
10 months a Starwood project team
has been working to co-ordinate the
pilot of this process at the Westin
Dublin hotel. Patrick Divall, Director
of Finance for the Westin Dublin and
a team member on the Starwood Divisional
Six Sigma team who put together the
Cardholder Preferred Currency integrated
process, was heavily involved with
the development of the application
and tailoring it to fit the needs
of the hotel. Already hotels throughout
Ireland are seeing a growing demand
from customers asking for this facility
at check-out, particularly from US
visitors.
Enda
Mullin, General Manager of the Westin
Dublin said, "This is a great
way for us to offer our guests added
value. 70% of our guests pay with
a foreign credit card so this is fulfilling
a real need. The new system means
that there are no surprises for our
guests when they receive their credit
card statements once back at home,
due to currency fluctuations. It also
means that guests won't have the hassle
of trying to do conversions in their
head on how much money they have left
on their credit card!"
Mike
Postle, Head of Streamline International
said, "We were delighted to be
asked to work with Starwood on this
project. The hotel sector is one that
can very quickly reap the rewards
from CPC being available, both in
terms of guest satisfaction, efficient
check out and revenue management".
The
project was the result of a Starwood
Six sigma initiative run by the
Europe, Middle East and Africa Divisional
office of Starwood Hotels, who were
looking at ways to make the guest
check out process more efficient.
Following
the pilot in Dublin, Starwood will
be launching the system at the Westin
Palace Madrid. Starwood Hotels &
Resorts will then role out the installation
of CPC throughout 2004 at all their
hotels that currently work with Streamline
International and 3C Communications,
a credit card payment company, in
the processing of their Visa and Mastercard
credit cards. Starwood also worked
closely with Micros Fidelio, the Property
Management System utilised by Starwood
to ensure that this was truly the
first fully integrated solution, without
any manual re-keying of information
or use of a separate terminal, allowing
a smoother guest check-out experience.
Starwood
will be working in partnership with
the Royal Bank of Scotland who independently
provide the exchange rates, thereby
guaranteeing guests a competitive
service.
Ends
Editors
notes
Starwood
Hotels & Resorts
Westin is a brand of Starwood Hotels
& Resorts Worldwide Inc. which
is one of the leading hotel and leisure
companies in the world with more than
740 upscale and luxury properties
in 80 countries and 110,000 employees
at its owned and managed properties
with internationally renowned brands.
Starwood is the fully integrated owner,
operator and franchiser of hotels
and resorts including: St. Regis,
The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin,
Four Points and W brands, as well
as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc.,
one of the premier developers and
operators of high quality vacation
interval ownership resorts. For more
information, please visit us at www.starwoodhotels.com
For
further information on Starwood Hotels
please contact:
Amalie Dence, Public Relations Director,
UK & Ireland, Starwood Hotels
&
Resorts
Tel: + 44 20 7290 7105 Fax: + 44 20
7290 7560 E-mail:
amalie.dence@starwoodhotels.com
Streamline
International
Streamline International is a global
leader in multi-currency card payments
processing with over 10 years of experience
in the industry.
Established in 1992, Streamline International
is a service provided by
National Westminster Bank Plc, a member
of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
It provides multi-currency card payments
processing services to businesses,
banks and financial institutions across
Europe, managing a portfolio of international
blue chip clients in the industries
of Travel, Entertainment, e-commerce
and Mail/Telephone Order (MOTO).
For
further information on Streamline
International please contact:
Juliette Harris, Manager, Hotel Sector,
Streamline International
Tel: +44 20 7672 5360 Fax: +44 20
7672 5393
E-mail :
juliette.harris@streamline-international.com
3C
Communications
3C Communications are considered to
be the leading integrated card-processing
specialist in EAME, and have also
today operations in the USA and Asia.
They're committed to finding new technology
that will continue to help the hospitality
industry save time and money and provide
their customers the best service possible.
By always focusing on their clients'
specific needs, 3C Communications
are now able to offer the Hotels and
Restaurants, not only fully integrated
card payment solutions but also the
possibility for their foreign guests
to pay their bill in their card's
currency.
For
further information on 3C Communications
please contact:
Michael.balzer @ 3cint.com and simply
visit: www.3cint.com”
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