Carlson Hotels Worldwide To Deploy Meetingbrokertm Lead Management Technology

Key Part of New Group Business Strategy That Enables Efficient Response to RFPs, Lead Escalation and Evaluation of Revenue Streams and Partner Profitability

MINNEAPOLIS (Monday, December 05, 2005) - Carlson Hotels Worldwide today announced that it has selected Newmarket International, the leading provider of sales and catering technology solutions for the hospitality industry, to deploy MeetingBroker, a lead management tool across all of its Carlson-branded hotels in North America in the first quarter of 2006. MeetingBroker is an innovative technological application that will help Carlson hotels advance the initial phase of a comprehensive new group business strategy by mid-2006.

Carlson Hotels Worldwide's five hotel brands include Regent International Hotels, Radisson Hotels & Resorts®, Park Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM and Park Inn®.

MeetingBroker is a Web-based application developed by Newmarket International that enables properties within Carlson's global portfolio of brands to quickly secure, assign and respond to all RFP leads available to them. Meeting Broker technology will also enable the brands to escalate leads to management companies, identify key revenue streams and determine their profitability.

The MeetingBroker system receives RFPs from public marketplaces such as StarCite and private label RFPs entered through hotel Web sites, and automatically enters them into property sales and catering systems such as Delphi®. The technology then allows for the instant assignment and escalation of these leads, or for the automatic transfer of these leads to sister properties. Additionally, MeetingBroker lets Carlson create a standardized, preformatted electronic proposal that will ensure consistency in response format across all brands.

"The main appeal of the Meeting Broker system is the speed in which our hotels can tap into major lead channels, capture RFPs and either quickly reply in an organized format, or pass along to other Carlson-branded hotels for consideration," said Brian Stage, executive vice president of Sales, Distribution and Reservation Services for Carlson Hotels Worldwide.

"We also like that we can escalate opportunities to our management companies, keeping the entire process on track. We now have better visibility of the entire lead life cycle, complete with information about the meeting planners who generate the most business and at which hotels," he added.

"For a variety of reasons, a large percentage of RFPs sent by meeting planners go unanswered," stated Sean O'Neill, president and CEO of Newmarket International. "Brands that are able to respond first to these RFPs have a distinct advantage over their competition. MeetingBroker provides properties with the tools to effectively manage their leads and facilitate the best response times in the industry."

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Carlson Hotels Worldwide is part of Carlson Companies, a global leader in providing corporate solutions and consumer services in the marketing, travel and hospitality industries. Carlson Hotels Worldwide includes five hotel brands, representing over 913 properties in 69 countries in the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The Carlson hotel group is focused on delivering high value and quality for business and leisure travelers.

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