Attended the Fitur Show 2009 in Madrid, Spain

Fitur 2009 in Madrid, Spain

Hi everyone and welcome back!

So while Johanie was in Spain for The Leading Hotels of the World IRRR conference, she also had the opportunity to visit a Spain-based Tourism show called Fitur, or Feria International Tourism Trade Fair.

Hosted from January 29 to Febuary 1, 2009, the Fitur conference is the largest show of it’s type, with more than 13,000 exhibiting companies from 170 countries/regions. All in all, this particular show enabled more than 150,000 sector professionals to establish the biggest and most useful network of business and institutional contacts.

The exhibition was primarily attended by hospitality and travel industry companies from Spanish-speaking countries. This was highly beneficial for us because it allowed us to meet and mingle with a large number of individual hotels and hotel groups from Spain and much of Latin America, with the objective of growing our presence in those markets.

Although a “first experience” for NewspaperDirect, Fitur has already proven to be a valuable business opportunity because of the much-needed face-to-face interaction with the Spanish-speaking world — and of course, just like many other hoteliers around the world, our new friends from Fitur were amazed with how our newspaper solutions could benefit their properties.

So the next step? We will definitely be following up with each of the hoteliers we had met at Fitur and working with them to offer daily newspapers to their guests.

Adiós!
Sandeep

Attended LHW ’s 2009 International Reservations, Revenue & Rooms Divisions Managers Conference in Marbella, Spain

LHW IRRR Conference in Marbella, Spain

Hi everyone! We hope you are enjoying your 2009 so far.

Well as usual, we have been globe-trotting and meeting with some of the most influential people in the hospitality industry.

Earlier this month, Johanie had the opportunity to attend an exciting conference hosted by The Leading Hotels of the World – and in Spain, no less! This show was particularly beneficial for NewspaperDirect because it gave us the opportunity to meet face-to-face with some of the key decision makers of the hotel community, mainly, the Revenue, Reservations and Rooms Managers at each LHW property.

For those of you that are not familiar with the IRRR event, here is some background information — The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd., which is the prestigious luxury hospitality organization representing more than 450 of the world’s finest hotels, resorts and spas, hosted its 2009 International Reservations, Revenue and Rooms Division Managers Conference from February 4-7, 2009 in Marbella, Spain.

Since NewspaperDirect is a member of The Leading Services and Products Network, we were able to attend the conference and showcase our hotel solutions at the organized Marketplace sessions during the conference.

This small, personalized forum allowed us to build stronger relationships with many of The Leading Hotels of the World member hotels. And because we always try to offer a little something extra for our friends and colleagues in the hospitality industry, we were happy to supply every attendee with their daily newspapers from home. All of the effort put into getting the appropriate newspapers definitely paid off, because many attendees were thanking Johanie for their papers and saying “How can we offer this to our guests?”. With such great feedback from everyone, we now look forward to partnering with many of these new LHW hotels and providing our newspaper solutions as a standard hotel amenity.

All in all, it was great meeting so many new people at the show and we definitely look forward to LHW’s future events!

Sandeep

Don’t miss NewspaperDirect at Equip’Hotel Middle East 2008

Well, 2008 is winding down, but not before NewspaperDirect makes another splash in the hotel industry.  This weekend, we will be exhibiting in the first multi-specialist show for the hospitality industry in Abu Dhabi – EQUIP’HOTEL MIDDLE EAST, being held from 14 to 16 December 2008 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. 

EQUIP’HOTEL MIDDLE EAST is the only event of the region which brings a 360 degree view of the lastest products, services, concepts & technologies specifically designed for the hospitality market. 

NewspaperDirect will be showcasing ND Press and  Hotel PressDisplay  at booth I17, so why not drop by and see what’s new – we’ve got new titles (30 in the last month alone), new features and what’s even better…new promotions!  

If you’re at this show, then you know how important it is to take customer satisfaction to a whole never level.  So why not join thousands of hotels worldwide that have discovered the secret of making their properties more attractive to travelers, so they keep coming back again and again.  

Offer your guests the one amenity that makes them feel right at home while away from home – their favorite newspaper – the way they want it – hot off the press in print, or online. Your guests will love you for it.

And if you’re not at the show, don’t worry.  We’re happy to give you the same show promotions.  Just contact us at hospitality@newspaperdirect.com to learn more and don’t forget to ask for our free trial.

Gayle

 

 

 

 

Announcing ND Press Promotion

Hello everyone!

Well, Thanksgiving is upon us and Christmas is just around the corner.  And to celebrate this special time of year and the launch of our new ND Press web page, NewspaperDirect is in the giving mood!  

Starting December 1, 2008, NewspaperDirect is pleased to offer a special limited-time promotion to new Hotel and Aviation ND Press subscribers that will delight their guests and save them money at the same time.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with ND Press…

ND Press is a web-based Print-on-Demand newspaper service for hotels to conveniently and cost-effectively print over 800 of the world’s most popular newspapers for their guests, on-site – on-demand – on existing in-house equipment. 

If you subscribe to ND Press between December 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, you will receive 20% off our standard Annual P5 package. 

But that’s not all!  As an added bonus, you will also receive an additional two months of ND Press absolutely free!

That’s a total savings of over $1,000!

Imagine being able to offer your guests a printed copy of their hometown newspaper often before it hits the newsstands.  With ND Press, it’s easy.  Just subscribe to this promotional package using the offer code: NDDec

More information about ND Press, including our complete schedule of 3-month, 6-month and other 12-month packages, or for a complimentary 7-day trial, please visit our website. 

So why not join hundreds of hotels around the world who have made their properties more attractive to business travelers and vacationers who need to keep on top of current events and stay in touch with home.

Offer them the one amenity that makes them feel at home while away from home – their favorite newspaper, hot off the press!

And have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Gayle

HITEC 2008 — an overall great show

Hi everyone and welcome back! I hope you all enjoyed your time in Austin as much as I did.

As always, we came back from the show full or enthusiasm and with a lot of promising leads. The great thing about exhibiting at HITEC each year is that we always get the opportunity to mingle with old friends and colleagues, and get to know new faces at the same time.

And what better city than Austin to mingle with potential clients — the fun, laid-back atmosphere and live-music parties were perfect for anyone that wanted to have a great time.

The show itself was a wonderful experience and gave us yet another opportunity to showcase our recent successes with The Luxury Collection partnership, the Hotel PressDisplay launch and our group deal from 2007 with Swisscom Hospitality Services in Europe.

What I found particularly interesting — more so than ever, Internet service providers and hotel technology providers are now approaching us to learn more about how they can also offer Hotel PressDisplay and ND Pressto their existing network of hoteliers and clients. Technology-based companies are constantly looking for new and unique services that they can add to their portfolio — today, offering more than just the local newspaper is quickly becoming one of the hottest trends in the hospitality sector.

Over the next few weeks we will be getting in touch with all of our friends and colleagues, new and old, from HITEC and working with them to implement ND Press and Hotel PressDisplay as a guest amenity at each of their hotels. If any of your are interested in offering our services through your technology-based company, please get in touch with us! We would be happy to work with you and begin offering our services to your existing network.

Thanks and have a great weekend!
Sandeep

HITEC 2008 — here we come!

Hi everyone and welcome back!

I am sure that many of you are busy preparing for the HITEC 2008 show at the moment — this year the show will be held from June 17 to 19 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas.

As you must have guessed, NewspaperDirect will once again be exhibiting at HITEC (booth #516). And yes — we are bursting with more excitement than ever to be a part of the show! Exhibiting at the show with me this year is NewspaperDirect’s VP of Sales & Marketing, Richard Miller.

Between finalizing the logistics for the show, updating our marketing materials, setting up meetings with current and potential clients, and checking out which bands will be playing in Austin (famously nicknamed as “the live music capital of the world”), these past few weeks have gone by very quickly!

I, for one, am very excited about exhibiting at this year’s show. Although we always look forward to exhibiting at HITEC, this year we have a lot to celebrate and showcase – especially with the recent launch of Hotel PressDisplay and our group deal with The Luxury Collection. We have also been working ’round the clock to set up meetings with potential clients who will be attending the show and introduce them to both ND Press and Hotel PressDisplay.

Over the next few days as we all continue to put the finishing touches on our HITEC preparations, please get in touch with us if you would like to schedule a meeting while we are in Austin – we would be happy to provide you with a demonstration of how ND Press and Hotel PressDisplay can highly benefit your property and your guests.  

You can get in touch with us via email:

Sandeep Kambo
sandeepk@newspaperdirect.com

Richard Miller
richardm@newspaperdirect.com

You are also welcome to visit us at our booth! Feel free to come by anytime — here is a map of the Austin Convention Center to help you find us a little faster (booth # 516).

Have a fabulous day and I look forward to meeting each and every one of you at HITEC!

Sandeep 

Breaking news! ND Press implemented brand-wide with Starwood’s The Luxury Collection.

Hi everyone — we have some exciting news for your today!

NewspaperDirect and Starwood’s iconic group of hotels, The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts, have joined forces to provide the ND Press print on demand newspaper service at The Luxury Collection’s 60+ properties, worldwide.

Originally piloted at eight of the brand’s properties worldwide starting in August 2007, the ND Press service quickly received positive reviews from the properties and their guests alike. From that point, The Luxury Collection quickly agreed that our ND Press product went very much hand-in-hand with their industry-leading guest satisfaction initiatives, and began the process for implementing the print on demand service brand-wide. Today, NewspaperDirect is officially recognized as a partner of The Luxury Collection, and our ND Press service is proactively being offered to their valued guests as soon as they check in.  

By implementing the ND Press service at each of its properties, The Luxury Collection is now able to assure their guests that they will always receive their favorite daily newspapers throughout their stay – and has ultimately raised the benchmark for superior customer service at luxury hotels. We are confident that many other leading hotel groups will quickly follow suit to also set the precedence at their own properties by implementing the ND Press and Hotel PressDisplay services for their guests.  

Providing more than just the local news is quickly becoming a vital part to the guest’s experience. Today with thousands of hotels worldwide already offering our ND Press and Hotel PressDisplay services, guests are now coming to expect their hometown newspapers each time they check-in and stay connected to the daily news around the world. 

The official announcement was made yesterday by Starwood – to view the press release, please click here.

Cheers!
Sandeep

Happy Earth Day!

Hi everyone,

Most of you have probably already heard about Starwood’s latest news – they announced the launch of their new “green” hotel chain, Element. This new chain will be pursuing green initiatives, and essentially paving the way for the hotel industry. These ultra-chic and modern hotels will have all of the luxuries, conveniences and amenities that many of us have come to expect from Starwood’s properties, with the addition of eco-friendly facilities such as energy efficient appliances, over-sized windows in the lobby and guest rooms for natural lighting, and priority parking for hybrid cars.

Personally, I think that this new initiative is just what the hotel industry needed — and with more and more hotel chains and independent properties also taking a more proactive approach towards the environment, we will soon be able to see a major shift in the industry as a whole.

With that said, I am very proud to say that many of our valued customers have thoroughly incorporated our ND Press solution as their primary source of printed newspapers — and have ultimately been able to minimize on wastage from locally delivered newspapers. And with the launch of Hotel PressDisplay, more and more properties are now looking into providing our onscreen service to their tech savvy guests.

Regardless of whether our customers choose ND Press or Hotel PressDisplay, NewspaperDirect is proud to be a part in helping our hoteliers and many other customers to read their newspapers responsibly, and give a little back to the environment.

Have a fabulously green day — if any of you have any tips on how we can become more eco-friendly, please let me know!

Cheers,
Sandeep

Exhibiting at Hostec 2008 — London here we come!

Hi all,

As many of you already know, Hostec Europe is right around the corner and NewspaperDirect is happy to be exhibiting at the show this year.

Hosted in London, Hostec Europe is one of the hospitality industry’s premier technology tradeshows, and is an excellent event for hoteliers and food service providers to find new products and services for their guests.

As you can imagine, this week has been very hectic – yet a lot of fun – as we tried to get everything organized for the show. And as always, we always have something new and exciting to talk about — at this year’s Hostec Europe show, NewspaperDirect will officially be launching it’s newest hotel newspaper solution, Hotel PressDisplay. The latest addition to NewspaperDirect’s PressDisplay.com product family, Hotel PressDisplay will allow hotel guests to browse and read current-day original-format newspapers on their laptops or mobile devices, using the hotel’s Internet service.

Hotel PressDisplay has some truly unique features, and is excellent for the tech-savvy travellers and business professionals that live and breathe the world through their laptops.

Stay tuned over the next few days as we launch our new product and introduce Hotel PressDisplay to our valued customers and friends.

For those of you that will be attending or exhibiting at Hostec Europe this year, please stop by our booth and say hello!

Booth: H1002
Dates: February 18 – 21, 2008

Contact:
Richard Miller richardm@newspaperdirect.com
Johanie Marcoux johaniem@newspaperdirect.com

Thanks everyone and we hope to see you at the show,

Sandeep

Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference — what a great show!

Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference

Hi everyone,

As you all know, Michael and I attended the Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference in Savannah, Georgia, last week. The show was a great success and we were happy to meet and greet many of our existing and future customers.

Unlike most tradeshows, the S&D Conference was much smaller in size and very close-knit. Since lunch and snacks were provided by the show, exhibitors and attendees all had the opportunity to network over three-course meals and mid-day treats.

The laid-back, social atmosphere almost made us more productive — we were very happy to see how well-received the ND Press product was becoming in the aviation sector. What’s more, the printed newspaper samples we took along to the show were a big hit with our booth visitors — not only were they incredibly impressed by how valuable the service would be for their clients, but many of them also took a sample along with them.

Of course, the show wasn’t entirely all fun n’ games — we also had some serious networking to do at the various parties that were hosted by some of the exhibitors, as well as one gala event by the folks at S&D themselves. And yes, the parties were all full of entertainment and tasty refreshments. Michael and I had the opportunity to attend a variety of events, ranging from a posh, eclectic atmosphere to live bands to karaoke bars (no, we didn’t sing).

Now, for those of you that haven’t been to Savannah, this is a place you will want to check out at some point – with all of the delicious food and desserts, the friendly people, and the beautiful (and sometimes ghostly) sights and sounds, this is definitely southern hospitality at its finest.

Next year’s conference, held in Long Beach, California, will be the 20th anniversary event for Schedulers and Dispatchers, and is sure to be the best one yet… can’t wait!

By the way, have a great Valentine’s Day, and for those of you that are travelling via a private jet or checking in to a luxury hotel, don’t forget to ask for your hometown newspapers.

Cheers!

Sandeep