Tourisme Montréal offers meeting planners state-of-the-art housing system with Passkey
February 23, 2007

Tourisme Montréal is pleased to announce that it has selected Passkey, the world’s leading online convention and meeting reservation system, to handle its housing service needs. The new partnership with Passkey, a Boston-based technology company, allows the organization to offer a 100% Web-based centralized event management system, an invaluable addition to the wide range of convention and meeting planning tools already offered by the CVB.

“We are very excited about moving forward with Passkey,” says Charles Lapointe, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal. “This software tool is already widely-known and used among meeting planners, and will secure Montréal’s position as a city that offers state-of-the-art meeting planning services. Our decision to partner with Passkey dovetails with our strategic planning objectives, which are to distinguish Montréal from its competitors by providing meeting planners with the best possible solutions in the business.” 

The Passkey group reservations management system features advanced online reservation tools and amenities that respond to the different needs of stakeholders; that is, event planners, delegates and hotels. The new tool allows meeting planners to access the status of their event 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while delegates enjoy the luxury of booking their room in total security, at any time at their convenience. Hotels, for their part, benefit from a hassle-free reservation process, and can upsell and promote their hotel amenities and services to event delegates prior to their arrival. The wide range of enhanced services supplied by Passkey allows Tourisme Montréal to guarantee its clients a streamlined and customized booking process, round-the-clock access to reservations as well as pick-up and pace reports generated in real-time, all in a secure environment, and at no cost to them whatsoever.

“Montreal is a wonderful meetings venue for planners and we are very proud to have them join our Passkey-enabled global network,” adds Greg Pesik, President & CEO of Passkey International Inc. “By providing them with Passkey, they are not only gaining a competitive advantage in the market, but definitely increasing their customer satisfaction, whether it be their planners or hotel members.”

Tourisme Montréal and Passkey have partnered to offer the Passkey group reservations management system free of charge to Meeting Professionals International (MPI) for its 2007 World Education Congress, the organization’s largest annual convention. Close to 4,000 delegates from across North America and Europe are expected in Montréal from July 28 to 31 for this major MPI gathering. The leading association of the global meetings industry, MPI provides professional development, generates industry awareness and creates business development opportunities for 21,000 members belonging to 68 chapters and clubs in 20 countries around the world.

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Source:

Didier Rabette

Vice President, Business Market

Tourisme Montréal

(514) 844-2203

rabette.didier@tourisme-montreal.org

Tourisme Montréal is responsible for providing leadership in the concerted efforts of hospitality and promotion in order to position the destination on leisure and business travel markets. It is also responsible for developing Montréal's tourism product in accordance with the ever-changing conditions of the market.