LAS VEGAS and BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 30, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- PurchasePro (Nasdaq:PPRO) and Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE:HLT) announced today the completion of one of the most successful and time efficient e-procurement installations in the world.
Powered by PurchasePro's e-Procurement software, Hilton's proprietary hospitality marketplace, launched July, 2000, now includes approximately 500 owned and managed member hotels across the Hilton family of hotels as active users and the online participation of 1,200 national and regional suppliers. In the first two quarters of 2001, ending June 26, 2001, Hilton's e-Procurement marketplace has executed on 29,788 purchase orders worth millions of dollars.
"We wanted an e-procurement system that could benefit our entire portfolio of properties without the barriers typically associated with implementing technology at multiple sites across an enterprise," said Anthony Nieves, Hilton's senior vice president of purchasing. "PurchasePro's focus on enabling suppliers, regardless of size or location, to join an e-procurement network and Hilton's longstanding reputation in the procurement field were the keys to our rapid implementation and enabled us to differentiate our system from all others in the industry."
Due to these unequivocal e-commerce results, Hilton Hotels Corporation recently received accolade of being named "2001 E-Business of the Year" by Internet Week magazine.
Hilton's rapid marketplace adoption by both buyers and suppliers further confirms the validity and strength of the PurchasePro business model and cost efficiency and return on investment of its solutions. PurchasePro's e-Procurement software has substantially exceeded Hilton's initial expectations. It has provided the company with controlled costs throughout its supply chain. Hilton expects those numbers to dramatically increase as it makes available its e-Procurement solution to the company's more than 1,200 franchise hotels.
Allen Winder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of PurchasePro, said, "As the B2B space continues to mature, it becomes clear that supplier and user adoption, marketplace liquidity and rapid software implementation drives e-commerce success. PurchasePro doesn't drop off software at an institution's door; we roll-up our sleeves and work with our partners, enabling their suppliers and propelling their e-commerce success."
About Hilton Hotels Corporation
Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises approximately 1,900 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world's best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton(r), Conrad(tm), Doubletree(r), Embassy Suites Hotels(r), Hampton Inn(r), Hampton Inn & Suites(r), Harrison Conference Centers(r), Hilton Garden Inn(r), Hilton Grand Vacations Company(r), Homewood Suites(r) by Hilton and Red Lion Hotels & Inns(r). For more information on Hilton Hotels Corporation, visit Hilton's corporate Website at www.hiltonworldwide.com.
About PurchasePro
PurchasePro(r), www.purchasepro.com, is a business-to-business e-commerce leader. Its goal is to provide software that enables enterprises of all sizes to gain universal access to the world's largest commerce network. The PurchasePro commerce network comprises more than 155,000 businesses and powers hundreds of private-label marketplaces. PurchasePro provides the following business-to-business e-commerce solutions: e-Procurement for corporate procurement; e-Source for strategic sourcing, v-Distributor for online distributors; and e-MarketMaker for Internet market makers.
This news release may include forward-looking statements, which are subject to the "Safe Harbor" created by Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent only the views of certain members of management and are based on limited information available to us now, which is subject to change. We have no current plan to update these statements. Actual results may differ substantially from what we say today and no one should assume at a later date that the forward-looking statements provided herein are still valid. They speak only as of today.
For more information about these risks and uncertainties, see the SEC filings of PurchasePro, Inc., including the section titled "Factors That May Affect Results" in its 10-K filing for the period ended December 31, 2000, and its 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, which are available from the company on request and on the Internet at the SEC's Website, www.sec.gov.
Note: PurchasePro is a servicemark of PurchasePro.com Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.