STRATEGIC PARTNERS
June 14, 2005
LAKE MARY, Fla. and COLUMBIA, Md. - MICROS Systems Inc. has been named a strategic reseller of Kinetics' ResortPort and CheckinHere self-service kiosks, according to a news release. Kinetics is a subsidiary of NCR Corp.
"This agreement is good news for travelers everywhere," said Mike Webster, vice president and general manager, NCR Self-Service. "Thousands of properties now have the opportunity to extend new levels of customer-pleasing convenience and service via ResortPort and CheckinHere using MICROS's open solutions."
The Kinetics ResortPort kiosk solution, seamlessly integrated to the MICROS OPERA property management system, enables guests to not only check themselves in or out of the hotel, but it also automatically encodes their room keys and allows them to change reservations or access a variety of additional hotel service options. With CheckinHere, hotels can offer guests the additional benefit of being able to print boarding passes for specific airlines.
Research conducted for NCR in April by Opinion Research Corporation found that nearly 60 percent of respondents were "very or somewhat likely" to use a self-service kiosk to check in or out of a hotel, and 41 percent would actually be more likely to stay in a hotel that offered this convenience.
"Today's consumers, and travelers in particular, have grown to accept and even expect the availability of self-service as a convenient option for completing a variety of transactions," said Robin Layman, vice president of the IHG business unit for MICROS Systems. "Together with Kinetics, MICROS is opening the way for hotels globally to offer feature-rich self-service kiosk solutions to their guests."
Holiday Inn Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Ga., is the first hotel to install a self-service kiosk that features the Kinetics CheckinHere solution integrated with the MICROS OPERA PMS.
