BridgeStreet Worldwide Completes First Step of 'Corporate Housing Made Easy,' Implements Powerful, Customized CRM from Salesforce.com | Real-Time, On-Demand Access to Global Client Information Optimizes Customer Service Success
10-14-2004
ARLINGTON, Va. | BridgeStreet Worldwide, a leading international provider of corporate housing to business and leisure travelers, today announced that it has completed the first major step in its new "Corporate Housing Made Easy" mission with the company-wide launch of a state-of-the-art, customized customer relationship management (CRM) system from salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM - News), the market and technology leader in on-demand CRM. With salesforce.com, BridgeStreet team members can easily provide knowledgeable, high-quality service to clients anywhere in the world through immediate access to real-time customer account information.
"One of the biggest benefits of salesforce.com is that it integrates sales and full account service," said Lee Curtis, BridgeStreet president. "Everyone can see what the account preferences are, past histories and critical client information. What this means is that the BridgeStreet staff in Chicago will know exactly how to service an incoming guest from London, while coordinating billing requirements with the guest's company headquarters in Los Angeles.
"Essentially, the system allows us to provide higher levels of service because it helps us anticipate our clients' needs, not just react to them. BridgeStreet team members need visibility into the company's information pipeline to maintain customer relationships across multiple markets. With Salesforce.com, BridgeStreet staff track all global activity in real-time through customized interfaces and take advantage of on-demand opportunity management and forecasting capabilities. This flexibility allows us to maximize the productivity of each sales team and provide the best possible coordinated service to each client," Curtis said.
BridgeStreet successfully implemented salesforce.com in under six weeks, including substantial customization to dovetail with its proprietary sales methodology that draws on management's extensive experience in the hospitality industry.
"For a technology to succeed here at BridgeStreet, it must make it easier for our clients to do business with us," Curtis added. "Salesforce.com was the only CRM system that allowed us to integrate our proprietary sales process into the application. Now our sales and account management staff can work seamlessly and synergistically to personally care for every client, backed by critical data. That is customized customer service success!"
About BridgeStreet - BridgeStreet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Interstate Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:IHR - News), the nation's largest independent hotel management company. BridgeStreet and their network of Global Partners offer more than 8,700 corporate apartments located in 91 MSAs throughout the United States and internationally. BridgeStreet properties meet uncompromising standards of quality, comfort and service. BridgeStreet is headquartered in Arlington, Va. For more information or to learn more about how BridgeStreet is Making Corporate Housing Easy, visit www.bridgestreet.com.
About salesforce.com - Salesforce.com is the market and technology leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM). Through its award-winning salesforce.com family of products, the company provides a comprehensive suite of CRM services to help enterprises of all sizes, industries and geographies meet the complex challenge of managing customer information. Salesforce.com also offers sforce, the salesforce.com client/service platform, to allow customers and independent software vendors to customize and integrate salesforce.com, as well as build their own on-demand enterprise applications. As of September 30, 2004, salesforce.com manages customer information for approximately 12,000 customers and approximately 185,000 paying subscribers including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), America Online (AOL), Automatic Data Processing (ADP), Avis/Budget Rent A Car (Cendant Rental Car Group), Dow Jones, Nokia, Polycom and SunTrust Banks. Salesforce.com has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit www.salesforce.com or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, about Interstate Hotels & Resorts, including those statements regarding future operating results and the timing and composition of revenues, among others, and statements containing words such as "expects," "believes" or "will," which indicate that those statements are forward-looking. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially, including changes in the national economy, economic conditions generally and the real estate market specifically, the threat of future terrorist attacks, governmental actions, legislative and regulatory changes, availability of debt and equity capital, interest rates, competition, supply and demand for lodging facilities in our current and proposed market areas, and the company's ability to manage integration and growth. Additional risks are discussed in Interstate Hotels & Resorts' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Interstate Hotels & Resorts annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.
ARLINGTON, Va. | BridgeStreet Worldwide, a leading international provider of corporate housing to business and leisure travelers, today announced that it has completed the first major step in its new "Corporate Housing Made Easy" mission with the company-wide launch of a state-of-the-art, customized customer relationship management (CRM) system from salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM - News), the market and technology leader in on-demand CRM. With salesforce.com, BridgeStreet team members can easily provide knowledgeable, high-quality service to clients anywhere in the world through immediate access to real-time customer account information. 
Interstate Hotels & Resorts