Fairmont Hotels and Resorts has hired Passkey to provide online group reservation services at its more than 50 properties worldwide.

Deploying Passkey as a brand standard provides meeting planners with “consistent and reliable” group booking capabilities across the portfolio, Fairmont officials stated.

Using Passkey, the Toronto-based hotel chain will be able to offer every group a customized hotel reservation Web site, where attendees can make and manage hotel reservations online. Planners, meanwhile, can track hotel block pick-up and reservation status in real time. Reservations made via the Passkey-enabled Web sites flow directly to Fairmont’s central reservation system.

Fairmont is Passkey’s second brand-wide adoption. In August 2007, InterContinental Hotels Group announced that during 2008 250 IHG hotels—including all Crown Plaza properties—would implement Passkey.

Jim Schultze, director of events at Financial and Insurance Conference Planners, welcomes the move by Fairmont. “With Passkey, FICP is now able to integrate hotel reservations at any Fairmont property with our registration software, and report on who has signed up for the meeting but has not yet made hotel reservations,” said Schultze in a press release. “Passkey will also enable my attendees to make their own changes online, yet another bonus benefit that simplifies the entire process. This system has cut rooming issues by over 60 percent compared to last year.”