Trade show producer Key3Media Events Inc. has a new housing provider, Passkey.com Inc., whose Web-based housing service allows event planners and hotels to manage room block information 24/7.
Key3Media, based in Los Angeles, produces 60 events in 19 countries, including COMDEX and NetWorld+Interop. “We chose Passkey because of their proven track record in ASP solutions, as well as their seasoned management and operations teams,” says Brian Peunic, vice president of operations.
In related news, seeUthere.com, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based online event management company, has partnered with Passkey to provide housing for its clients, who include Synergen Inc., Compaq Inc., and Fluke Networks.
Until recently, Passkey had focused almost exclusively on citywide meetings. (The company has 40 convention bureau clients.) However, in June, Passkey introduced HotelDirect, a new service designed for one-hotel meetings. HotelDirect is similar to Passkey's citywide product, allowing planners and hoteliers round-the-clock Web access to housing information, but there are also new capabilities. Hotels can set up a customized Web page for each meeting, and planners are able to track multiple meetings taking place at Passkey-enabled properties. The company hopes to have several hundred properties on board by year's end. The fee will be $5 to $6 per reservation, paid by the hotel, says Durant. The service is free to planners.