Taking their cue from user feedback and input, Greg Pesik, President and CEO of Passkey International, announced the release of its latest version, Passkey 6.0, for its 7,250 active users worldwide.

The new version provides its Passkey-enabled(SM) global network of users, including meeting planners, hotels, CVBs, PCOs and meeting management companies, with increased control and flexibility during all facets of utilization.

Susan Gosz, housing services manager for the Greater Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association and Passkey-enabled since 1999, shares, “The obvious planning and research that was involved in developing this new release is incredible. From receiving updates and ‘what to expect’ alerts to the online calendar capability, Passkey 6.0 provides the flexibility and ease of use that we as a CVB need.”

Pesik, in explaining the key enhancements of Passkey 6.0, observes that the release of this new version is in direct response to user requests for features that provide increased versatility, including up-to-the-minute reservation data and additional report options for tracking room block availability, incremental income potential and wash rates.

"To be successful, users require total control of their events - from what the attendee experiences at their first point of contact to efficiencies in reporting and revenue management - and Passkey 6.0 can meet and exceed these demands.”

Tammy Horrocks, meeting manager for Conferon, Inc., a leading independent meeting planning company in the U.S., explains, “Passkey 6.0 meets the event needs of all audiences that touch a given event. The associations that hire Conferon are happy because of their ability to instantly access a complete and real-time list of reservations if an attendee calls with a question or problem.”

“Hotels love the ability to pull their own pick-up numbers and rooming lists anytime, anywhere. And I’m thrilled because Passkey is easy and intuitive to use, and has greatly reduced the need for my staff to manually re-key attendee data – by as much as 50% – because so many users have embraced the accuracy, security and flexibility that online booking provides.”

This is not a surprising trend given that an average of 71% of association and corporate meeting planners currently use the Web for meeting management according to the August 2002 Meetings & Conventions 2002 Meetings Market Report.

In addition to greater control, Passkey 6.0 provides users with the ability to easily develop their own branded and customized event-specific Websites designed to give their attendees a simple and seamless shopping experience when selecting their preferred housing options.

Sample housing information accessed can include, but is not limited to, price range, brand and location. Passkey 6.0 can also be leveraged to enhance marketing communication efforts, as users are able to utilize the database to creatively inform attendees of key information or updates before, during and after the event.

Some of the top benefits of Passkey 6.0 include: · A single, simple-to-use interface for managing citywide events and single property meetings; · Dynamic, shared real-time report generation, plus new reports on-demand; · Improved ability for customers to launch their own customized, event-specific Websites; · More sophisticated meeting management functionality, such as tiered cancellation policies, to reduce attrition exposure; · Enhanced security for clients and their users; and · A new international interface that supports multiple currencies.

In designing Passkey 6.0, the engineering team took into consideration key features that were extremely important to event organizers. These included creative control, as well as freedom, when it came to tracking and marketing a specific event.