VANCOUVER, BC – January 18, 2017 – ZoomAway Travel Inc., (TSXV-ZMA; Frankfurt:4ZO) (“ZoomAway” or the “Company”) a leading solutions provider for: hotels, golf courses, ski resorts and other activity providers that increase revenue, reduce cost, and improve their ability to accommodate today’s active traveler, is pleased to provide a progress report on the Company’s developments in 2016. During the year, the Company has expanded into new markets while refining and developing the Company’s technology suite of product offerings for its customers.
Market Expansion in Western USA
In October 2016, Multivision Communications Corp. completed the acquisition of ZoomAway Inc. and concurrently completed a $2.3mm financing of $0.10 units, each comprising a common share and a five year $0.13 warrant to purchase one common share. ZoomAway Travel Inc. commenced trading on the TSXV Exchange on October 1, 2016, under symbol “ZMA”.
The financing enabled ZoomAway to expand its market penetration into Las Vegas, Oregon, Northern California, including Monterrey and Pebble Beach and will support additional expansion into other western markets including Phoenix/Scottsdale, Northern & Southern California and the Inner-West Mountain Resorts. The market segments in these regions include hotels, casinos, golf courses, ski resorts, convention bureaus, world-class spas, and adventure/recreation activity providers. Most importantly, the expansion strategy has eliminated the Company’s reliance on seasonal marketing strategies and has enhanced the potential of recurring revenue streams.
White Label Customers
In 2016, the Company acquired over twenty-five new White Label customers, including ten hotel-casino properties in Las Vegas, Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California, Western United States golf course management company Course Co, and several other notable resort properties and activity providers. One of North America’s premier mountain resort companies will be using the newly launched Reservation Management System (RMS) at three of their resorts during the 2017 winter season.
Technology – White Label
The Company has improved upon its ZoomAway White Label product creating an enhanced delivery engine that has made it more visually appealing and easier to navigate. The technology has been refined and streamlined making it easier to add new clients, onboard new clients, and add new custom features to client interfaces. For example, a client, such as a hotel property, activity provider or golf course, can now have fully customized sites without modification to the underlying technology platform and booking engine while also maintaining brand identity, making it a more seamless adoption and representation of their capabilities online.
Technology – Reservation Management System (RMS)
In 2016, ZoomAway launched a new reservation management system, RMS that is meeting the needs of its clients and projecting significant sales potential. The RMS product enables customers who have large bookings (corporate, conventions, sporting, weddings, etc.) to provide individualized booking capabilities, taking into account many variables including accommodations, length of stay, added services and activities, meals and other preferences and needs of their guests and attendees via a dedicated website that also enables individualized billing and payment processing. The RMS will not only help organizers and guests better manage their stays but will also better provide for accurate billing and collection and record keeping, thereby enhancing the experience for all parties involved including providing for appropriate audit trails where needed.
Technology Development – Mobile Market
We have also created Application Programming Interfaces, “APIs,” to allow customers with deeper levels of integration. ZoomAway has engineered a system that considers the full product life-cycle, speed delivery, and expansion while maintaining a high degree of client customization and maintenance of customer brand integrity. In addition to expanding the White Label and RMS offerings, ZoomAway is planning the development and market launch of its’ our own app and mobile product suite.
ZoomAway Team
During the course of 2016, ZoomAway added key personnel to the management team, notably, Dan Morgan, as COO; Tim Berfield, as CTO; and Toni Koster, as VP of Sales. These individuals bring several years of experience in advertising and PR, overseeing sales teams, and product development. Additionally, ZoomAway also hired a Regional Sales Director in Las Vegas, to better provide ZoomAway customers with hotel and activity bookings in this market. As the Company expands into other key regions, the Company expects to hire localized sales management to better enhance ZoomAway’s offerings and presence in serving these markets.
ZoomAway also appointed Robert Cashell, Sr. to the board of directors. Mr. Cashell has been involved in the gaming and hospitality business for over forty years, through Cashell Enterprises. Cashell served as Chairman of the University of Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, was Lt. Governor for the State of Nevada and served as the Mayor of Reno, Nevada from 2002 to 2014.
2016 also saw the formation of an Advisory Board: Tony Mavrides, who held numerous roles at various MGM Resorts International properties including most recently, General Manager of Circus Circus, Reno; and, Mike Larragueta, who has spent over thirty years in the hospitality business, notably, in sales at the Baha Mar, the Hard Rock Hotel, the Venetian, and Las Vegas Sands Corp. The Company looks forward to their participation in assisting ZoomAway with their growth strategies in the hospitality and gaming markets.
The Online Travel Market
The Online Travel Market continues to experience consolidation with major players including TripAdvisor, Priceline, Expedia and Ctrip completing nearly US $8bn in acquisitions. Additionally, on the hospitality side, Marriott International acquired Starwood Hotels for US $13bn. As more people continue to travel worldwide and further travel technology offerings come online in the emerging markets, it is anticipated that a strong demand for travel technology offerings and further high multiple M&A activity will not only continue but show significant market growth.
“ZoomAway will continue to provide hotels, resorts and gaming properties and their guests with a seamless and easy to use technology platform for bundling of hotel stays with adventure and recreation activities, driving incremental revenue to all retail parties while providing considerable savings to the end-user,” stated Sean Schaeffer, President & CEO. “We believe that through our recent technical and sales hires, expansion into new and high-value markets, and increased investment into technology and new product offerings, that ZoomAway is well-positioned to become the partner of choice for hotels, resorts, gaming properties, and activity providers.”
For more information about ZoomAway Travel please visit www.zoomawaytravel.com.
NOT FOR DISSEMINATION OR RELEASE IN THE UNITED STATES FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE IN CANADA
Or for additional information contact: Sean Schaeffer, President, ZoomAway Inc., at 775-691-8860
About Us
ZoomAway, Inc. (Nevada Co.) provides leading hotels, golf resorts, ski resorts, and activity providers with a seamless, scalable, and fully integrated technology platform that allows for the discounted packaging of lodging, ski, golf, activities, and attractions. It seamlessly integrates into client websites, providing their customers with a real-time one-stop shop for all of their travel and recreational needs. Additional information about ZoomAway Inc. can be found at www.zoomaway.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Offering and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
