StarCite Launches Meeting Estimator(TM)
Tuesday April 4, 9:00 am ET
New Instrument Lets Customers Compare Costs of Planning a Meeting in Various Locations with Simplicity and Speed
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 4, 2006--StarCite, Inc., the leading provider of On Demand Global Meeting Solutions(TM), today announced the launch of Meeting Estimator(TM), a tool that lets meeting planners make more informed decisions by quickly comparing the potential costs of holding a meeting in different locations. The first of its kind in the meetings management industry, Meeting Estimator(TM) was created to provide customers with a simple, high-speed, online method to compare air and hotel rates for different destinations before they make a financial commitment.
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The estimates are provided automatically, with totals and average per-person costs calculated through the StarCite Online Marketplace, the industry's most efficient marketplace with more than 50,000 eRFPs and $2 Billion worth of meeting opportunities this year.
"The complexity of comparing different locations and estimating potential air and hotel costs has traditionally been daunting for meeting planners," said Michael Boult, President and Chief Executive Officer of StarCite. "We developed the Meeting Estimator to help cut through the clutter and enable planners to make better, more informed decisions. This product provides another way for our customers to work with StarCite to better manage their meeting spend and invest their meetings dollars more effectively."
In addition to calculating the total and average per-person costs for a potential meeting in each location, the Meeting Estimator(TM) has a built-in support system that allows planners to include day-only attendees that don't require transportation or hotel rooms within their estimates. Other features include the ability to tailor cost assumptions to match companies' typical event profiles and the capability to export data generated by the tool directly to Excel programs, enabling more streamlined communication amongst team members.
The three-step process to use the Meeting Estimator(TM) includes:
* Step 1 - Identifying the potential locations for the meeting: The meeting planner enters the city (or cities) in which he/she is considering holding a meeting as well as the airport (or airports) where he/she plan on having attendees arrive;
* Step 2 - Entering the origin cities of impending attendees: The meeting planner enters the airports from which attendees will be arriving, and the number of people flying from each location;
* Step 3 - Retrieving the estimate: Meeting Estimator(TM) will automatically calculate total and average-per-person costs for the meeting in each location.
About StarCite, Inc.
StarCite, Inc. is the leading provider of On Demand Global Meeting Solutions(TM). StarCite optimizes global investments in corporate meetings and events delivering visibility, savings and control. StarCite provides process efficiency, enabling technology and proven adoption management support to drive significant cost reduction to buyers and enhanced revenues to suppliers. StarCite is based in Philadelphia. Investors in StarCite include Internet Capital Group (NASDAQ: ICGE - News); Maritz Travel Company; Seaport Capital; and TL Ventures. For more information about StarCite, or its technologies and services, please visit www.starcite.com.
Products and services include:
* StarCite GMS(TM) - the integrated platform that powers StarCite's Global Meeting Solutions approach and five steps to guaranteed success - Plan, Budget, Buy, Attend and Measure.
* StarCite Marketplace - the world's largest online meetings marketplace with $2 billion in revenue opportunities and 50,000 eRFPs.
* StarCite Adoption Management - proven implementation, training, benchmarking, customer support, account management and outsourced services that help you target achievable savings and improve overall results. |
