Leading hospitality CRM company continues growth with addition of Customer Success Manager, Account Executive

Celebration, Fla. — August 31, 2010—Libra OnDemand, the leading provider of Cloud-based hospitality applications designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations, continues its impressive growth pace with the addition of two experienced professional hospitality technology executives.

John Figueroa joins Libra OnDemand as its newest Customer Success Manager, responsible for helping clients get the most out of the system’s comprehensive suite of applications. While Libra OnDemand is famously intuitive and user-friendly, the sheer breadth of its capabilities sometimes requires a knowledgeable expert like Figueroa to help users navigate the technology and maximize its potential. Figueroa has extensive experience with Libra OnDemand’s backbone platform, Force.com, having used it in his most recent position as Technology Relationship Manager for Universal Orlando Resort.

Also joining Libra OnDemand is Darrin Whipple, who assumes the role of Account Executive. The personable Whipple makes it a point to provide seamless customer service from initial trial and demo to proposal and agreement preparation through implementation to long-term support. Whipple comes to Libra OnDemand most recently from Hilton Worldwide, where he worked as Director of Rooms and Guest Services at Doubletree Guest Suites in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Whipple also has extensive experience and training from his time employed at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Both Whipple and Figueroa are based at Libra OnDemand’s headquarters in Celebration, Florida. “We’re fortunate to add such well qualified members to the Libra OnDemand team who contribute to the positive, growing energy in the company. That we need to continue adding personnel to handle our company’s growth is a testament to the power and popularity of Libra OnDemand as a viable mainstream option for hospitality management technology,” says Gregg Hopkins, CEO of Libra OnDemand. “John and Darrin both have extensive experience with hospitality technology systems. I’ve been especially impressed how both gentlemen immediately dove into their jobs, taking ownership of their new responsibilities and quickly becoming part of the Libra OnDemand family. I’m confident that our clients new and old will have enjoyable experiences interacting with them.”

With more than 400 clients worldwide, Libra OnDemand is the only hospitality application running 100% natively on the Force.com platform from Salesforce.com. Libra OnDemand was named one of the industry’s top new tech products and a “Force 40” application in 2009.

About Libra OnDemand

Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (Force.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Management, Group Sales & Event Management, Analytics, Email Marketing, as well as an online consumer-facing application, Customer Portal.  Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations.  Requiring zero infrastructure or upfront capital investment, Libra OnDemand is simple to use, easy to customize, and quick to implement.  For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact info@libraondemand.com or visit the website www.libraondemand.com.

Editor’s Note: Electronic images are available by contacting Adam Kirby at Plan A PR & Marketing, Inc. Phone: 708-386-1901 or email: adam@planapr.com.

Informatica Cloud Integration Connects Hotel Systems for a Single View of Customer Data

Celebration, Fla - July 29, 2010 - Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), the world’s number one independent provider of data integration software, today announced that Libra OnDemand, a web-based application designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations, has signed an agreement with OEM Informatica Cloud Services for its comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications. Informatica Cloud Services will be the cloud data integration solution for applications including: Customer Relationship Management (CRM), loyalty management, group sales and event management, analytics, email marketing as well as an online consumer-facing customer portal application. 

The hospitality industry was severely hit by the recent recession as guest occupancy levels dramatically decreased. Many hotels needed to find new and innovative ways to maintain customer relationships and recruit new guests, which were critical to their survival. In a tough economic climate an application that requires no capital costs and delivers ease of use and lower total cost of ownership is a great advantage for an organization.

The importance of data integration to Libra OnDemand was clear - fragmented customer data exists within and across most hotels and many host a myriad of disparate legacy systems on- and off-premise. The need for a single guest profile is invaluable for customer satisfaction, loyalty programs and cross- and up-sell opportunities. For example, the Libra OnDemand application keeps track of guest preferences, amenities, flags and specials; manages pre-arrival and during-stay guest services; and tracks guest comment card responses.

“Libra OnDemand was born out of the need to provide Cloud-based applications to the hospitality industry in 2008 when we saw that Cloud was becoming a mainstream option to service customers,” said Gregg Hopkins, CEO, Libra OnDemand. “We looked at a number of Cloud players and it was clear that only Informatica had the heritage, credibility and proven track record that we could rely on to be the integration tool of our hospitality CRM system. Informatica gives us the gravitas to approach hotels considering building their own bespoke applications and offer the best solution for their needs.”

Current alternatives to hospitality CRM exist, but they are incongruent and expensive. Simple interfaces can cost upwards of $15,000 each followed by additional deployment costs. As a result, a hotel’s sales department, front desk and back-office may use different systems for guest profiles with little to no information sharing. Now with “next generation integration” from Informatica Cloud, Libra OnDemand hospitality providers can make direct connections to all of these databases, easily login to their systems, and immediately get results.

With more than 400 customers worldwide, Libra OnDemand is the only hospitality application running 100% natively on the Force.com platform from salesforce.com. Libra OnDemand was named one of the top new products, as well as one of the top “Force 40” applications in 2009.

Utilizing any web browser, there is no software or hardware to buy, install, maintain or support – which dramatically accelerates return on investment. By using Informatica Cloud Services as an integral part of the on-demand architecture, customers will choose Libra OnDemand’s secure, high performance application that is customizable, efficient, and scalable. The relationship between Informatica and Libra OnDemand means hotels now have self-service, business focused universal access to their guest data available through a comprehensive solution.

“Informatica Cloud delivers enterprise-class SaaS integration applications and a powerful platform for developing and deploying advanced, easy to use integration services over the web,” said Ron Papas, general manager, Informatica Cloud. “Libra OnDemand combines years of hospitality industry experience with Informatica’s Cloud data integration heritage to provide hospitality customers with the most robust Cloud application on the market.”

About Libra OnDemand
Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (Force.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Management, Group Sales & Event Management, Analytics, Email Marketing, as well as an online consumer-facing application, Customer Portal.  Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations.  Requiring zero infrastructure or upfront capital investment, Libra OnDemand is simple to use, easy to customize, and quick to implement.  For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact info@libraondemand.com or visit the website www.libraondemand.com.

About Informatica
Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) is the world’s number one independent provider of data integration software. Organizations around the world gain a competitive advantage in today’s global information economy with timely, relevant and trustworthy data for their top business imperatives. More than 4,100 enterprises worldwide rely on Informatica to access, integrate and trust their information assets held in the traditional enterprise, off premise and in the Cloud. For more information, call +1 650-385-5000 (1-800-653-3871 in the U.S.), or visit www.informatica.com.

Luxury California convention center resort credits Web-based scheduling application with saving time, closing deals.

Celebration, Fla. – July 22, 2010 – A recent software malfunction took down the popular desktop email client used by the sales staff at Miracle Springs Resort & Spa, threatening to trip up several large convention bookings that were close to being finalized. Months’ worth of negotiations correspondence—not to mention vital contact information—was inaccessible for a week while technicians worked to get the email system back online.

Fortunately for the resort, Director of Sales Sandy Vrabel had recently begun using Libra OnDemand’s Group Sales & Event Management tool. As a Web-based application, Libra OnDemand was unaffected by the email outage, allowing Vrabel and her team to stay up to speed with their prospective clients. Because Libra OnDemand exists in the Cloud, localized computer network outages no longer have to mean lost data and lost sales.

“With Libra OnDemand, I don’t have to worry about my system crashing, because even if I lose everything here, I know that the information is stored elsewhere,” Vrabel says. “That kind of peace of mind is invaluable, and in real business terms it can mean the difference between a completed sale and a missed opportunity.”

On a day-to-day basis, the Cloud helps the Miracle Springs sales staff speed the negotiating process, as well. Whether salespeople are on property, at home or traveling, they all have real-time access to group sales data and the calendar of booked events through Libra OnDemand, ensuring that rate is maximized and that meeting spaces are not accidentally double-booked. “And as an added perk, I can spend more time with my family away from the office, since I can access all the relevant information and respond to prospective clients quickly from my home computer,” Vrabel says. “It’s nice for work-life balance without having to sacrifice business efficiency.”

Miracle Springs has been using Libra OnDemand for less than a year, and Vrabel’s sales team has barely scratched the surface of the technology’s exhaustive Group Sales & Event Management system. The desktop email crisis sold team members on the value of the Cloud, and they are eager to implement the system’s many other functionalities, like automated group reservations delivery to the property management system.

For its part, Libra OnDemand and its technology consultants are eager to show the staff at Miracle Springs all that the Cloud can do for them. “Libra OnDemand is an extraordinarily intuitive program to learn, but sometimes hoteliers don’t even realize just how much it can do,” says Libra OnDemand CEO Gregg Hopkins. “That’s why we provide online training seminars to complement our team of enthusiastic customer success associates. We look forward to helping our friends at Miracle Springs take group sales to another level.”

Built on the Force.com platform, Libra OnDemand helps hotels manage group sales and events all the way from the initial customer inquiry through to event scheduling, ordering of function items and printing of banquet event orders. Guestroom and group block management tools provide powerful capabilities for managing group sales on both the enterprise and property levels. An interactive functions map provides a visual overview of meeting room availability and the scheduling of events, and function items can be configured to suit a hotel’s particular pricing policy.

For more information, please contact Gregg Hopkins at ghopkins@libraondemand.com or visit www.libraondemand.com.

About Miracle Springs Resort and Spa

Three-diamond rated by AAA, Miracle Springs Resort and Spa is only minutes from Palm Springs Airport and downtown Palm Springs, California. Totally refurbished in 2008, Miracle Springs’ 110 large, luxurious rooms are more beautiful than ever. The resort offers 10,000 sq. ft. of gorgeous meeting space. Miracle Springs features eight glistening pools containing natural hot mineral water drawn from a well on hotel property.

About Libra OnDemand

Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (Force.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Management, Group Sales & Event Management, Analytics, Email Marketing, as well as an online consumer-facing application, Customer Portal.  Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations.  Requiring zero infrastructure or upfront capital investment, Libra OnDemand is simple to use, easy to customize, and quick to implement.  For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact info@libraondemand.com or visit the website www.libraondemand.com.

Editor’s Note: Electronic images are available by contacting Adam Kirby at Plan A PR & Marketing, Inc. Phone: 708-386-1901 or email: adam@planapr.com.

Luxury hotel group uses Software-as-a-Service platform to build guest relationships, streamline operations.

Premier Palace Hotel - KyivCelebration, Fla. – June 17, 2010 – Ukraine’s leading luxury hotel brand, Premier Hotels, succeeded in upgrading its Premier Club loyalty program by turning to Libra OnDemand and its suite of easy-to-use Web-based applications. Libra OnDemand enables hoteliers to manage customer relationships, drive loyalty initiatives, focus sales, manage catering events and perform on-demand business analytics.

Premier Hotels, a seven-property chain managed by Kiev-based Premier International Ltd., recently set out to incorporate an option for earning and spending bonuses within its Premier Club loyalty program, an enhancement that required a solid technical platform. Libra OnDemand’s online consumer-facing Customer Portal and its customizable back-end Loyalty Management system were the perfect fit.

“Shortly after implementing Libra OnDemand, we discovered other benefits of the system that we had not even realized, like the meetings and events module, email marketing, extensive reporting capability, the sales activities module and even guest history recording,” says Tanya Podgoretska, director of sales and marketing for Premier Hotels. “Libra OnDemand gives us complete control of all of our customer relationship management needs in a single, intuitive solution.”

With Libra OnDemand’s hosted platform, the system exists in the “Cloud,” able to be accessed by any Internet-connected device with proper encrypted credentials—Premier Hotels has been able to drastically reduce costs for equipment and technical support, by as much as 90%, without compromising customer engagement or staff efficiency.

Oreanda Hotel - YaltaManaging seven properties throughout Ukraine with different property management systems accumulating statistics had proved to be a time-consuming process for Premier Hotels, but Libra OnDemand’s Software-as-a-Service characteristics streamlined sales efforts and dramatically reduced the company’s internal miscommunications. “With Libra OnDemand, centrally managing our loyalty program has become much easier, as we have all data for all the properties online,” Podgoretska says. “The same concerns sales activities—using account profiles recorded by each of our properties and knowing the background, we can build up our communications with corporate accounts more efficiently and effectively.”

Built on the Force.com platform, Libra OnDemand is infinitely scalable and integrates seamlessly with the hotel industry’s top property management systems, giving emerging companies like Premier Hotels an affordable CRM solution that can evolve and grow with them. In addition, the Loyalty Management module is adaptable to any existing loyalty program, providing added flexibility. Points can be awarded based on revenue, number of stays or room nights and redeemed for vouchers, gift certificates, upgrades or free stays. Loyalty program members can even view and manage their membership data online, redeem reward points, purchase gift certificates and request room upgrades through the Libra OnDemand Customer Portal, which is embedded into the hotel company’s website.

“Libra OnDemand offers midsize hotel companies like Premier Hotels a flexible and affordable solution for managing their loyalty programs,” says Libra OnDemand CEO Gregg Hopkins. “Some of our competitors let guests collect points online, but then force them to contact a call center to redeem them. We provide a full 360-degree solution that enables hotels to manage guest loyalty on their own terms.”

Since not all guests want the same things from their hotel loyalty programs—some crave points redeemable for free nights, while others value the perks and special recognition that make travel more enjoyable—Premier Hotels leverages Libra OnDemand’s dynamic CRM management platform to effortlessly cater to both types of guests.

For more information, please contact Gregg Hopkins at ghopkins@libraondemand.com or visit www.libraondemand.com.

About Premier Hotels

Premier Hotels is a collection of luxury Ukraine hotels operated by Premier International Ltd. The collection includes seven properties: the 5-star luxurious Premier Palace in Keiv, one of Great Hotels of the World; 4-star elegant Oreanda Hotel on the Black Sea shore in Yalta, Crimea, one of Special Hotels of the World; 4-star Dnister Hotel in Lviv; 5-star Otrada boutique hotel in Odessa; 4-star Aurora Hotel and 5-star Cosmopolit Art Hotel in Kharkiv; 4-star Star Hotel in Mukacheve. Many of the hotels are historical landmarks with their own individual style and true reflection of place.

About Libra OnDemand

Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (Force.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Management, Group Sales & Event Management, Analytics, Email Marketing, as well as an online consumer-facing application, Customer Portal.  Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations.  Requiring zero infrastructure or upfront capital investment, Libra OnDemand is simple to use, easy to customize, and quick to implement.  For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact info@libraondemand.com or visit the website www.libraondemand.com.

Editor’s Note: Electronic images are available by contacting Adam Kirby at Plan A PR & Marketing, Inc. Phone: 708-386-1901 or email: adam@planapr.com.

Hotel technology takes to the cloud, as industry-leading CRM provider demonstrates how their innovative suite of Force.com applications saves time and money for hotel clients around the globe.

Visit Booth # 1145 at HITEC 2010, click here to schedule your appointment.

Celebration, Fla. – June 8, 2010 – Libra OnDemand, the first on-demand CRM solution built specifically for the worldwide hospitality industry on the Force.com platform, today announced that they will demo their comprehensive suite of award-winning CRM tools at HITEC 2010, taking place June 21-24 in Orlando, Fla. Libra OnDemand debuted just one year ago, at HITEC 2009, and has since grown exponentially, as hotels around the world have begun to discover the myriad benefits of operating in the cloud. To date, over 100 properties (35,000+ rooms) in 8 countries have implemented Libra OnDemand to more effectively manage their guest services, email marketing, and customer communications programs.

“Our solutions are designed to create increased revenue quickly and easily by streamlining and automating all the guest touch points for a hotel property or brand,” said Gregg Hopkins, CEO of Libra OnDemand. “The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform creates a wide range of additional benefits, including faster implementation, no up-front capital expenditure, lower operational costs, reduced technical resource requirements, and simplified integration with other hotel systems.”

At HITEC 2010, Libra OnDemand will conduct ongoing demonstrations of their entire suite of applications at Booth # 1145. The individual modules can be utilized separately or as a complete web-based solution, and include:

• Customer Relationship Management: Account and contact data is collected and synchronized, providing a complete 360° view of each customer.
• Loyalty Management: Frequent customers are recognized with service requests and/or customized rewards programs that are flexibly configured.
• Group Sales & Event Management: Events are managed and integrated to consolidate billing and reporting.
• Analytics: Guest and company data is centralized, providing limitless graphics and reports.
• Email Marketing: Emails are easily automated, able to create dynamic lists and segment databases by multiple criteria.
• Customer Portal: Online consumer-facing application offers self-service options for in-house and frequent customers.

“In addition to simplifying CRM for our global hotel clients, we have also made it easy to afford,” said Hopkins. “Our subscription-based pricing is determined on a “per User” basis, minimizing financial impact and dramatically accelerating ROI. An easy solution at an affordable price has been our formula for success.”

For more information, please visit Booth # 1145 at HITEC 2010, contact Gregg Hopkins at ghopkins@libraondemand.com or visit www.libraondemand.com.

About Libra OnDemand

Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (Force.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: Customer Relationship Management, Loyalty Management, Group Sales & Event Management, Analytics, Email Marketing, as well as an online consumer-facing application, Customer Portal.  Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hotel organizations.  Requiring zero infrastructure or upfront capital investment, Libra OnDemand is simple to use, easy to customize, and quick to implement.  For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact info@libraondemand.com or visit the website www.libraondemand.com.

Editor’s Note: Electronic images are available by contacting Andrea Roland at Plan A PR & Marketing, Inc. Phone: 407-905-0608 or email: andrea@planapr.com.