GHA Discovery Wins Three Awards At The Loyalty Expo 2014

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- At the awards luncheon of the Loyalty Expo 2014 held in Orlando, Florida, GHA Discovery, the innovative, multi-brand loyalty programme of Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) won three awards from Loyalty 360, the loyalty marketer's association.

GHA Discovery, based on a custom-built MICROS OPERA Customer Information System (OCIS) platform, won three major awards, chosen from 170 entries, after having been judged by 25 industry experts and evaluated with a numeric scoring system. GHA Discovery won Gold for the "360-Degree Loyalty Award," which recognises the programme with the highest aggregate score across all categories. GHA Discovery also won Silver in the category of "Reward Program," as well as Silver in the category of "Use of Market Research, Customer Insight or Voice of the Customer in Loyalty Marketing."

These awards come not long after GHA Discovery won two awards at the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards, the 2013 Gold Magellan Award in the Loyalty Programme category and 2013 Silver Magellan Award for the "Marketing Campaign category."

GHA's CEO, Chris Hartley believes that a big part of this continuing success is attributed to GHA's partnership with MICROS Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: MCRS) and the sophisticated technology platform that both organizations have developed together: "Before we launched GHA Discovery, we invested significant resources into customising our central systems to ensure that we operate on one of the most advanced CRM platforms in the industry. That platform now enables dynamic marketing and customer recognition across multiple brands, thus ensuring all 425 hotels can deliver what we promise our 4 million members each time they stay, regardless of the brand they choose."

MICROS' President for Asia-Pacific, Stefan Piringer, who was the founding Chairman of GHA, and is a current Board Member, reaffirmed Hartley's sentiment: "GHA was always about showcasing the best in MICROS' suite of offerings, including its central systems technology. As the alliance operates across multiple brands and different cultures on a global level, customer recognition and ease of booking across various booking channels are essential prerequisites that make the program successful. GHA's platform, hosted by MICROS in its Frankfurt data centre, ensures that an Omni Hotel customer can make a booking on gha.com and be recognized as a valued customer at every point in the experience.  For instance, that same customer arriving at Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin, is welcomed accordingly, and will have the correct amenities delivered to the room, such as the requested type and quantity of pillows. When technology enables you to deliver that level of customer experience, it is no surprise that GHA Discovery continues to impress customers and alliance members alike and wins these prestigious awards."

About Global Hotel Alliance
Based on the airline alliance model, Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is today the world's largest alliance of independent hotel brands. GHA uses a shared technology platform to drive incremental revenues and create cost savings for its member brands, while offering all the benefits of a multi-brand loyalty programme, GHA Discovery, which has over 4 million members. GHA's member brands are currently: Anantara, Art Series, AVANI, Doyle Collection, First, Kempinski, The Leela, Lungarno Collection, Marco Polo, Mokara, Omni, Pan Pacific, PARKROYAL, Per AQUUM, QT, Rydges, Rixos, Shaza, Tangram, Thon, Tivoli and Ultratravel Collection encompassing 425 upscale and luxury hotels with over 100'000 rooms across 63 different countries. For more information visit www.gha.com

About the GHA Discovery programme
GHA Discovery is about making travel unforgettable.  Using a common technology platform, members receive recognition and rewards across 425 hotels, resorts, palaces and spas in all of the Global Hotel Alliance members' hotels.  Local Experiences, the innovative rewards of the GHA Discovery programme, are unique, authentic experiences, which are designed by the hotels to give a taste of local traditions and culture.  Naturally, members also receive stay benefits, such as complimentary Wifi, room upgrades and of course enhanced personal recognition as they move through the membership levels, each and every time they stay at a Global Hotel Alliance hotel.  For more information visit www.gha.com

About MICROS
MICROS Systems, Inc. provides leading enterprise-wide applications, services and hardware for the hospitality and retail industries. Serving an extensive portfolio of clients worldwide, MICROS solutions are utilized in hotels, casinos, table and quick service restaurants, retail, leisure and entertainment, fuel and convenience, cruise, and travel operations in more than 180 countries, and on all seven continents. MICROS combines its industry knowledge and expertise to provide cloud-based, mobile and on premise solutions that allow its clients to streamline operations and successfully engage their customers. 

MICROS applications include point of sale, property management, central systems, business intelligence, eCommerce, loyalty, CRM, loss prevention, distributed order management, labor management, inventory management, and merchandise planning solutions. MICROS services include hosting and SaaS, platform implementation and integration, strategic business consulting, interactive marketing, design services including creative and user experience, and managed services. MICROS stock is traded through NASDAQ under the symbol MCRS.

For more information on MICROS and its advanced information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries, please contact Louise Casamento, Vice President of Marketing at (443) 285-8144 or (866) 287-4736. You can also visit the MICROS website at www.micros.com or send an email to [email protected].  Follow MICROS on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and the MICROS Blog.

SOURCE MICROS Systems, Inc.