Secaucus, NJ, June 2, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northstar Travel Media, the leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has acquired a majority interest in Inntopia, a leading provider of e-commerce reservation technology and services to destination marketing organizations, ski resorts, tour operators, lodging suppliers and activity, event and transportation suppliers. Other partners include Inntopia's founder and CEO, Trevor Crist, Aspen Skiing Company and Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc.
"The addition of Inntopia is a transformational strategic investment for our company," said Thomas Kemp, Chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Media. "For many years, we have been the leading information, media, and marketing solutions company serving the North American travel industry. Now, with the addition of Inntopia, we are able to offer our clients and partners access to state-of-the-art online booking tools for travel agents and direct sales channels."
Inntopia develops connectivity between systems and aggregates all types of destination travel inventory, simplifying reservation procedures for its partners and their customers. Northstar Travel Media's majority stake in Inntopia positions it as a "software as a service" e-commerce business.
The Inntopia platform was developed to enable travel resellers to package and sell a wide range of non-traditional travel products, such as vacation rentals, activities and tours. Inntopia also supports more traditional products, such as air, car, and hotels. The company supports dozens of third-party application programming interfaces, including popular property management systems, point-of-sales systems, global distribution systems, website analytics packages, accounting systems and more. Inntopia also offers affiliate and agent commission payment processing services to its clients. All of the Aspen Skiing Company and Intrawest resorts will soon be on the Inntopia platform.
Inntopia is the leading advanced reservation online booking software platform for the ski resort and mountain destinations market. "We believe that we will create significant marketing synergies between Inntopia and our recently acquired Mountain Travel Symposium, the leading conference serving the mountain destination industry," said Kemp.
"In addition to our growing reach across North America, Inntopia has expanded internationally, with clients in Switzerland, France, Italy, Sweden, Australia, and the Caribbean," said Trevor Crist, Inntopia CEO. "We've also moved into new markets, including golf, water parks, and beach. This partnership with Northstar will help us accelerate our growth across additional vertical and geographical markets, and spur additional development in our technology. We're also very pleased that both Intrawest and Aspen Skiing Company recently joined as partners in the business. Their participation speaks volumes about our leadership position in the mountain travel industry, and our ongoing commitment to that market."
"Inntopia has distinguished itself as the best ecommerce platform in the ski and lodging space, due to its flexibility and robust packaging features" said Matt Jones, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Aspen Skiing Company. "We're excited to sign on as a new customer, and we're investing because we believe strongly in the company's future."
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About Inntopia
Inntopia is the leading advanced platform for the destination travel industry, powering destination resorts, ski resorts, tour operators and travel suppliers. The Inntopia platform also gives agents access to popular activities and attractions in these same destinations. Travel providers manage their rates and availability in the Inntopia system, or connect through on of the many interfaces available. Inntopia also processes travel agent commissions, as well, through their commission clearing house.
Inntopia has established itself as the leading cloud-based platform in the North American mountain travel industry. The latest resorts switching to the Inntopia platform include Aspen Mountain, Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Killington, Steamboat, Winter Park, Stratton, Snowshoe, Tremblant in Quebec, and Honua Kai in Maui.
About Northstar Travel Media
Northstar Travel Media is the leading provider of news, information and data for the travel, meetings and hospitality industries and parent of brands including Travel Weekly, Travel Weekly China, Travel Weekly Asia, Events China, Business Travel News, Travel Procurement, PhoCusWright, Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News, Incentive, TravelAge West, Family Getaways, Explorer, Your Travel Insider and Luxury Cruise News and Web in Travel.
Northstar's electronic directories -- Travel Weekly's Hotel and Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide, and M&C Facilities Search and Successful Meetings Facilities Search-- provide in-depth data on hotels, meeting and convention properties, and business travel in the United States and internationally.
In addition to its directories and periodicals, Northstar publishes a number of online subscription information resources, including The Beat, travel42, STAR Service Online, Intelliguide Corporate and BTP24.
Northstar produces more than 40 face-to-face events including The PhoCusWright Conference, PhoCusWright Europe, CruiseWorld, Global Travel Marketplace, Global Travel Marketplace West, M&C InterAct, M&C Events, M&C Asia, Successful Meetings Universities, The Beat Live, Tech Talk, Business Travel Trends and Forecast Forums, Innovate 2014 and the Travel Weekly Leadership Forums, the Web in Travel conferences, WITX: Women In Travel, WIT Hospitality Roadshow and WITNext, and Mountain Travel Symposium.
Northstar also is an industry leader in marketing services, custom communications, content licensing and database management serving the travel and meetings industries. Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company also has offices in New York, NY; Glen Ellyn, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Winston-Salem, NC; Beijing and Shanghai, China; and Singapore.
Northstar Travel Media, LLC is a portfolio company of Wicks Group of Companies LLC, a leading private equity investor in the information and business services, communications, and media sectors.
www.northstartravelmedia.com
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A file accompanying this release is available at:
http://media.globenewswire.com/cache/23429/file/26766.pdf
CONTACT: Thomas Kemp Chairman & CEO, Northstar Travel Media, LLC tkemp@ntmllc.com 201-902-2070 Megan Sheekey VP Marketing & Communications, Inntopia megan@inntopia.com 802-760-6407
