Radisson.com Recognized for Top Quality Online Experience.

Radisson Hotels & Resorts today announced that its web site, radisson.com, has placed No. 1 in customer satisfaction with the online reservation-making process in the first-ever national survey by Market Metrix, LLC. In the third quarter 2003 Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) survey, Radisson was rated No. 1 for the hotel brand category and Yahoo! Travel, the only other company recognized tops for online hotel reservations, was rated number one for a travel web site.

The Market Metrix Hospitality Index is a quarterly report of national customer satisfaction in the travel industry, based on 35,000 in-depth consumer interviews. Market Metrix, based in San Rafael, Calif., is the leading provider of market research services for the hospitality industry.

According to Jonathan Barsky, Ph.D., Market Metrix co-founder and partner and University of San Francisco marketing professor, "Travelers are increasingly using the Internet to book hotel reservations, making the online interface an important part of the guest's overall experience with that hotel. The quality of that experience with the web site can influence customers' decision making, ultimately reinforcing loyalty or losing customers for the brand. He observed that interestingly, consumers are using hotel brand web sites more often than the popular third-party travel web sites, with 34 percent of consumers using the hotel site directly."

"Today's online shopper wants options and choices when making travel arrangements, but in a way that is easy and intuitive for the customer," said Gino Giovannelli, senior director of e-business for Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, parent company of Radisson Hotels & Resorts. "We continue to evolve the Radisson site with the customer top-of-mind using frequent online surveys and conducting consumer usability testing to ensure the customers' online experience is welcoming, helpful, relevant and easy. Our customers are the best judge of how well we are satisfying their changing needs. Guests are more sophisticated than ever and we are focused on meeting their expectations each and every day."

"The site features destination rich information and trip planning tools that can be personalized to meet individual needs and make the travel planning process easier," he said. "We are able to customize the site experience based on information we know about our customers, such as what language they speak, where they came from prior to visiting our site, what they are looking at while on our site, as well as what preferences they have shared with us when they created a profile. All of these efforts lead to a shopping experience that is fast, easy and relevant."

According to Market Metrix, Radisson.com secured the top spot in online hotel reservations consumer satisfaction overall due to its customer-friendly design, development and functionality and its innovative online personalization.

The Radisson web site allows guests to choose a hotel location based on its proximity to a particular attraction, airport or city center. As guests navigate the site, they can also use an online tool to keep an eye on their reservation details as they move through the reservation process. The tool assembles location, date and rate details and allows the guest to step back and modify any of them at any step of the process with a single click. Online guests can save a record of past trips to make future travel planning easier, as well as the ability to book air, hotel and car packages.

"Knowing that customers always want to know that they are getting the best value, we also guarantee that the rates on our site are the best prices available on the Internet," he said.

Radisson's web site has earned numerous awards since its initial launch in 2000. In 2000, the site was named No. 1 Overall Hotel Web Site, number one in Relationship Services and No. 1 in Guest Services by Gomez Advisors. That same year, it also was cited with a Four-Star Review by Hotel Interactive. In 2002 and 2003, the Radisson web site was honored for "Outstanding Achievement in Web Site Development" by the Web Marketing Association for its Web Awards. This year, Radisson received the Golden Click Web Award from the Hospitality and Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

Radisson Hotels & Resorts is part of Minneapolis, Minn.-based Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, whose operations also include Regent International Hotels; Park Plaza hotels, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson and Park Inn hotels; Radisson Seven Seas Cruises; Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, which includes T.G.I. Friday's and other restaurant brands; and Provisions, a worldwide procurement company.

The MMHI is a quarterly report of customer satisfaction with hotel, airline and car rental companies based on 35,000 in-depth consumer interviews. No other customer satisfaction index offers MMHI's reporting frequency, volume of customer interviews, cross-industry results or innovative satisfaction measures. The MMHI contains 135 hotel brands, 25 airlines and 11 car rental companies.