Company description::
UK BUDGET HOTEL CHAIN INSTALLS DIGITAL VIDEO-ON-DEMAND FOR 14,000 HOTEL ROOMS WITH CREDITCALL PAYMENT SERVICE
26 February 2004 - CreditCall, specialist cashless payment solutions provider, today announced a major 10 year agreement to supply NEC UK with payment and telephony services for the NEC Travel And Leisure Interactive Applications (TALIA) system. Installation is now underway for one of the UK's top budget hotel chains and the services will be available in all its 14,000 rooms later this year. Launched at the Hotelympia event in London's ExCel today, the TALIA system provides digital quality movies, TV and broadband internet to hotel guests. CreditCall's pioneering technology means these in-room services can, if required, be provided on a pay-as-you-go basis, avoiding delays at checkout. Guests can simply pay for telephony and movie services using an on-screen instruction page, or by swiping a payment card through the phone.
CreditCall's payment services integrate with simple card-activated phones, which will be installed in each of the hotel rooms, together with set-top boxes. These will take the digital video signal from a server in a central equipment room in each hotel and convert it to a standard TV signal. TALIA offers guests terrestrial and freeview digital TV, pay-per-view movies and sport. In future, on-screen web browsing will be added together with a high-speed laptop connection.
CreditCall has in-depth expertise in providing cashless payment for in-room hotel services such as TV and telephony. CreditCall launched its industry leading swipecard telephone in 2000, enabling budget hotels to charge for services which could not be charged to a guest's account, and customers include Travel Inn and Innkeeper's Lodge. The TALIA system, which is the first of its kind to enable pay-as-you-go digital TV, telephony and broadband, will be marketed to the hospitality industry worldwide.
Nick McGarvey, managing director of CreditCall, said: "We see pay-as-you-go in-room services becoming the preferred system for hotels worldwide. As guests will be able to pay for extras anonymously from their rooms, checking out will only involve the room charge itself, so the process will be much faster. Lengthy queues for checking out will become a thing of the past. It's exciting to be working with NEC on the TALIA system, and we anticipate huge take-up from the hospitality industry in the coming months as we strengthen our position in this market."
NEC's TALIA system is being launched at Hotelympia, the UK's biggest exhibition for the hospitality industry, which is running from 23rd - 27th February at ExCel in London's Docklands. NEC will be demonstrating the TALIA system on stand H210.
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
About CreditCall Communications Ltd.
CreditCall is a specialist cashless payment solutions provider, with recognition in the UK, The Americas, Mainland Europe and the Far East. CreditCall develops diverse applications including card-based telephony solutions, Pay & Display car parking, Vending, Ticketing and Pay TV.
CreditCall invests heavily in research and development and provides payment services facilities, which will allow any virtually any machine, device or terminal to be enabled to accept credit or debit card, as well as certified EMV software licenses and consultancy for the emerging chip-based EMV cards.
For more information about CreditCall products and services visit the company's website at: www.creditcall.co.uk
Press contacts:
Drew Benvie / Carole Pendle
BCLO PR
+44 117 973 1173
benvie@bclo.co.uk / pendle@bclo.co.uk
Peter Alcock
CreditCall
+44 1202 300350
peter.alcock@emvx.co.uk
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