Ritz-Carlton Hotels Enhance Operations across USA and Caribbean with Scala Hospitality

Leading ERP solution for the hotel industry centralises back office system across 18 properties

London, 31 July 2001: A year after the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. began deploying the Scala Hospitality enterprise-wide back office system, 18 properties currently function in a centralised environment. With access to comparative data and drill-down at the most detailed level, the Ritz-Carlton has a more holistic and accurate view of financial performance at the owner, corporate and property levels.

We were looking to reduce the costs associated with regionally managing hotels by gaining greater access to all hotels critical data at the corporate office," said Pam Angelucci, Vice President, Information Technology. Scala Hospitality has equipped us with the tools necessary to not only reduce costs but also to increase financial reporting efficiency."

The Ritz-Carlton installation of Scala Hospitality includes the back-office modules, an interface to its Property Management System, and Raptor, Scala Hospitalitys web-enabled business intelligence tool. Each of the 18 Ritz-Carlton properties is linked to one central system located at the corporate office in Atlanta using a Citrix MetaFrame server. At any given time, 65 concurrent users can access the Scala system.

The property on the island of Jamaica experienced challenges connecting to the Citrix server at the Ritz-Carlton corporate office due to the countrys existing technology infrastructure. Scala Hospitality therefore set up the Jamaican hotel in a stand-alone environment with an Internet consolidation function breaking down the propertys financial data into packets of information that is then pulled into the central system via the Web.

According to Ian Hocking, Vice President Operations for Scalas Hospitality division, global enterprises continue to rely on Scala to provide a system that can cope with various local legislation, while at the same time providing an easily manageable system worldwide to give coherent, standard, centralised reporting to the head office. The Ritz-Carlton is a good example of a global company that is simplifying its business and make it more efficient through the use of technology."

Current Ritz-Carlton properties using Scala Hospitality include properties located in: Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland, Ohio; Dearborn, Michigan; Half Moon Bay, California; Pasadena, California; Kapalua, Hawaii; Key Biscayne, Florida; Laguna Niguel, California; Naples, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; San Francisco, California; St. Louis, Missouri; Washington, DC; Palm Beach, Florida; Pentagon City, Arlington, Virginia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Rose Hall, Jamaica.

The Ritz-Carlton properties that will be using Scala Hospitality by the end of 2001 include nine properties in: Amelia Island, Florida; Marina del Rey, California; New York, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; Reynolds Plantation, Georgia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Sarasota, Florida; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Tysons Corner, Virginia.

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Notes to Editors

About The Ritz-Carlton

The award-winning Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company manages 40 hotels worldwide with 22,000 employees. The company was founded in 1983 on principles of the finest levels of personal service, dining facilities and amenities. The company won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for a second time in 1999, the only service company to do so. For information or reservations, please call (800) 241-3333, a travel professional, a hotel directly or visit the web site at www.ritzcarlton.com

About Scala Business Solutions

Scala Business Solutions is a global software provider serving multinational companies. Scala makes global business simple with its world-class software for managing an e-business, combining traditional back office business management systems with software for doing business over the Internet. Scala provides a complete solution for its customers, and also works in combination with other providers to extend the scope its customers may need.

From offices in Europe, North America and the Far East, Scala delivers software that is available in more than 30 languages. The company implements its software through a network of direct offices and partners that together cover more than 100 countries. Local markets are also addressed through a network of dealers.

One of Scalas vertical divisions, Scala Hospitality, develops software to meet the unique needs of the hospitality industry, including interfaces with all major property management and point-of-sale systems. Installed in more than 200 locations worldwide, customers include hotels in The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C.; Starwood; Marriott; Sheraton; Hyatt; Nikko; Four Seasons companies and other independent hotels.

Scala is listed on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol: SCA). 2000 revenue was USD 71.2 million.

Visit Scalas website at www.scalaworld.com for press information including press releases, information for investors, and company and product information.

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