Company Press Release
June 1, 2000
BEVERLY HILLS, CA and PHOENIX, AZ -- Hilton Hotels Corporation (NYSE: HLT) and SkyMall, Inc. (Nasdaq: SKYM) yesterday
announced they have reached an agreement to develop co-branded retail and custom shopping solutions from Hilton's
corporate website.
The travelers e-shop, which is anticipated to debut at the beginning of June, will consist of a customized Internet
shopping site from www.hilton.com. This ``virtual mall'' will allow customers
to make purchases from a wide array of SkyMall's premier merchants. Both Hilton and SkyMall will promote the travelers
e-shop program through newsletters and brochures, e-mails, direct mail campaigns and other targeted communications
to their respective customers.
``We are very pleased to have the opportunity to join forces with Hilton, an undisputed leader in the travel industry,
and provide their customers with our unique assortment of high-quality merchandise and logo gear,'' said Thomas
Edwards, president of SkyMall Ventures, Inc. (a SkyMall subsidiary). ``Our electronic commerce experience and sophisticated
technology infrastructure allows us to provide a significant added value to Hilton's electronic program. The Hilton
agreement is right on strategy for SkyMall. It increases our ability to encourage repeat purchase in a highly desirable
customer base. Furthermore, this new relationship continues our business-to-business initiatives in electronic
commerce, while sharing our core competencies without incurring significant customer acquisition costs.''
Under the same agreement, Durham & Company (a SkyMall subsidiary) will establish a separate Internet portal
for meeting planners, businesses, associations and other organizations to purchase incentive awards and order corporate
logo merchandise for the thousands of meetings and conventions held at Hilton's portfolio of properties each year.
``Hilton continues to provide leading-edge technology and services for use by all of its constituents,'' said Robert
E. Dirks, senior vice president - marketing for Hilton Hotels Corporation. ``By joining forces with SkyMall and
its subsidiaries we will add greater value to our site visitors and create new and innovative e-business initiatives
that will add other dimensions to our customers' Internet experiences.''
About SkyMall, Inc.
Founded in 1989, SkyMall® is a multi-channel specialty retailer that provides a vast selection of premium-quality
products and services to consumers from a wide variety of merchants and partners. SkyMall is best known for its
in-flight catalog, which is available on more than 70% of all domestic airlines, reaching approximately 500 million
domestic airline passengers annually. Through its skymall.com, inc. subsidiary, which operates the skymall.com®
and skymalltravel.com® Web sites, SkyMall offers an expanded selection of products and services to online shoppers
and enables other companies to conduct electronic commerce using skymall.com's merchant solution. SkyMall provides
a merchandise redemption program for a number of loyalty programs, allowing consumers to purchase SkyMall merchandise
with loyalty points earned in other programs. Through Durham & Company, a SkyMall subsidiary, SkyMall offers
high-quality logo merchandise via its catalogs, workplace initiatives and the durham.skymall.com Web site. SkyMall's
subsidiary, Disc Publishing, Inc., produces the CD-Rom, SkyDisc(TM), which provides advertising, entertainment
and e-commerce shopping links to business travelers through airline seat pocket distribution and the skydisc.com
Web site. For further information and prior press releases, please visit SkyMall's Web site at www.skymall.com.
About Hilton Hotels Corporation
Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company. The company develops,
owns, manages or franchises more than 1,800 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes
many of the world's best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton®, Doubletree®, Embassy
Suites®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Harrison Conference Centers®, Hilton Garden Inn®,
Homewood Suites® by Hilton, Red Lion Hotels & Inns® and Conrad International®. For more information
on our family of brands, please visit www.hilton.com.
This news release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe
harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors
that would cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to the continued functionality
of the companies' web sites and information technology infrastructure, the technical ability to meet the demands
of changing consumer needs and managing a growing business, the ability of SkyMall and Hilton Hotels Corporation
to implement the program described herein, as well as those factors detailed by SkyMall, Inc. and Hilton Hotels
Corporation in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Note to Editors: SkyMall® is a registered trademark of SkyMall, Inc.; Hilton®is a registered trademark
of Hilton Hospitality, Inc.
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Contact:
SkyMall Inc., Phoenix
Christine Aguilera, 602/528-3249
aguilera@skymall.com
or
Hilton Brand Communications
Jeanne Datz, 310/205-4545
jeanne_datz@hilton.com
Thomas Wingham, 310/205-4545
thomas_wingham@hilton.com