Press Releases

Diners Club® Selects VIPdesk for Concierge Services

24-hour "Live" Concierge Services Now Available to Diners Club Cardmembers

Alexandria, VA, November 28, 2000 – VIPdesk, the fast-growing Internet concierge service, today announced that they have signed an agreement with Diners Clubâ North America, to offer concierge services to their personal Cardmembers.

"In a recent survey of our customers as well as participants from the general population, concierge services were in the top three desired benefits," states Brenda Gaines, President and CEO Diners Club North America. "In response to this request, we chose VIPdesk, a leading concierge service in the country, to provide our customers with their own personal assistant to make hotel reservations, recommend popular restaurants, refer reputable service providers, research the perfect vacation spot and any other daily tasks that our busy Cardmembers need to accomplish."

Diners Club, the first charge card and the preferred Card among frequent business travelers and affluent individuals, sets the standard for superior products, from managing the complex business travel payment process to achieving maximum return on T&E investments for customers in 201 countries. The company constantly looks for innovative ideas and benefits to retain current Cardmembers as well as to acquire new members.

The Diners Club concierge service, called Diners Club VIPdesk, will be available 24/7 and can be accessed via e-mail or phone. Diners Club VIPdesk offers a variety of services to help busy people get things done including the coordination of research, referrals, reservations and recommendations as well as access to a shopping and a self service database of over 300 top-quality products from national name-brand vendors. Users have access to pre-screened content and advice from live, leading hotel concierges in each VIPdesk city market.

"Diners Club's partnership confirms the nationwide need for virtual personal assistants as well as other organizational and time saving tools for today's busy people," states Mary Naylor, founder and CEO of VIPdesk. "Our goal is to assist Diner Club Cardmembers with all of their personal tasks, relieving them of the stress and anxiety many experience in our current economy."

VIPdesk is the leading provider of "live" web-based coordination of personal and convenience services to help busy people get things done. VIPdesk provides companies with a virtual personal assistant platform that offers live online concierge services for employees and customers. This innovative technology and centralized infrastructure of live, local concierges acts as a powerful retention and productivity tool that currently serves 5.1 million users.

"AOL's Digital City Ask the Concierge Feature provides the perfect quality service to help today's busy people get things done," says Michelle Waters-Wilson. "As a local concierge agent, I provide customers with extensive, high-caliber information so they can make the best choices whether they are planning a vacation or selecting a maid service. And in today's fast-paced environment, this type of personalized, quality service is a rare commodity."

About VIPdesk (www.vipdesk.com)

VIPdesk's founder, Mary Naylor, a thirteen-year veteran of the concierge industry, has developed a personal assistant infrastructure platform that serves many blue chip clients. This innovative platform is the ultimate customer and employee loyalty strategy -- VIPdesk enables its clients to extend their brands into the daily lives of their customers and employees by offering a service to streamline busy lives. VIPdesk is a unique Web-enabled concierge service providing personal, real-time assistance from live, local concierge agents. Fueled by $3.75 million in venture capital funding, the company is also in the process of rolling out the service to 25 new markets and is aggressively hiring home-based "City expert" concierges for the users to place requests 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

About Diners Club (www.dinersclubus.com)

Diners Club, creator of the multi-use charge card industry in 1950, enters the new millennium by celebrating 50 years of growth. Issued in more countries and currencies than any other charge card, Diners Club serves more than 8 million Cardmembers worldwide whom last year charged more than $35 billion at more than five million establishments which welcome Diners Club. Individuals or corporations interested in acquiring the Freddie Award-winning DINERS CLUB charge card, please call (800) 2-DINERS (234-6377) for further information.

# # #

"I love the flexibility of working from home which allows me to be there for my children. I could not ask for a better arrangement." - Milissa Rhodes, Fredericksburg, VA

"Working from home enables me to be in the know and be in my own space and that is worth a million bucks!!!" - Lauren Levine, Hollywood, FL