WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., April 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HotelPlanner, a leading travel technology platform and hotel booking engine, today announced a new relationship as a travel partner with UTR Sports, a leading organization focused on digitally connecting and expanding the sports of tennis and pickleball with accurate global ratings, innovative events, and a global community centered around level-based play.
UTR Sports are the creators behind the gold-standard UTR Rating, a global tennis rating that assesses every player’s skill level on the same scale from 1.00-16.50 based on match results, ensuring accuracy and consistency. Building on over a decade of expertise, UTR Sports introduced the UTR Pickleball Rating (UTR-P) in 2023, catering to players of all skill levels, from beginners to professionals, and partnering with the Association of Pickleball Players (APP).
Additionally, as the owner and governing body of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour (PTT), UTR Sports collaborates with federations and organizers to bring professional tournaments to nearly 30 countries across the globe. Given the challenges faced by aspiring players due to fewer events and reduced prize money, the PTT is a developmental tour that offers guaranteed prize money and multiple matches at each $25K event to support aspiring professional players and promote the growth of the sport.
All UTR Sports Power subscribers can click here to book accommodations at a lower rate.
"The continued growth of tennis, coupled with the meteoric rise of pickleball, presents countless opportunities for players to come together for fun, high-quality competition in cities around the world," says Mark Leschly, UTR Sports President and CEO. "Our community travels far and wide in their pursuit of these sports, so we are excited to provide HotelPlanner as a solution to help players with their accommodation needs."
"As a devoted tennis player since childhood, it is a huge honor to join forces with UTR Sports and bring this sport to even more players worldwide," says Tim Hentschel, Co-founder and CEO of HotelPlanner. "We are also incredibly excited to play a role in the expansion and development of pickleball, a sport captivating millions at breakneck speed. To the entire UTR Sports community, welcome to HotelPlanner."
About UTR Sports
The mission of UTR Sports, formerly Universal Tennis, is to connect and grow the sports of tennis and pickleball with accurate global ratings, innovative events, and a global community centered around level-based play. The UTR Sports Platform is anchored by our patented ratings technology. UTR Sports provides the technology tools and solutions relevant and valuable to players, coaches, and organizers. UTR Sports is creating opportunities and pathways, including the UTR Pro Tennis Tour, for players from all over the world, in all stages of life, to find better matches and unlock a more fun, affordable, and flexible experience.
About the UTR Pro Tennis Tour (PTT)
The UTR Pro Tennis Tour officially began on January 1, 2021 to support tennis globally with prize money, venue support, technology, logistics, and competitive play opportunities. Universal Tennis, LLC is the owner and organizing body of the UTR Pro Tennis Tour (PTT), with responsibility for its Rules and Regulations, Code of Conduct, Tournament Format, and related streaming and commercial rights. The UTR Pro Tennis Tour was started to create a development tour. With fewer events and substantially reduced prize money, aspiring professional players are increasingly struggling in the pursuit of their dreams. Working with host venues and national Federations, PTT provides additive and complementary opportunities to help emerging players and the broader tennis community.
About HotelPlanner
HotelPlanner is a leading travel technology company and hotel booking platform that combines proprietary artificial intelligence, and a 24/7 global gig-based reservations and customer service network. HotelPlanner is one of the world’s leading providers of individual, group and corporate travel bookings. Founded in 2003, HotelPlanner has enduring partnerships with the world’s largest online travel agencies, well-known global hotel chains, individual hotels, online wedding providers, ancillary lodging providers, corporations, sporting organizations from youth to professional, universities, and government agencies. HotelPlanner’s family of brands includes its flagship site HotelPlanner.com, its meetings & events-focused sites Meetings.com; EventConnect.com; and VenueExplorer.com; Lucid Travel, which focuses on sports team travel; Eventsquid, which focuses on corporate and association event registration; and Cleverdis, a mainstay in trade show media. Learn more at https://www.hotelplanner.com
Media Contacts
Hollie McKay
VP, Communications
HotelPlanner
hollie.mckay@hotelplanner.com
