Black Diamond Group Announces Commercial Launch of LodgeLink(TM), an Online Marketplace for Remote Workforce Accommodation

CALGARY, AB--(Marketwired - October 24, 2017) - Black Diamond Group ("Black Diamond" or the "Company") (TSX: BDI) today announced the commercial launch of LodgeLink™, an online accommodation marketplace for remote workforce lodging.

Similar to online hotel booking marketplaces, LodgeLink aggregates available remote accommodations rooms in a transparent online directory and allows customers to easily find the closest lodge to a remote work site. Customers can then use LodgeLink to select and book their preferred accommodations after assessing availability, proximity, and price.

Through a partnership with Vision Travel, a leading travel management company located in Canada with a global presence, LodgeLink also provides end-to-end travel booking capabilities from the customer's place of origin to their remote destination and back.

"LodgeLink allows workforce camp and lodge owners to fill rooms that may otherwise sit empty," said Trevor Haynes, President and CEO, Black Diamond. "LodgeLink also helps companies in the energy, resources, and infrastructure industries find and book remote accommodation for their employees in minutes instead of hours. It is much more efficient than the word of mouth, telephone or email inquiry that we are replacing."

LodgeLink currently has listed capacity representing over 12,000 rooms across 25 remote accommodation properties in Alberta and British Columbia. Black Diamond expects that LodgeLink will scale up to offer many more camps and lodges across North America, and will ultimately become a global operation. Vision Travel's recent global expansion will help enable this growth.

While the initial network of workforce lodges was developed primarily for the oil and gas industry, Black Diamond believes LodgeLink can also serve industries such as infrastructure, mining, and forestry. Moreover, LodgeLink can assist with emergency response, where remote accommodations are required for evacuees and relief workers.

Accommodations supplied by Black Diamond and others

To develop its supply of accommodations, LodgeLink has so far negotiated listings from 12 third-party lodge owners including those owned or controlled by the resource producers, and ultimately contributed availability at two of Black Diamond's own lodges. Many of the lodges have spare capacity due to the slowdown in project development after the 2014 oil price decline, but even during times of high activity, lodges tend to have periods of reduced loading which can be more efficiently used.