UNITE Unveils OLAS

Unite Group PLC
18 January 2001

Date: 18 January 2001



UNITE Unveils Unique University Internet

Accommodation Information & Booking Service

The next phase of the UK's first national on-line student accommodation
allocation and booking service was today unveiled by UNITE, the UK's leading
specialist provider of student and NHS key worker accommodation services.

This unique, comprehensive website contains detailed information on
approximately the 341,000 rooms available across all 170 publicly funded
higher education institutions and some private HE institutions.

The On-Line Accommodation Service is a further extension of UNITE's
comprehensive facilities management operation and as a nationwide provider of
student homes in partnership with universities and colleges, UNITE is ideally
placed to offer this new web-based service.

It offers the following key benefits:

Benefits to Universities                       Benefits to Students
  * Ability to offer a secure on-line          Comprehensive guide to all
    accommodation information and booking      accommodation available to
    service from their existing university     students through universities
    websites with no initial capital outlay or across the UK
    ongoing cost                               Ability to view rooms,
  * Reduction in cost of recruiting            facilities and local amenities
    additional staff to manage peak summer     on-line
    months                                     24 hour, 7 days a week access
  * Significant savings in operational costs   with a customer service centre
    of the accommodation office, with          telephone help line.
    dramatically increased service levels      On-line booking facility for
  * 24 hour, 7 days a week customised secure   university and privately owned
    access with a customer service centre      accommodation
    telephone help line.                       Ability to check the status of
  * Significantly, the service is offered      their application
    FREE OF CHARGE to qualifying universities  Text message updates sent
    and students.                              automatically to mobile phones





UNITE will introduce the following functions during 2001:

  * On-line payments
  * Legal document downloads



Commenting on the initiative, UNITE's Chief Executive, Nicholas Porter, said:

'Many people first leave home when they go to university and often have to
source accommodation in unfamiliar towns and cities. Naturally many turn to
their chosen university to provide this information. However, as 97 per cent
of students have access to the Internet and 60 per cent own their own
computer, UNITE's On-Line Accommodation Service is a cost and time efficient
way of finding accommodation to meet their specific needs.

'We are delighted with the highly positive response we have received from
universities and look forward to working with them to provide effective
solutions to solve the administrative headache they face every year.'



The new service will be unveiled to delegates from Higher Education at UNITE's
Student Living Forum on January 18th, 2001. The service will go live on
www.bunk.com from in March 2001.



                                   - ends -





For further information contact:

Tabitha Aldrich-Smith          Tel: [phone]


                               Fax: [phone]

                               E-mail [e-mail]

Emma Kane, Chief Executive     Tel: [phone]

Redleaf Communications Ltd     Mob: [phone]



Notes to Editors:


  * www.bunk.com is a comprehensive on-line accommodation service for
    university students first launched by UNITE in August 2000.
  * UNITE was founded in 1991 by Nick Porter
  * UNITE is fully listed on the London Stock Exchange and is currently
    capitalised at £141.3million.
  * UNITE is the UK's leading specialist provider of accommodation services
    for students and key workers.
  * Further information is available at the Company's website at
    www.unite-group.co.uk