Expedia Unveils Easy-To-Manage, Commission-Based Hotel Programme

BELLEVUE, Washington - ‘Expedia Easy Manage’ programme a simplified option for accessing the world’s largest source of online travel demand

Expedia, Inc., the global leader in online travel and the largest provider of online hotel bookings worldwide, today announced the introduction of the Expedia(R) Easy Manage programme, a commission-based partnership option for qualifying hotels in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA).

“In a time when suppliers need customers in their rooms more than ever, we recognized the need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model,” said Matthew Crummack, senior vice president of Lodging, Expedia. “Expedia is uniquely positioned at the intersection between travel supply and the world’s largest audience of online travel shoppers, and we’re focused on bringing those travel shoppers to hotels in a way that addresses their revenue objectives and the specific dynamics of their market.”

Now, eligible hotels can quickly and easily sign up to offer their property on more than 70 Expedia and Hotels.com(R) sites worldwide, as well as on Venere.com and thousands of active affiliate sites. Hotels that partner with Expedia get access to online travel shoppers worldwide and multilingual property assistance, all with no registration fees and no fixed costs. The Expedia Easy Manage programme offers hotels a set of straightforward online distribution tools for managing rates, inventory and content.

The introduction of the Expedia Easy Manage programme represents the extension of Expedia’s global online travel marketplace to even more hotels in even more locations. The Expedia Easy Manage programme complements the long-standing Expedia Special Rate (ESR) merchant model programme, which provides hotels marketing opportunities and strategic revenue management support from a locally-based Expedia market manager. The Expedia Special Rate programme offers numerous ways for hotels to align their distribution and revenue management strategies and optimize RevPAR.

This news also represents the integration of the Expedia and Venere.com supply portfolios following Expedia’s acquisition of Venere(TM) in 2008.

Hotels interested in learning more about the value of working with Expedia can visit https://joinexpedia.com. Current ESR partners looking for more information may contact their local market manager.

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the world’s leading online travel company. With more people booking travel online in Expedia’s global marketplace than anywhere else, the company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives demand for travel suppliers, and provides advertisers opportunities to reach in-market travel consumers. The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com(R), hotels.com(R), Venere.com, Hotwire(R), Egencia(TM) (formerly Expedia Corporate Travel), TripAdvisor(R), Expedia Local Expert(R), Classic Vacations(R) and eLong(TM). Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 70 global points of sale in more than 55 countries. Expedia also powers travel bookings for some of the world’s leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia Affiliate Network. For more information, visit www.expediainc.com/ (NASDAQ: EXPE).

Expedia and Expedia.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. hotels.com is either a trademark or registered trademark of hotels.com, L.P., a subsidiary of hotels.com in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.

(c) 2009 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST: 2029030-40/2083949-50

Source: Expedia, Inc.

Neil Johnson of Edelman PR, +44-0203-047-4022, neil_johnson at jcpr.com