HomeAway UK Celebrates 3rd Week in Top 10 Travel Charts as Visits Soar

HomeAway.co.uk & OwnersDirect.co.uk Join TripAdvisor and Travelodge in Hitwise Top 10 'Destinations & Accommodation' Category

LONDON, January 29 - This January, HomeAway, Inc., world leader of the online holiday rentals
sector, has seen its two UK sites; HomeAway Holiday-Rentals and Owners Direct
leap in to the top 10 travel websites in the Hitwise 'Destination and
Accommodations' category, joining well-established travel giants such as
TripAdvisor and Travelodge*. In case there was any doubt, this provides
indisputable evidence that online holiday rentals have hit the mainstream.

One of the most under-studied and underestimated sectors in online
travel, due in most part to its historically fragmented nature, the holiday
rentals sector has experienced exponential growth over the last decade and is
now estimated at a $60 to $100 billion global business**.

Petra Friedmann, President of HomeAway Europe comments, "We're delighted
to be included in the Hitwise top 10. Our internal forecasts indicate our two
UK sites, www.homeaway.co.uk and www.ownersdirect.co.uk have
experienced record traffic and we expect almost 5 million visits by the end
of January. Despite the struggling economy, demand for online holiday rentals
is going from strength to strength as travellers realise they can find a
whole home for less per head than a similar standard hotel and stretch their
budget even further by taking advantage of self-catering facilities."

Both companies remain confident this growth will continue throughout the
year, as forecasts indicate demand will stay strong. According to industry
analyst Mintel, around one in five people currently stay in holiday homes and
self-catering holidays are rising every year. In 2009, self-catering holidays
were forecast to represent over 60% of all overseas holidays and Mintel
expects the self catering market to continue to outstrip general holiday
growth and exceed 34.3 million breaks by 2011***.

Throughout the world, HomeAway is kicking off ambitious marketing plans
to communicate the benefit of rentals and strengthen the brand. In the US,
the company will air its first ever national advertisement during the CBS
television network broadcast of the Super Bowl on February 7, 2010. Locally,
HomeAway.co.uk is targeting the social media as it sends two writers 'around
the world' in holiday homes to chronicle their experiences via a blog and
Twitter at www.grantourismotravels.com and
twitter.com/gran_tourismo.

Data sources:

* Source: www.Tnooz.com, 'UK Travel Site Crunch' following posts :

Week ending 9th Jan -

www.tnooz.com/2010/01/11/data/uk-travel-site-crunch-data-week-end-january-9-2010/

Week ending 16th Jan -

www.tnooz.com/2010/01/18/data/uk-travel-site-crunch-data-week-end-january-16-2010/

Week ending 23rd Jan -

www.tnooz.com/2010/01/25/data/uk-travel-site-crunch-data-week-end-january-23-2010/

** Based on data from the PhoCusWright Report: the Vacation Rental
Marketplace; Poised for Change (January 2009)

*** Source: Mintel Self Catering Holidays - UK, 2007 and 2009

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Media contact: Sarah Chambers, PR Manager, HomeAway.co.uk, +44(0)20-8846-3430 / +44(0)7739-033-32 / schambers at homeaway.co.uk