Press ReleasesExpedia Expands Hotel Relationships in Europe, Grows In-Bound International BookingsOnline Travel Leader's Efforts Help European Hoteliers Boost Occupancy, Reach Travelers Around the GlobeLONDON and BELLEVUE, Wash. Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's leading online travel company, today announced growth in the number of hotels it has partnered with in Europe this year, and in the number of travelers booking trips to Europe on the more than 80 Expedia®- and Hotels.com®-branded sites that Expedia operates worldwide. More than 6,500 European hotels have signed up for the Expedia Easy Manage program since it was introduced in May 2009. The European country with the most significant growth in number of hotels working with Expedia is Russia, where the hotel count has grown more than 80 percent year on year. The UK has also seen significant growth with the number of hotel partners increasing by 48 percent over last year. Nearly 30 percent more hotels are working with Expedia this year than last year in both Germany and France, and more than 20 percent more hotels in Italy are now offered in the Expedia marketplace. “We’re focused on delivering hotels throughout Europe the opportunity to reach the millions of travelers worldwide who shop for travel on our sites every month,” said Matthew Crummack, Senior Vice President of Global Lodging, Expedia Partners Services Group. “More and more hotels throughout Europe are signing up to offer their properties on our sites, and are benefiting from the local knowledge and online distribution expertise provided by our market managers in local markets across the region.” Hotels partner with Expedia to benefit from the consumer demand its sites generate worldwide. Even in the challenging economic environment, Expedia has achieved strong growth this year in the number of consumers who booked travel to European destinations on Expedia and Hotels.com sites. In the last 12 months, Expedia and Hotels.com sent 21 percent more travelers to Italy than in 2008. The number of travelers who booked on Expedia and Hotels.com to Greece grew 26 percent, and to Turkey 31 percent. In addition, hotel room nights booked on Expedia and Hotels.com sites grew significantly in many European markets this year. The number of room nights booked at U.K. hotels on Expedia and Hotels.com sites has grown more than 36 percent over last year. Room nights booked at German hotels on Hotels.com sites globally grew more than 28 percent, while room nights booked at Russia hotels on all of the Expedia-branded sites grew more than 24 percent. Hotels.com site bookings at Norwegian hotels grew nearly 46 percent. Room nights booked at Turkish hotels on Expedia and Hotels.com sites grew 33 percent, and room nights booked at Spain hotels on Hotels.com sites grew more than 26 percent in 2009.
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