Expedia.com Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust and Expedia, Inc. Partner to Boost Area Tourism with goCaribbean.com
BELLEVUE, Wash. – Sept. 6, 2002 – Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) today announced a comprehensive partnership with the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust (CHACT) to encourage travel to the Caribbean through a new and dynamic website, goCaribbean.com (http://www.gocaribbean.com). In addition, Expedia.com®, (www.expedia.com), the world's leading online travel service, will provide expanded hotel choices to the Caribbean.
Expedia, Inc. To Power New Caribbean Site:
Expedia, Inc.'s private label solution, Worldwide Travel Exchange (WWTE™) has been selected to provide the booking engine, handle inbound telesales, customer support and travel inventory to the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust's (CHACT) new online travel site, goCaribbean.com. The website highlights the Caribbean hotel association properties, (which have joined the CHACT marketing initiative), from the WWTE, which utilizes specially negotiated merchant hotel inventory. Vacation packages, destination services and activities available in the Caribbean are also featured.
“The Expedia private label solution enables us to take advantage of proven technology and high-quality customer support to help those traveling to the Caribbean find great value when searching for hotels and vacation packages,” said Ralph Taylor, Chairman of the Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust Program. “The trust and its hotelier members can now benefit from utilizing this robust outlet to load inventory and generate bookings.”
With Expedia, Inc.'s WWTE, CHACT provides travelers with hotel and lodging at specially negotiated rates, vacation packages that combine multiple trip components (such as flights, hotels, and car rentals), as well as destination services and activities (including, ground transfers and tickets for tours and attractions).
“Partnering with the CHACT, which represents the diverse interests of the Caribbean's hospitality industry, enables Expedia to contribute to the Trust's mission of sustaining the strong growth of tourism in Caribbean destinations,” said Barney Harford, vice president, new channel development at Expedia, Inc.
Expedia.Com Increases Caribbean Hotel Offerings
As part of the partnership, the nearly 1,200 properties in the Caribbean Hotel Association, (which have joined the CHACT marketing initiative),will have the opportunity to participate in Expedia's ESR (Expedia® Special Rate) program, in which Expedia works with individual hotels to provide consumers with attractive rates and bring incremental business to hoteliers. With the ESR model, hoteliers provide wholesale inventory to Expedia, which helps sell the rooms regardless of seasonal demand fluctuations. The program also gives hoteliers the flexibility to renegotiate wholesale prices and room inventory if there is an unexpected rise or drop in room demand.
“Participating in the ESR program gives CHACT-member hotels the opportunity to increase revenue available per room night through our flexible, merchant model hotel program, while travelers can enjoy access to savings and great deals,” said Lloyd Frink, vice president of destinations and lodging at Expedia, Inc. “It's a win-win for the members and for the travelers who are staying at their properties.”
In the months ahead, Expedia will provide specialized booking access of the new CHACT site to travel agents.
About the Caribbean Hotel Association
The Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust is a Public/ Private Sector conglomeration of major hotel chains, airlines and credit card companies who have joined forces through the Caribbean Tourism Organization – with both CARICOM and non-CARICOM nations – in order to market and promote the Caribbean as a single destination. A regional fund has enabled the launch of a television campaign with a related call-to-action. The overall intent of the campaign is to brand the region and therefore compete with other regions of the world that have been taking ever increasing Caribbean market share of the US outbound traveler for nine consecutive years.
Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust
2655 LeJeune Rd, Suite 910
Coral Gables, Florida 33134 USA
Tel: 305.443.3040
Fax: 305.443.3005
Website: www.gocaribbean.com
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is the world's leading online travel service and was the eighth largest travel agency in the United States in 2001. To meet the needs of travelers around the globe, it operates Expedia.com in the United States and localized versions throughout Europe and Canada. Expedia.com helps travelers travel right with a wide variety of travel products and services, such as Expedia® Special Rate hotels and vacation rentals with the guaranteed lowest prices. Expedia operates Classic Custom Vacations, Inc., a leading wholesaler of premiere vacation packages to destinations such as Hawaii, Mexico, Europe and the Caribbean; and Metropolitan Travel, a corporate travel agency. Travelscape, Inc., wholly owned by Expedia, also operates as WWTE, a private-label online travel business that supplies car and hotel inventory to third parties. Expedia is a majority-owned subsidiary of USA Interactive (NASDAQ: USAI).
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