Expedia.com Classic Custom Vacations Introduces New Technology to Better Serve Travel Agency Partners

SAN JOSE, Calif., – May 27, 2003 – Classic Custom Vacations® today announced Expedia® for Agents, a new program that allows travel agents to book selected Expedia® inventory on a commissionable basis. Expedia® for Agents is an online booking tool that complements Classic Custom Vacations’ existing product line and drives incremental sales to agency partners who are committed to Classic Custom Vacations.
Expedia® for Agents will be available in July to agencies that agree to use Classic Custom Vacations as their primary wholesale partner in destinations served by Classic. The product features an easy-to-use interface similar to Expedia.com® and provides travel agents the ability to create custom vacation packages utilizing Expedia’s inventory of nearly 10,000 Expedia® Special Rate (ESR) hotel properties in more than 460 destinations worldwide, combined with Ticketmaster® events and other destination activities. In addition, Expedia® for Agents offers neighborhood location maps and virtual tours of hotel properties, providing agents with the detail and perspective their clients seek. Qualifying hotels, car rentals and cancellation waivers are commissionable at 10 percent and destination activities commissionable at five percent.

“Expedia® for Agents is the first of many technology improvements planned by Expedia, Inc. to help Classic Custom Vacations strengthen relationships with its travel agent partners,