BELLEVUE, Wash., June 21 \/PRNewswire-FirstCall\/ — To celebrate the first day of summer and help travelers combat rising fuel and airline ticket prices, Expedia.com\u00ae today introduced two new site features: Fare Alert and Gas Station Locator. The Expedia\u00ae Fare Alert, a downloadable desktop application, is the only tool of its kind that automatically alerts consumers to domestic and international airfares and flight+hotel vacation packages within a user specified price range. Gas Station Locator helps travelers locate the gas station with the least expensive gas nearest to their rental car drop-off location.<\/p>\n
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“Despite rising prices and industry reports of more costly air travel, demand for summer travel remains strong,” said John Morrey, VP of Air at Expedia.com. “The Expedia Fare Alert and Gas Station Locator features help travelers avoid rising fuel and airfare prices, especially during the busy summer travel months. As the world’s largest online travel agency, Expedia is constantly looking for ways to leverage our travel intelligence to help travelers save time and money.”<\/p>\n
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The Expedia\u00ae Gas Station Locator helps those who rent a car avoid overpaying for gas when they return the car to the airport by pinpointing gas stations with the lowest priced gas near the top 50 airports nationwide. Travelers who use the Gas Station Locator will save time by not having to find a gas station at the last minute and save money by knowing where to go for the cheapest gas and avoiding the high cost of having the rental agency refuel for them. Found on the Expedia.com cars page, Gas Station Locator features a drop down menu of the nation’s top 50 airports and allows the user to search for relevant gas stations by city. Upon selecting an airport location, the user is presented with up to five stations nearest the airport with the current price of regular unleaded gas at each.<\/p>\n
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The new Fare Alert tool helps travelers avoid overpaying for flights by conducting regular searches on Expedia.com and automatically alerting the user on their computer desktop when an airfare is found below their designated price. Fare Alert is the only tool of its kind from an online travel agency that provides pricing information on both flights and flight+hotel vacation packages. Consumers can download Fare Alert at http:\/\/www.expedia.com\/farealert<\/a>. This innovative tool helps users avoid overpaying for travel by:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Consumers who book with Expedia get added peace of mind thanks to the Expedia\u00ae Best Price Guarantee, which is the most comprehensive customer guarantee in online travel and covers everything sold on Expedia.com. Please see Expedia.com for full details.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ATA recently reported that airfares in the U.S. rose 10.6 percent in 2006 over the same period in 2005, but according to a study commissioned by Expedia.com, 55 percent of U.S. adults plan to fly as much this summer as last summer.(1) A lucky few are able to avoid the impact of higher fuel and fares this summer. According to Expedia.com data, ticket prices to and from the following destinations have decreased year-over-year: Denver to Phoenix (35.6 percent), followed by Chicago to San Antonio (26.9 percent), Seattle to Puerto Vallarta (26.1 percent) and Miami to Cancun (24.5 percent).(2)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n About Expedia.com<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Expedia.com is the world’s leading online travel provider, helping more than 25 million travelers per month easily plan and book travel. Expedia.com (http:\/\/www.expedia.com\/<\/a>) aims to provide personalized service, the latest technology and the widest selection of vacation packages, flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises and in-destination activities, attractions, and services. With the Expedia Best Price Guarantee, Expedia.com promises to offer to its customers the best rates available online for all types of travel, making it the most comprehensive customer guarantee in online travel. Expedia.com is an operating company of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n NOTE: Expedia, Expedia.com and the airplane logo, are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the United States and\/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CST # 2029030-40<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (2) Select routes experiencing a significant decrease in average ticket <\/p>\n SOURCE: Expedia.com<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CONTACT: Erin Krause of Expedia.com, +1-425-679-4317, or <\/p>\n Web site: http:\/\/www.expedia.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" -- Tracking airfares on the domestic or international route of their\n choice, as well as on flight+hotel vacation packages. Expedia is the\n only online travel provider to offer this service for vacation\n packages.\n -- Shopping for the traveler by conducting regular searches on\n Expedia.com and automatically delivering them an alert on their\n computer when an airfare is found below the set price they have\n indicated.\n -- Providing pricing information on the flight and on flight+hotel\n vacation packages.<\/pre>\n
(1) Harris Interactive\u00ae fielded the online survey on behalf of\n Expedia.com between April 5-7, 2006 among a nationwide sample of\n 2,327 U.S. adults 18 years of age or older. Sampling error of the\n overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points. This online\n sample is not a probability sample.<\/pre>\n
\nprice year-over-year from Q1 ’05 to Q1 ’06 based on Expedia.com
\nbookings.<\/p>\n
\npress@expedia.com<\/a><\/br\/><\/p>\n