Expedia Media Solutions Announces 2015 Global Partner Award Recipients

AMResorts, Jamaica Tourist Board, Jumeirah, Los Cabos Tourism Board, Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and Playa Resorts Recognized for Campaign Innovation and Success

Bellevue, Wash., July 6, 2016 – Expedia® Media Solutions, the advertising sales division of Expedia, Inc., today announced the recipients of its 2015 Global Partner Awards, honoring innovative marketing campaigns from partners in Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Middle East and Indian Ocean. The annual awards recognize original and groundbreaking partner campaigns that demonstrate exemplary innovation, creativity and success in digital travel marketing and advertising.

Each of the brands recognized by the regional awards program partnered with Expedia Media Solutions to leverage its platforms, products, resources and vast partner network to deliver strategic campaigns. The campaigns in 2015 exemplify innovative and collaborative ways to engage travel audiences and drive impactful results.

“This year our award recipients showcase how strategic partnership, creativity and innovation in travel marketing can engage audiences and drive business results,” said Noah Tratt, Senior Global Vice President of Expedia Media Solutions. “The collaborative approach used in each of these campaigns is core to our partnership philosophy, and illustrates how travel marketers can utilize our platforms and products to inspire travelers, influence booking decisions, and most importantly, achieve their objectives.”

The annual awards recognize campaigns that leverage media solutions across travel marketing categories, and this year’s winners include:

2015 Caribbean Destination Campaign of the Year: Jamaica Tourist Board

Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) turned to Expedia Media Solutions to drive sales on its most productive U.S. points-of-sale and increase business during the winter. To accomplish this, Expedia Media Solutions launched “The Great Jamaica Winter Sale,” a cooperative campaign that invited various hotel partners in Jamaica to participate in a promotional sale during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To maximize the campaign impact, Expedia matched the investments from JTB and hotel partners, resulting in a robust, three-way funded sale. The campaign included Expedia homepage takeovers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as takeovers on the Expedia Deals and Vacation tabs, dedicated emails and more. The collaborative campaign resulted in a 12:1 return on ad spend, and on Cyber Monday, Expedia recorded its highest single-day room nights booked for Jamaica.

2015 Caribbean Hotel Campaign of the Year: Playa Resorts

Playa Resorts enlisted Expedia Media Solutions to develop a campaign that would help with brand differentiation, drive a stronger presence on specific points of sale and showcase individual properties, all without sacrificing brand awareness. The relatively new resort company was specifically looking to promote its Jamaica properties, given softness in the market, as well as the opening of Mexico properties in Cancun and Cabo, with a focus on reaching travelers in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Taking the objectives into account, Expedia Media Solutions developed a campaign that spanned various points-of-sale, focused on key selling periods, and implemented strategic traffic targeting. The campaign included promotional sales and unique offers that aligned with each of the goals. The campaign delivered a 20:1 return on ad spend, and Playa Resorts saw a nearly 35 percent increase in gross room night demand, a more than 40 percent increase in hotel gross demand and an over five percent increase in average daily rate, year-over-year.

2015 Mexico Destination Campaign of the Year: Los Cabos Tourism Board

To raise awareness of the diverse travel experiences available in Los Cabos and increase market share, the Los Cabos Tourism Board engaged Expedia Media Solutions on a strategic campaign that highlighted the unique selling points of the destination. Known as “Land’s End” due to its location on the tip of the southern Baja California Peninsula, Los Cabos is a land of contrast, from breathtaking landscapes – seas to desert to mountains – to unique cuisine, culture and history. To showcase the breadth of these offerings, the team developed a campaign featuring homepage takeovers, display placements on Expedia and Travelocity, targeted email marketing, and integration across Expedia’s Facebook, Google+ and Twitter pages. Leveraging its unique relationships with hotels, Expedia also developed attractive lodging offers for the campaign, as well as exclusive deals and discounts and trip giveaways. The campaign drove results and bookings for the Los Cabos Tourism Board, delivering a more than 23:1 return on ad spend.

2015 Mexico Hotel Campaign of the Year: AMResorts

AMResorts collaborated with Expedia Media Solutions on a direct response campaign that would increase production and elevate awareness not only for the brand, but also for new property openings. Using multiple Expedia points-of-sale, the AMResorts campaign included merchandising sales and deals, social media packages, dedicated emails, takeovers and strategic lower-funnel placements, such as search results. The year-long campaign resulted in a 10:1 return on ad spend for AMResorts, and helped the company achieve its goals.

2015 Middle East & Indian Ocean Destination Campaign of the Year: Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority

Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) worked with Expedia Media Solutions to develop a campaign that would raise awareness of the destination with consumers in China, France, Germany and the U.K., and increase Mauritius’ market share against competitive destinations. To support the objectives, Expedia Media Solutions created a bespoke landing page with inspirational video content and photos, targeted to qualified travelers – those with potential interest in visiting Mauritius. The campaign was hosted on Expedia points of sale in France, Germany and the U.K., as well as eLong in China. During the campaign, Mauritius hotel bookings in the Chinese market increased 130 percent compared to the same time period in the prior year, while the destination saw a more than 30 percent increase in passengers from the U.K., and a nearly 30 percent increase in room night demand from Germany. Additionally, the placements on the Expedia points of sale in the France, Germany and the U.K. drove awareness and engagement.

2015 Best TravelAds Partner Middle East & Indian Ocean: Jumeirah

International luxury hotel chain Jumeirah partnered with Expedia Media Solutions to increase sales for eight hotel properties in Dubai, with a focus on reaching consumers in the U.K. and Gulf Coast Countries (GCC), including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. To effectively reach customers in the U.K. – Jumeirah’s single-largest market – and promote the summer season in Dubai, the team developed the Jumeirah Summer Flavours TravelAds campaign, featuring special offers on Expedia and Hotels.com points of sale. While promoting the summer season to customers in GCC can be a challenge, there is a known increase in travel during the season, so there was a strong opportunity to influence booking decisions. With this in mind, the team implemented strategic targeting of GCC customers on Expedia.com to promote the Summer Flavours offers. The TravelAds campaign resulted in an over 35 percent increase year-over-year in room night demand, and a 40:1 return on ad spend for Jumeirah.

About Expedia Media Solutions
Formed in 2007, Expedia Media Solutions is dedicated to building online and offline media partnerships for travel and non-travel brand advertisers and to enable them to leverage the unique media value of Expedia’s network of leading travel brands and global points of sale. Expedia Media Solutions is operated by Expedia, Inc. For more information, visit www.advertising.expedia.com.

About the Expedia group

The Expedia group (NASDAQ: EXPE) is one of the world’s leading travel companies, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes leading online travel brands, such as:

  • Expedia.com®, a leading full service online travel company with localized sites in 33 countries
  • Hotels.com®, the lodging specialist that offers Hotels.com® Rewards and Secret Prices through its mobile booking apps and localized websites in more than 65 countries
  • Hotwire®, a leading discount travel site that offers Hot Rate® Hotels, Hot Rate® Cars and Hot Rate® Airfares, as well as vacation packages
  • HomeAway®, a global online marketplace for the vacation rental industry, which also includes the VRBO, VacationRentals.com and BedandBreakfast.com brands, among others
  • Travelocity®, a pioneer in online travel and a leading online travel brand in the US and Canada
  • Egencia®, a leading corporate travel management company
  • Venere.com™, the online hotel reservation specialist in Europe
  • trivago®, a leading online hotel search with sites in 55 countries worldwide
  • Expedia Local Expert®, a provider of online and in-market concierge services, activities, experiences and ground transportation in hundreds of destinations worldwide
  • Classic Vacations®, a top luxury travel specialist
  • Expedia® CruiseShipCenters®, a provider of exceptional value and expert advice for travelers booking cruises and vacations through its network of over 200 retail travel agency franchises across North America
  • CarRentals.com™, a premier online car rental booking company with localized sites in 13 countries

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