BELLEVUE, Wash., June 30, 2010 – Expedia® Media, the advertising sales division of global online travel leader Expedia, Inc., today announced efforts to provide marketing support to destinations impacted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
During July, August and September 2010, Expedia Media will offer a three to one media matching program for destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and tourism boards located in the Gulf states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Organizations in these areas will receive three dollars in marketing value for every one dollar spent with Expedia Media. The matching program will allow destinations in need of tourism to stretch their promotional dollars and further increase their visibility among travel shoppers visiting the Expedia, Inc. sites.
“Expedia stands behind our destination and supply partners throughout the Gulf states,” said Doug Miller, Global Vice President, Expedia® Media. “We hope we can help minimize the economic impact of the oil spill and help Gulf state destinations overcome challenges in consumer perception that have kept travelers away even from unaffected areas.”
In addition to the media matching program, Expedia Media will donate one full-day “homepage takeover” campaign on Expedia.com® and Hotels.com® for each Gulf states. A separate campaign will run for each state and will utilize Expedia’s premier Homepage Wallpaper advertising product, providing highly visual, exclusive placement on the Expedia.com and Hotels.com homepages. Together, the two sites are the most highly trafficked online travel agency marketplace, offering prime marketing visibility for the Gulf states to reach a very large, relevant audience of travel shoppers when they need it most.
Expedia Media plans to support each homepage takeover campaign with an additional $50,000 worth of online media that will appear as display ads throughout Expedia.com. Additionally, Expedia Partner Services Group (PSG), the division that manages Expedia’s relationship with hotels, airlines and other supply partners, is working with travel suppliers in the Gulf states to deliver special offers for consumers during the homepage campaigns. PSG’s team of hundreds of employees in local markets across the globe works closely with the lodging, airline and destination services partners to ensure travelers have access to the best travel selection.
Eligible destinations interested in participating may contact Expedia Media at expediamedia@expedia.com to inquire.
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. For more information, visit www.advertising.expedia.com.
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is the largest online travel company in the world, with an extensive brand portfolio that includes some of the world’s leading online travel brands, including:
• Expedia.com®, the world’s largest full service online travel agency, with localized sites in 31 countries
• Hotels.com®, the hotel specialist with sites in more than 60 countries
• Hotwire®, a leading discount travel site that offers opaque deals in 13 countries on its 12 sites in North America, Europe and Asia
• Egencia®, the world’s fifth largest corporate travel management company
• eLongTM, the second largest online travel company in China
• Venere.comTM, the online hotel reservation specialist in Europe
• trivago®, a leading online hotel search company with sites in 39 countries
• Expedia Local Expert®, a provider of in-market concierge services, activities and experiences in 18 markets worldwide
• Classic Vacations®, a top luxury travel specialist
• Expedia® CruiseShipCenters®, one of North America’s leading retail cruise vacation experts
The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers the opportunity to reach a highly valuable audience of in- market travel consumers through Expedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world’s leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia® Affiliate Network. For corporate and industry news and views, visit us at www.expediainc.com or follow us on Twitter @expediainc.