Expedia and Barcelo Hotels & Resorts Sign Global Partnership Agreement
Family-owned Spanish hotel group supports growth by partnering with online travel’s global leader
BELLEVUE, Wash., and PALMA, Mallorca, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world’s leading online travel company, today announced it has signed a long term, strategic global supply agreement with Barcelo Hotels & Resorts, a fast-growing company and among the 28 top hotel chains in Europe. The agreement provides that all Barcelo properties will be available for booking on Expedia®- and hotels.com®-branded sites worldwide. The deal marks Barcelo’s first with Expedia and will support the hotel group’s notable growth, including its recent expansion into countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, and Mexico, among others.
“We are partnering with Expedia at a time when Barcelo is focused on growing our business, opening in new destinations and targeting travelers throughout the world,” said Sarah Despradel, director distribution and revenue, Barcelo. “Expedia’s global footprint and online marketing expertise give us the ability to reach new markets and meet our growth targets.”
“We are excited to be working with a respected and growing hotel group like Barcelo to implement innovative online marketing and distribution strategies that meet its business objectives,” said Alex Gisbert, regional director, international strategic accounts, Expedia. “Expedia and Barcelo will work together closely to help Barcelo showcase its hotel properties to travellers all over the world.”
Under the agreement, Barcelo will benefit from Expedia’s online marketing and travel distribution expertise, dynamic rate management, and targeted merchandising opportunities to reach travelers throughout Europe, Asia and North America. In turn, travelers can book accommodations in all Barcelo Group hotel divisions which are Barcelo Hotels & Resorts EMEA, Latin America and in the USA Crestline Hotels & Resorts — on Expedia- and hotels.com-branded websites worldwide.
Barcelo has 167 hotels and resorts in 15 countries, which will connect to Expedia’s global online travel marketplace through Expedia QuickConnect™, which addresses the needs of independent and small-to-medium sized hotel chains by enabling the exchange of rates, availability and booking information through a direct connection with Expedia.
About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is the world’s leading online travel company, empowering business and leisure travellers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents and in-destination concierge service and activity desks for travellers. The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com®, hotels.com®, Hotwire®, Expedia® Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor®, Expedia Local Expert™, Classic Vacations® and eLong™. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 50 global points of sale with sites in North America, South America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Expedia, Inc. is a component of the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/ (NASDAQ: EXPE).
About Expedia® Partner Services Group
Expedia® Partner Services Group (PSG) is the central point of contact for travel suppliers to access the global Expedia marketplace of leading travel brands comprising more than 50 points of sale worldwide. With hundreds of employees in local markets throughout the world, Expedia® PSG makes it easy for suppliers to meet their global distribution objectives, and delivers a portfolio of innovative connectivity solutions, rate and inventory management tools, business intelligence reports, and online marketing expertise.
About Barcelo Hotels & Resorts
Barcelo Hotels & Resorts is the hotel division of Barcelo Corporacion Empresarial, the Spanish hotel and travel group wholly owned by the Barcelo family. Barcelo Hotels & Resorts manages 167 hotels, covering the leisure and urban and business markets. Special care was taken throughout recent years with Barcelo’s urban hotel developments as well as the congress and convention activities, hotels with spa, golf hotels and unique hotels. European and US cities remain the major strategic objectives within Barcelo’s future development plans, as it can be seen in recent deals such as the acquisition of the US hotel management company Crestline Capital (today Barcelo Crestline), or the agreement through which Barcelo Hotels now manages 20 properties throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
Expedia and Expedia QuickConnect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Hotels.com is either a registered trademark or trademark of Hotels.com, LP, a subsidiary of Hotels.com in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.
© 2008 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST: 2029030-40
SOURCE: Expedia, Inc.
CONTACT: Katie Deines of Expedia, +1-425-679-4317, press@expedia.com
Web site: http://www.expedia.com/