By Expedia Guest Author, on November 29, 2006

Expedia.co.jp Launches in Japan

TOKYO, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world’s largest online travel company, today announced the launch of its Japanese Web site, Expedia.co.jp ( http://expedia.co.jp/ ). The new Web site offers Japanese travelers an unprecedented set of features to help them make informed decisions and choose the hotel that best meets their needs from a selection of over 30,000 properties worldwide.

 

“Japan represents the second largest travel market in the world*, and is an extremely important part of Expedia’s long term growth strategy,” said Barney Harford, president of Expedia® Asia Pacific. “We are delighted to be entering Japan and are committed to making the long term investments required for success in this market.”

 

“Expedia.co.jp offers in-depth hotel content to help travelers make informed decisions,” said Eric Feigenbaum, managing director of Expedia.co.jp. “Our 360-degree video tours and extensive hotel photograph library allow customers to visualize a hotel before they arrive, and our detailed property overviews, room descriptions and traveler ratings provide insight and information that help consumers compare, contrast and decide.

 

“More Japanese travelers shop on Expedia’s U.S. Web site Expedia.com® than travelers from any other country in the world outside of North America. With the launch of Expedia.co.jp we have now created an Expedia Web site that is tailored for the needs of the Japanese consumer, with content in Japanese and prices in Yen,” continued Feigenbaum.

 

In-depth hotel content helps travelers find the perfect hotel

 

Expedia.co.jp provides Japanese travelers with a range of tools and resources to help them choose the hotel that is right for them. The new Expedia.co.jp Web site includes:

 

  -- Independent and objective property overviews, in Japanese, developed by
     professional writers;
  -- Detailed room description and amenity information, in Japanese;
  -- 360-degree virtual tours of hotels, featuring crisp, rotating images of
     hotel rooms and facilities, allowing travelers to see the hotels they
     are considering before they book;
  -- Star ratings based on Expedia's objective and proprietary
     classification system, which takes into account a broad set of factors
     including amenities, ratings from independent ratings systems, media
     recognition and customer feedback; and
  -- Traveler ratings based on ratings provided by Expedia customers after
     actual paid hotel stays. Expedia's traveler ratings score hotels on
     hotel service, hotel condition, room cleanliness and room comfort.

Japanese language telephone and email support

 

Expedia® Japan offers Japanese language toll-free telephone and e-mail support from professional travel advisors.

 

Expedia’s scale and global reach ensures great selection and value

 

Around the world, consumers used Web sites in the Expedia family to book over 37 million room nights during the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2006. This scale, combined with Expedia’s global team of over 400 hotel market managers whose job it is to work with hotels on a local basis, ensures that Expedia is able to deliver real depth and breadth of offerings while also providing great value.

 

Launch sale

 

To celebrate the launch of its Japanese site, Expedia.co.jp is offering discounts of up to 25 percent when consumers book three nights or more at selected hotels in a range of top international destinations, including Honolulu, New York City, Beijing and Sydney.

 

“Coming soon”

 

Expedia.co.jp intends to launch airline ticketing and dynamic packaging functionality in the future.

 

*Source: Personal Travel, Tourism and Business Travel estimates, 2006 Travel & Tourism Economic Research Report, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

 

About Expedia, Inc.

 

Expedia, Inc. is the world’s leading online travel company, empowering business and leisure travelers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book, and experience travel. Expedia, Inc.’s portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com®, hotels.com®, Hotwire®, Expedia® Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor® and Classic Vacations®. Expedia, Inc.’s companies also operate internationally with sites in Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and China, through its investment in eLong™. For more information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/ (NASDAQ: EXPE).

 

NOTE: Expedia and Expedia.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Classic Vacations is either a trademark or registered trademark in the U.S. and/or other countries of Classic Vacations, LLC. hotels.com is either a trademark or registered trademark in the U.S. and/or other countries of hotels.com, L.P. a subsidiary of hotels.com. Hotwire is either a trademark or registered trademark in the U.S. and/or other countries of Hotwire, Inc. TripAdvisor is either a trademark or registered trademark in the U.S. and/or other countries of TripAdvisor LLC. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.

 

CST: 2029030-40

 

SOURCE: Expedia, Inc.

 

CONTACT: David Dennis of Expedia, Inc., +1-425-679-4317, or
press@expedia.com</br/>

 

Web site: http://www.expedia.com/
http://expedia.co.jp/ </br/>