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Also Adds New Hotel Neighborhood Matrix for
Top European Cities and Over 6,500 New Merchant Hotels in Europe
CHICAGO, June 7, 2006 - Orbitz (orbitz.com), a pioneer of many of the
online travel industry's "firsts" in booking air travel, continues to build
on its heritage of innovation in hotel booking. Today, Orbitz announced
the launch of its hotel neighborhood matrix for top European cities and
added hotel inventory for customers seeking lodging for the perfect European
vacation. Orbitz also now offers travelers over 90,000 authentic customer
hotel reviews from customers who actually stayed at those properties around
the world.
As part of the "Take 5" anniversary celebration, Orbitz is encouraging
its customers to take time out of their busy lives to enjoy life by traveling
with friends and family. To help promote this, Orbitz is giving its customers
the opportunity to enter for a chance to win free travel every hour when
searching for hotels, starting today through June 11. For official sweepstakes
rules, visit http://www.orbitz.com/take5.
In 2001, Orbitz was founded by the world's leading airlines and was
known for having the most low fares online. Five years later, Orbitz also
gains high marks from customers for its hotel business. In the first study
of its kind, J.D. Power and Associates noted in November 2005 that Orbitz.com
had the highest customer satisfaction for independent travel web sites
-- hotels, in its 2005 Independent Hotel Web Site Study(SM).
The 5th Anniversary Take 5 celebration also marks the start of the
next phase of innovation at Orbitz in its hotel business. One reason, among
many, for being a favorite with travelers is because of OrbitzTLC's hotel
low rate guarantee that helps customers obtain the lowest online rate for
a hotel. With new hotel photos and virtual tours, the entire booking experience
ensures customers get the right hotel and the right price.
"We've enjoyed five great years of exceeding customers' expectations
by delighting them with great deals, an easy intuitive user interface,
and superior technology and customer service," said Jeff Grant, vice president
of hotels for Orbitz. "Through OrbitzTLC, we continue to deliver innovative
technology and bring even more amazing hotel properties to our customers."
NEW Euro Hotel Neighborhood Matrix
The U.S. version of the Hotel Neighborhood Matrix, which gives customers
the ability to view hotel locations in relation to city landmarks and specific
neighborhoods, launched on Orbitz in February 2005. Based on positive customer
feedback since the launch, Orbitz has expanded the matrix to include some
of its most popular and widely traveled European destinations. This week,
Orbitz launched Hotel Neighborhood Matrix displays for London, Paris, Rome
and Venice, and will be adding other popular cities including Dublin, Frankfurt,
Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Florence in the coming months. With the
new Euro Hotel Neighborhood Matrix, users can quickly and easily get map
overviews of specific neighborhoods (descriptive), search for available
hotels in a specific neighborhood and sort search results for easy reference.
MORE Hotels in Europe
In addition to making it even easier to find the right hotel in Europe,
Orbitz continues to give its customers even more choices and great prices
at hotels around the world. Orbitz has added more than 6,500 merchant hotel
properties in Europe, expanding its already broad international inventory
to give travelers even more reason to book their European vacation on Orbitz.
NEW Hotel Scorecard / Hotel Customer Reviews
Orbitz also recently introduced a new Hotel Scorecard, giving travelers
all the relevant information they need to know about a hotel property in
one convenient place.
The Hotel Scorecard includes individual customer review numeric (1 to
5) scores on amenities, maintenance, hotel staff, room comfort, location
and overall value. In addition to the scores, travelers can also add their
own personal tips for staying at the hotel or knowledge about the area.
Travelers can now take advantage of the first-hand knowledge of over
90,000 authentic hotel customer reviews solicited only from Orbitz customers
who have actually booked and stayed at the hotel. Making Orbitz hotel searches
even more relevant for the customer, these reviews can be sorted based
on the type of traveler to find the right hotel that fits travelers' specific
needs: business travelers, leisure vacationers, couples and families.
In addition to customer scores and reviews, travelers can read commentary
from Frommer's, one of the most trusted names in travel today, offering
a discerning expert opinion on over 16,000 hotel properties.
About Orbitz:
Orbitz (http://www.Orbitz.com) is a leading online travel company that
enables travelers to search for and purchase a broad array of travel products,
including airline tickets, lodging, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages.
Since launching its website http://www.Orbitz.com to the general public
in June 2001, Orbitz has become the third largest online travel site based
on gross travel bookings. On Orbitz, consumers can search more than 455
airlines, tens of thousands of lodging properties worldwide and 16 car
rental companies. J.D. Power and Associates noted that Orbitz.com had the
highest customer satisfaction for independent travel web sites - hotels
in its 2005 Independent Hotel Web Site Study(SM). Study based on responses
from 3,668 consumers who booked their hotel reservations through an independent
travel Web site. http://www.jdpower.com. Orbitz was acquired by Cendant's
Travel Distribution Services division (now Travelport Inc.) in November
2004 and is part of the B2C Americas business unit.
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