Expedia.com Introduces Vacation Property Rentals Section With VacationSpot
REDMOND, Wash., April 27, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. and Reservation Works LLC (Rezworks
™
), a Seattle-based travel software firm, today announced that Microsoft has taken a minority equity position in Rezworks, the developers of VacationSpot
™(http://vacationspot.com/) . VacationSpot will join the Microsoft® Expedia
™
Travel Network as the premier member in the vacation property rentals category, offering customers the ability to rent the world’s best vacation rental homes, condominiums, hotels, villas and chalets. Richard Barton, general manager of the Microsoft travel business unit, will join the Rezworks board of directors.
“Hundreds of thousands of extremely desirable vacation rental homes, villas, condominiums and suite hotels are not yet part of a central reservation system,”
Barton said.
“We believe there is a tremendous potential for any company that can bring easy-to-use pricing, availability and booking functionality of these properties to the Internet community. Our relationship with Rezworks will allow us to work closely to bring this new service to Expedia.com customers.”
In joining the Expedia Travel Network, VacationSpot becomes part of a successful one-stop travel shopping mall offering vacation packages, cruises, resorts and other travel services from leading suppliers to consumers. Since the Travel Network launched in January 1998, visitors to Expedia.com have purchased more than $2 million in products and services offered by Travel Network members.
Rezworks’ mission is to bring increased efficiencies to travel suppliers and consumers through leading-edge software and Internet solutions. VacationSpot, Rezworks’ first product, lets leisure travelers easily search through hundreds of unique villas, condos and suite hotels and reserve them online. Already visited by thousands of travelers each week, VacationSpot’s travel lodging site is expanding rapidly.
In addition to operating VacationSpot.com, Rezworks provides lodging suppliers with customized and effective Web-based property marketing and management solutions based on the Microsoft Windows® operating system and BackOffice® family. Rezworks’ customized solutions for lodging suppliers range from products as simple and inexpensive as a listing in VacationSpot to their own easy-to-maintain branded presence on the Web, with links from the VacationSpot electronic marketplace.
“Each day, hundreds of thousands of prospective travelers search the Internet before making a travel purchase,”
said Steve Murch, co-founder and CEO of Rezworks.
“Rezworks provides cutting-edge services and Web sites to make it effortless for consumers and lodging suppliers to transact business.”
About Expedia.com
Microsoft Expedia.com is the place to go on the Web to plan travel, purchase tickets, and make hotel and car reservations. Expedia.com offers in-depth destination content and travel news as well as mapping, address finding and direction services. Since its inception in October 1996, Expedia.com has become one of the Web’s most successful electronic-commerce sites, with travel sales for January 1998 exceeding $12 million. A recent study by new-media audience-
measurement firm Media Metrix – The PC Meter Company ranked Expedia.com as the fastest-growing online travel service for 1997.
The Microsoft Expedia.com online travel planning service is part of the Microsoft Expedia family of travel and mapping products and services. These include the Microsoft Expedia Streets 98, Streets Deluxe 98 and Trip Planner 98 CD-ROMs and the Expedia Travel Network, a one-stop travel shopping mall offering vacation packages, cruises, resorts and travel merchandise from leading suppliers.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, Expedia, Windows and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Rezworks and VacationSpot are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Reservation Works LLC.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
