NEWTON, Mass., Aug. 6, 1998 — Microsoft® Expedia.com travel service and Cahners Business Information today announced an agreement to build the Internet’s most comprehensive database of hotel information.
With this agreement, Cahners becomes the exclusive provider of advertising sales support worldwide for hotel directory advertising on Expedia.com and the Microsoft Travel Technology licensed sites. Hotel directory information on Expedia.com and other Microsoft Travel Technology licensee sites will offer in-depth listings and detailed photographic depictions of hotels.
Cahners is the travel industry’s leading content provider. Microsoft Expedia.com is the leading online travel service. Combining the content and technology from these two businesses will greatly enhance the ability of travel buyers to shop for and book hotel rooms online and will provide new opportunities for interested hotel properties to reach potential customers.
Cahners, through its Cahners Travel Group, is publisher of Hotel & Travel Index® , Official Hotel Guide™ and Official Meeting Facilities Guide™ . Its worldwide sales and editorial force for industry-leading travel publications provides hoteliers with an unparalleled combination of communication opportunities.
Initially, the agreement focuses on providing users of Microsoft-developed travel ventures such as Expedia.com with access to a new online hotel directory based on Cahners’ comprehensive database of hotel information. This is the first step in a plan to co-develop and distribute a wide range of online hotel directory products to support travel agents, corporate travel arrangers and individual travelers.
The new online hotel directory will replace the current Expedia hotel directory and will first appear on Expedia.com and then on other Microsoft Travel Technology sites, along with selected Cahners sites.
“Our advertisers’ ability to enhance their online presence on Expedia, the Microsoft Travel Technology licensed products and Cahners sites will serve as the perfect complement to our print publications, which serve travel agents and corporate travel arrangers,”
said Bruce Barnet, president and chief executive officer of Cahners.
“With the strong demand for online hotel directory content, our relationship with Microsoft is an important step to help ensure that Cahners remains the leading provider of hotel information worldwide,”
Barnet added.
“Cahners is the ideal company to help us build the new online hotel directory for Expedia.com and other Microsoft Travel Technology licensed products,”
said Simon Breakwell, Microsoft travel group product manager.
“By combining the quality of Cahners’ advertising sales force and its expansive database of hotel-related information with Microsoft’s industry-leading travel technology, we will be able to provide the best selection and most in-depth information about hotels on the Internet. Working together, we will be able to create a great shopping environment for consumers looking for a place to stay, and a great marketing environment for hotels hoping to reach those consumers,”
Breakwell said.
This agreement extends the existing strategic relationship between Microsoft and Reed Elsevier plc, the parent company of Cahners. In the 1997 agreement, Microsoft and Reed Elsevier agreed to work together to deliver innovative electronic information products to customers in the scientific, legal, business and travel information markets.
Cahners Business Information
Cahners, a leading provider of business information in the United States, is a member of the Reed Elsevier plc group, jointly owned by Reed International PLC and Elsevier NV (NYSE: RUK and ENL), a world-leading publisher and information provider with principal operations in North America and Europe. Cahners publishes 128 business magazines and provides 18 business communities with online services, custom publishing, directories, research and direct mail lists.
Microsoft 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 weekly travel sales exceeding $5 million.
Expedia.com is built on Microsoft Travel Technologies, a platform suite comprising server, applications and content designed to create the best buying experience for travel-related services online. Microsoft Travel Technologies is created with the Microsoft BackOffice
âfamily of products, including the Windows NT Server operating system, Internet Information Server and Microsoft SQL Server™ .
Microsoft, Expedia, BackOffice and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.