Sabre Hospitality Solutions Reports TripAdvisor Business Listings Yielded Strong ROI for Hotel Clients in 2010

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Feb 14, 2011, 08:25 ET

LONDON, February 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Independent Study Reveals Business Listings is Projected to Produce a 410% Risk-Adjusted ROI over Three Years for Properties Participating in Sabre Hospitality's Online Buying and Planning Programme in 2010

TripAdvisor(R) (http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/), the world's largest travel site*, today announced that Sabre Hospitality Solutions(R) (http://www.sabrehospitality.com/), a global provider of technology, marketing and distribution tools for the hotel industry, is seeing strong results from TripAdvisor Business Listings ( http://www.tripadvisor.com/BusinessListings). As reported in a January 2011 Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact(TM) study, Sabre hotel clients are receiving an average of six dollars in incremental bookings for every dollar spent.

TripAdvisor Business Listings allows property managers to directly connect to TripAdvisor's community of millions of researching travellers, converting potential customers to paying guests.

According to the Forrester Consulting study, which was commissioned by TripAdvisor, Business Listings produced a "very positive 410 percent risk-adjusted Return On Investment and a two-month horizon to recoup the investment" for hotels participating in Sabre Hospitality's online media buying and planning programme last year. According to the Forrester Consulting study, TripAdvisor Business Listings is projected to provide incremental bookings of $4.7 million over a three-year period for Sabre Hospitality's represented hotels. The study notes: "By tracking only click-throughs, the benefits and ROI are almost certainly underreported."

The Forrester Consulting study also notes that Sabre Hospitality's clients experiencing Business Listings success range in size from four to 720 room hotels, and had notable geographic diversity-50 percent of properties were located in the U.S., while 50 percent were located in EU and APAC.

As part of a Business Listings subscription, accommodation businesses may display any combination of contact information on their TripAdvisor listing, including their URL, email address and phone number. Subscribers also gain access to TripAdvisor's Special Offers feature, ( http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-i2127-c1-Press_Releases.html) enabling properties to attract travellers with customised offers.

"We are encouraging our clients to renew their TripAdvisor Business Listings subscriptions, as many of our participating hotels have seen excellent results. The hotels we represent that utilize RezTrack(R) to measure results averaged six dollars in incremental bookings for every dollar spent on Business Listings, and some hotels are even seeing $20 for every dollar spent," said Amanda Webb, director of online advertising and media for Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

"Sabre Hospitality has done a great job identifying new online marketing opportunities for its clients, including TripAdvisor Business Listings, which has generated remarkable results, as the Forrester study reveals," said Christine Petersen, president TripAdvisor for Business. "We look forward to a strong and ongoing relationship with Sabre and its clients."

"For more information about this and other Forrester Consulting studies on TripAdvisor Business Listings, please visit the TripAdvisor for Business blog."

(http://tripadvisor4biz.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/independent-studies-repo

rt-that-business-listings-has-the-potential-to-provide-a-very-good-return-on-

investment/)

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Methodology of Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact(TM) Study

The average cost of TripAdvisor Business Listings per property represented by Sabre Hospitality was $2,499. For every dollar spent, the hotel group saw an average incremental booking rate of 1:6 (i.e., for every dollar spent, the hotel received six dollars in incremental bookings). This equates to spending $2,499 and receiving $14,994 in bookings over three years.

Sabre Hospitality Solutions views Business Listings as a low-risk investment, but wanted to be conservative to account for unforeseen risks. Therefore, Forrester reduced the value of projected bookings resulting from Business Listings by 15 percent resulting in a risk adjusted 410 percent ROI over three years. Forrester Consulting's calculations apply this risk equation across all 154 properties over three years.

For its study, Forrester applied a 15 percent risk adjustment (reduction of 15%) to all benefits.

About Sabre Hospitality Solutions

Sabre Hospitality Solutions leverages the strength and breadth of Sabre Holding's technology, internet marketing and distribution tools to bring hotel suppliers a global end-to-end solution. Sabre's hospitality expertise and portfolio of solutions has grown significantly over the last several years and now includes SynXis, which provides distribution technology and marketing services; E-site Marketing, the leading hospitality Internet marketing solutions provider; Sabre Hotels GDS; Sabre Hotel RFP, which develops, delivers and manages hotel requests for proposals into a single organisation; and Sabre Media Solutions for GDS and other creative services in hospitality.

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor(R) is the world's largest travel site, enabling travellers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features (including Flights search, TripAdvisor Mobile and TripAdvisor Trip Friends) with seamless links to booking tools.

TripAdvisor(R) Media Group, operated by TripAdvisor LLC, attracts more than 50 million unique monthly visitors* across 17 popular travel brands**. TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 40 million unique monthly visitors***, 20 million members, and over 40 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 27 countries worldwide****, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also operates TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to TripAdvisor's millions of monthly visitors. The division includes Business Listings, which allows hoteliers to connect directly to millions of researching travellers, and Vacation Rentals, which helps property managers and individual home owners list their properties and showcase hotel alternatives.

TripAdvisor Media Group websites have been recognized as top travel resources in 2010 by Conde Nast Traveller, Good Housekeeping, TIME magazine and Travel + Leisure.

TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Group are operating companies of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE).

TripAdvisor and the TripAdvisor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TripAdvisor LLC 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.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Media Group Sites, Worldwide, August 2010

** In addition to TripAdvisor, The TripAdvisor Media Group of websites includes: http://www.airfarewatchdog.com, http://www.bookingbuddy.com, http://www.cruisecritic.com, http://www.familyvacationcritic.com, http://www.flipkey.com, http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk, http://www.holidaywatchdog.com, http://www.independenttraveler.com, http://www.onetime.com, http://www.seatguru.com, http://www.sniqueaway.com, http://www.smartertravel.com, http://www.travel-library.com, http://www.travelpod.com, http://www.virtualtourist.com and http://www.kuxun.cn.