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Expedia Signs Global Partnership Agreement With Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts

BELLEVUE, Wash. and MALLORCA, Spain, May 21 PRNewswire-FirstCall — Expedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXPE), the world's leading online travel company, today announced it has signed a long term, strategic global supply agreement with Sol Melia, the leading Spanish hotel chain in both the city and resort markets and world leader in resort hotels. Under the agreement, all Sol Melia properties will be available for booking on Expedia(R) and hotels.com(R) branded sites worldwide. This is the first agreement between Expedia and Sol Melia, and marks the first distribution agreement for Sol Melia covering all of its properties globally.

"Partnering with Expedia is an important step for Sol Melia in evolving our global distribution strategy in new and more dynamic ways," said Jose Maria Dalmau, senior vice president of global sales, Sol Melia. "Sol Melia has a long history of delivering superior service to our guests, and Expedia is an ideal partner to help us extend our offerings to millions of travelers worldwide."

"In partnering with the world's leading resort chain, Expedia advances our commitment to delivering travellers across the globe the best selection at the best value," said Melissa Maher, vice president strategic accounts at Expedia, Inc. "We are pleased to be working with Sol Melia to help them meet their business objectives by tapping into Expedia's global marketplace."

The agreement provides Sol Melia access to the Expedia online marketing and travel distribution expertise, dynamic rate management, and targeted merchandising opportunities to reach travelers throughout Europe, Asia and North America. In turn, Expedia customers can book accommodations at Sol Melia hotels and resorts worldwide, including the Melia Hotels & Resorts, ME by Melia, TRYP Hotels, Sol Hotels and Paradisus Resorts brands.

Sol Melia has nearly 350 hotels in 30 countries. Sol Melia hotels will access Expedia's global online travel marketplace through Expedia(R)Connect, Expedia's industry leading direct connection solution for chain hotels.

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the world's leading online travel company, empowering business and leisure travellers with the tools and information they need to easily research, plan, book and experience travel. Expedia, Inc. also provides wholesale travel to offline retail travel agents and in-destination concierge service and activity desks for travellers. The Expedia, Inc. portfolio of brands includes: Expedia.com(R), hotels.com(R), Hotwire(R), Expedia(R) Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor(R), Expedia Local Expert(TM), Classic Vacations(R) and eLong(TM). Expedia, Inc.'s companies operate more than 50 global points of sale with sites in North America, South America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Expedia, Inc. is a component of the S&P 500 index. For more information, visit http://www.expediainc.com/ (NASDAQ: EXPE).

About Expedia(R) Partner Services Group

Expedia(R) Partner Services Group (PSG) is the central point of contact for travel suppliers to access the global Expedia marketplace of leading travel brands comprising more than 50 points of sale worldwide. With hundreds of employees in local markets throughout the world, Expedia(R) PSG makes it easy for suppliers to meet their global distribution objectives, and delivers a portfolio of innovative connectivity solutions, rate and inventory management tools, business intelligence reports, and online marketing expertise.

About Sol Melia

Founded in 1956 in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), Sol Melia is the largest resort hotel chain in the world and market leader in Spain in both business and leisure travel. The company currently provides more than 300 hotels in 30 countries on 4 continents, and employs 32,500 people under its Melia (Gran Melia and Melia Boutique Hotel), ME by Melia, Tryp, Sol, Paradisus and Sol Melia Vacation Club brands.

Expedia is either a registered trademark or trademark of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Hotels.com is either a registered trademark or trademark of Hotels.com, LP, a subsidiary of Hotels.com 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.

(C) 2008 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST: 2029030-40

SOURCE Expedia, Inc.

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