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Expedia and La Quinta launch direct connectivity

March 25, 2004 |

Expedia Inc. and La Quinta Corporation have launched direct connections from the Expedia Web site to the central reservations system (CRS) of La Quinta Corporation.

Expedia Inc. and La Quinta Corporation have launched direct connections from the Expedia Web site to the central reservations system (CRS) of La Quinta Corporation.

Expedia’s direct connection to hotelier reservation systems makes it easier and more cost-effective for hotel property owners to process reservations provided to the more than 12 million travelers looking for accommodations monthly on Expedia.com(R). With direct connection, reservation requests made by Expedia.com customers at any of La Quinta’s more than 370 hotels located in 33 states are now automatically confirmed in the respective system of each hotel.

“We are excited about the additional control that Expedia’s direct connection will bring to our properties,” said Sandy Heilman, vice president of electronic distribution and marketing for La Quinta. “We fully expect our properties to benefit from the increased efficiency.”

Expedia’s initiative to link directly with hoteliers’ reservations systems is one of the industry’s most advanced and fastest growing direct connect programs. In the next 24 months, Expedia is planning to implement direct connections with more than 10,000 hotel properties.

Expedia’s direct connect program makes it easy for hoteliers to provide Expedia.com customers with accurate, up-to-the-minute room availability data. The first set of search results for all hotels that consumers see on Expedia reflects the most current hotel room information available from the hotelier. Additionally, Expedia’s direct connection eliminates the cost of fax-based confirmations.

“Our hoteliers can both cut costs and improve efficiencies in their systems used for processing reservations and managing their inventory,” said Lloyd Frink, senior vice president of lodging at Expedia, Inc. “Our direct connect solution delivers both benefits to hoteliers.”

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