New site focuses on original and inspirational travel content. CondeNet, the online arm of Conde Nast Publications, today announced the relaunch of Concierge.com, the premiere site for travel information and online home of Conde Nast Traveler.

The site has been re-engineered to provide users with original, inspirational travel content, presented via a chic yet functional, user-friendly design. Amidst a sea of sites that help users book flights or find hotels, the new Concierge.com focuses primarily on the first, most important piece of the travel-planning process -- selecting the perfect destination. Combining the comprehensive sweep of a guide book with the filtered, insidery approach of a magazine, the site helps users quickly find the best place to go to match their preferences, as well as the best hotels, restaurants, and attractions in each destination. The interactive nature of the site's "Destination Finder" also makes Concierge.com a compulsive browsing experience for the armchair traveler.

The following new features are now available on the site:

Destination Guides: From Barcelona to Buenos Aires, almost 200 comprehensive, original guides offer everything from "where to go" to "what to avoid," including hotel and restaurant reviews, shopping and nightlife tips, and recommended itineraries.

Destination Finder: This unique, interactive tool makes researching vacation ideas a breeze. Europe, Asia, or Australia?  January, June or July?  Adventure, family, or culinary? Simply enter your trip requirements to see a range of locations that satisfy your criteria.

Super Guides: Fancy a trip around Vegas with Robin Leach? Or perhaps you'd like to follow Craig Newmark of Craig's List through San Francisco.  Concierge's Super Guides to the world's major destinations feature a wealth of insider information, including quirky, personalized itineraries by local luminaries.

Integration with Conde Nast Traveler: The new Concierge.com is a model of how a magazine can extend its brand onto the web. The ever-popular "Gold List" and "Hot List" features are now fully searchable online, offering a whole new way to experience these signature pieces.

Travel Ideas: That annual trip to Miami starting to feel like autopilot? The new site offers fun, informative articles geared towards generating fresh vacation ideas: the world's sexiest beaches, a culinary tour of Italy, action-packed itineraries in eight ski resorts.

"This is a significant departure for us as compared to the old site," said Jamie Pallot, Editorial Director of CondeNet. "We have made a major investment in original content, and combined that with a cool, clean interface that actually makes it fun to research a trip. Plus, the level of integration we have achieved with Conde Nast Traveler should become a model for print/web properties going forward."

According to a September 2004 report by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), a majority (67%) of online travelers say they consult the Internet to get information on destinations or to check prices or schedules. In addition, online travel research as a daily activity has grown 67% from 6 million in 2000 to 10 million in 2004 (Pew Research Center, Trends Report). Overall, TIA reports that 63.8 million Americans use the Internet for travel planning.

"The travel industry has been completely transformed by the Internet," said Peter Frank, Editor-in-Chief, Concierge.com. "and, arguably, the Internet has been transformed by the travel industry. No other part of our lives has been so influenced by the Web than the way we travel. The new Concierge.com builds upon the strengths of Conde Nast Traveler by incorporating interactive features and making the magazine's database searchable. In the end, it's about helping people make every trip the trip of a lifetime."