Expedia today announced the launch of its Japanese Web site - The new web site offers Japanese travelers an unprecedented, set of features to help them make informed decisions and choose the hotel that best meets their needs from a selection of over 30,000 properties worldwide.

"Japan represents the second largest travel market in the world*, and is an extremely important part of Expedia's long term growth strategy," said Barney Harford, president of Expedia(R) Asia Pacific. "We are delighted to be entering Japan and are committed to making the long term investments required for success in this market."

"Expedia.co.jp offers in-depth hotel content to help travelers make informed decisions," said Eric Feigenbaum, managing director of Expedia.co.jp. "Our 360-degree video tours and extensive hotel photograph library allow customers to visualize a hotel before they arrive, and our detailed property overviews, room descriptions and traveler ratings provide insight and information that help consumers compare, contrast and decide.

"More Japanese travelers shop on Expedia's U.S. Web site Expedia.com(R) than travelers from any other country in the world outside of North America. With the launch of Expedia.co.jp we have now created an Expedia Web site that is tailored for the needs of the Japanese consumer, with content in Japanese and prices in Yen," continued Feigenbaum.

In-depth hotel content helps travelers find the perfect hotel

Expedia.co.jp provides Japanese travelers with a range of tools and resources to help them choose the hotel that is right for them. The new Expedia.co.jp Web site includes:

• Independent and objective property overviews, in Japanese, developed by professional writers;
• Detailed room description and amenity information, in Japanese;
• 360-degree virtual tours of hotels, featuring crisp, rotating images of hotel rooms and facilities, allowing travelers to see the hotels they are considering before they book;
• Star ratings based on Expedia's objective and proprietary classification system, which takes into account a broad set of factors including amenities, ratings from independent ratings systems, media recognition and customer feedback; and 
• Traveler ratings based on ratings provided by Expedia customers after actual paid hotel stays. Expedia's traveler ratings score hotels on hotel service, hotel condition, room cleanliness and room comfort.

Japanese language telephone and email support
Expedia(R) Japan offers Japanese language toll-free telephone and e-mail support from professional travel advisors.

Expedia's scale and global reach ensures great selection and value

Around the world, consumers used Web sites in the Expedia family to book over 37 million room nights during the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2006. This scale, combined with Expedia's global team of over 400 hotel market managers whose job it is to work with hotels on a local basis, ensures that Expedia is able to deliver real depth and breadth of offerings while also providing great value.

Launch sale

To celebrate the launch of its Japanese site, Expedia.co.jp is offering discounts of up to 25 percent when consumers book three nights or more at selected hotels in a range of top international destinations, including Honolulu, New York City, Beijing and Sydney.

"Coming soon"

Expedia.co.jp intends to launch airline ticketing and dynamic packaging functionality in the future.

*Source: Personal Travel, Tourism and Business Travel estimates, 2006 Travel & Tourism Economic Research Report, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).