Egencia Acquires Leading Australian Travel Management Company

PARIS and LONDON and MUNICH and BRUSSELS and SYDNEY, April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Egencia(R), an Expedia, Inc. company, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Travelforce, a leading Australian and New Zealand travel management company.

With more than 30 years of experience in the Australian market, Travelforce has a history of combining superior service and leading technology. Aligning with Egencia's own core principles and brand, Travelforce will add a comprehensive service; helping clients reduce business costs, improve travel processes and maintain traveller safety and security.

The Travelforce acquisition will bring a number of other key benefits to the Egencia network, including:

- Expanded Australia/New Zealand presence: with the addition of Travelforce offices and centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia and Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand

- The enhancement of the existing Egencia Australia team: with additional experienced corporate travel professionals

- Increased customer benefits: with leading local customer service expertise and technology.

- The expansion of Egencia Australia's existing product portfolio: with Travelforce's expertise in meetings and incentives and high-end leisure travel

"After years as partners, we are proud and excited to welcome Travelforce as a close member of the Egencia family. Travelforce has an unparalleled reputation in the industry, and the combination of our talented teams will bring an even stronger offering and service to Australian and New Zealand companies and their travellers," said Egencia Asia Pacific Managing Director Cecilia Routledge. "This acquisition is proof of Egencia's commitment to expansion in the Asia Pacific region and leadership around the world. Going forward, we will combine the power of Egencia and Travelforce into one strong brand, leveraging the talent and assets of each company."

"We couldn't be happier to be joining the Egencia family. Egencia will enable Travelforce to offer clients leading online booking and reporting tools as well as global corporate travel support," said Andrew Ross, Chairman and founder of Travelforce. "This will complement Travelforce's already outstanding team, strong travel management, meetings and leisure offerings and will enable us to take our client services to the next level."

The majority of the current Travelforce management team will join the Egencia Australia management team, in the new combined business called Travelforce, an Egencia Company. Ken Pfaffmann will take on the role of Managing Director.

"It's a tremendous privilege to lead a company like Egencia," said Pfaffman. "At a time when we see greater focus on the Asia Pacific region, Egencia has the ability to help Australian companies drive greater cost savings, improved policy control and better traveller experiences."

Egencia Worldwide, now with Travelforce, is focused on several key initiatives over the next few years including geographic expansion and continued innovation, with a particular focus on mobile in 2011.

The transaction closed on April 4, 2011. Detailed terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company

Egencia is the fifth largest travel management company in the world and has been present in Sydney, Australia since 2008. As part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, Egencia helps businesses get ahead by offering the only truly integrated corporate travel service. Egencia's industry expertise helps drive results that matter, delivering meaningful advancements that have a real impact. By combining a powerful offline and online service, Egencia delivers a complete corporate travel offering supported by global market expertise and a best-in-class technology platform.

For more information, go to http://www.egencia.com.au

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. 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) 2011 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. CST # 2083922-50

About Expedia, Inc.

Expedia, Inc. is the largest online travel company in the world with a brand portfolio that includes more than 90 localized Expedia.com- and Hotels.com-branded sites; leading U.S. discount travel site Hotwire(R); leading agency hotel company Venere.com(TM); Egencia(R), the world's fifth largest corporate travel management company; the world's largest travel community TripAdvisor(R) Media Network; destination activities provider ExpediaLocalExpert(R); luxury travel specialist Classic Vacations(R); and China's second largest booking site eLong(TM). The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers vast opportunity to reach the most valuable audience of in-market travel consumers anywhere through TripAdvisor and Expedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world's leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates through Expedia(R) Affiliate Network. (NASDAQ: EXPE)

SOURCE Egencia