SOUTHLAKE, Texas, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ — Travelocity(R) and longtime partner, America Online, Inc., the world’s leading interactive services company, have extended and revised the terms of their marketing agreement through March 2006.
Under the terms of the agreement, Travelocity will benefit from more strategically aligned terms for placement within several AOL brands over two years starting April 1, 2004. This will result in significant savings for Travelocity over the final year of the previous agreement, with savings commencing in the second quarter of 2004. In addition to annual fixed payments, America Online will also benefit by reducing the amount of advertising revenue within the AOL brands that it shares with Travelocity, and increasing the potential revenue earned from Travelocity based on increasing transactional performance.
“Travelocity has always enjoyed a deep, meaningful relationship with America Online, and it is an alliance that our mutual customers have benefited from as well,” said Michelle Peluso, president and CEO of Travelocity. “To reach a new accord more than a year ahead of schedule is a testament to the strong links we’ve forged with AOL.”
“America Online greatly values its ties to Travelocity,” said Michael Barrett, Executive Vice President of AOL Networks Sales and Solutions. “The true winner here though is the traveling public, who will continue to reap the rewards of our partnership with a service offering featuring only the best in products, customer service, compelling deals and cross promotional opportunities.”
About Travelocity
Travelocity, a Sabre Holdings(TM) company, pioneered the online travel space and continues to be the most popular travel service on the Web, giving consumers access to hundreds of airlines, thousands of hotels and cruise, last-minute and vacations packages, and best-in-class car rental companies, all backed by 1,000 customer service representatives staffed to provide 24-hour assistance. With 41 million members, Travelocity is the sixth largest travel agency in the United States. It has been recognized worldwide for its leadership in the online travel space, and it operates or powers Web sites in five languages across four continents. Additional information about Travelocity can be found on the Web at http://www.travelocity.com .
Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com .
Cautionary Notice
Statements in this news release which are not purely historical facts, including statements about the expected benefits to Travelocity of the agreement referenced herein, or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward- looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Travelocity on the date this report was submitted. Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks or uncertainties related to Travelocity’s ability to increase site traffic from its portal partners. Sabre Holdings Corporation may not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding factors that could affect Sabre Holdings’ financial and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Sabre Holdings Corporation’s most recent filing on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT:
Judy Haveson (judy@vollmerpr.com )
212/554-7425
Mary Kate Smither (marykate@vollmerpr.com )
972/488-4790
SOURCE Travelocity
-0- 01/22/2004
/CONTACT: Judy Haveson, +1-212-554-7425, or judy@vollmerpr.com , or Mary
Kate Smither, +1-972-488-4790, or marykate@vollmerpr.com , both for
Travelocity/
/Web site: http://www.travelocity.com
http://www.sabre-holdings.com /
(TSG)
CO: Travelocity; America Online, Inc.; Sabre Holdings Corporation
ST: Texas
IN: TRA LEI CPR MLM
SU: JVN
CJ-CD
-- DATH012 --
7481 01/22/2004 07:04 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
