Grammy-Winning Artist Partners With New Orleans Area Habitat For
Humanity, Travelocity, CBS Radio And W Hotels To Aid Musicians
Displaced By Hurricanes Katrina And Rita
Stone To Perform At New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival May 6th
NEW ORLEANS & SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–April 18,
2007–With her first tour in nearly three years launching next week,
Grammy-winning artist Joss Stone will be doing numerous “meet and
greets” – but one in particular holds special meaning for the British
soul singer and songwriter. In the evening following her May 6th
performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by
Shell, W New Orleans will host a private event where she’ll meet a
group of 40 fans who will spend the next day volunteering with her at
Musicians’ Village, a project of the New Orleans Area Habitat for
Humanity (NOAHH) that is building homes for musicians uprooted by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Stone is partnering with NOAHH, Travelocity, CBS Radio and W
Hotels in the effort, which she hopes will also shed light on a new
breed of traveler: the voluntourist. According to a Travel Industry
Association of America survey, 24% of travelers expressed an interest
in taking a volunteer or service-based vacation. Travelocity’s Travel
For Good, the first program of its kind by a major travel company,
makes it easy for volunteers to find opportunities to give a few hours
of service, whether traveling at home or abroad. Based on the premise
of changing the world one trip at a time, Travel for Good invites
travelers to see the world in a new way and to make a difference as
they go. Participants such as Stone and her crew are known as “Change
Ambassadors.”
Celebrating the release of Stone’s third studio album, Introducing
Joss Stone, which debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, CBS Radio
stations across the country gave listeners a chance to win a trip to
New Orleans to see Stone perform and join with her in giving something
back to the Big Easy. The promotion is part of CBS Radio’s “Street
Date Delivered By AT&T blue room” (http://www.attblueroom.com/music)
program. W New Orleans, located on Poydras Street, will provide
accommodations for the 20 winners and their guests.
About New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH)
New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH), an independent
affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, is a 501(c) 3
non-profit organization. NOAHH builds new houses in partnership with
sponsors, volunteers, communities, and homeowner families to eliminate
poverty housing in the New Orleans area while serving as a catalyst to
make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Since its
inception in 1983 NOAHH has built over 160 new homes for low-income
families in need of adequate shelter. In the next five years, NOAHH
plans to build 1,500 homes in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and
Plaquemines Parishes. http://www.habitat-nola.org
About Travelocity
Travelocity(R) is committed to being the traveler’s champion —
before, during and after the trip – and is the only online travel
company that guarantees not just the price, but the entire travel
experience – see http://www.travelocity.com/guarantee for details.
This customer-driven focus, backed by 24/7 live phone support, great
prices and powerful shopping technology has made Travelocity the sixth
largest travel agency — booking $10.1 billion in travel worldwide in
2006. Travelocity’s Travel for Good
(http://www.travelocity.com/travelforgood), launched in 2006, is
designed to help bring the idea of “voluntourism” to a broader
audience. Based in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity also owns and
operates Travelocity Business(R) for corporate travelers,
lastminute.com, a leader in European online travel and ZUJI, a leader
in Asia-Pacific online travel. Travelocity is owned by Sabre Holdings
Corporation (NYSE:TSG), a world leader in travel commerce.
About W Hotels Worldwide
W Hotels is a global lifestyle brand with 21 properties in the
most vibrant cities around the world. Inspiring and indulging its
guests with thoughtful, refreshing and stylish experiences, signature
restaurants, bars and destination spas, W has become the fastest
growing luxury hotel brand in the world. Each hotel offers a unique
mix of innovative design, comfort, and cultural influences from
fashion to music to art and everything in between. W’s first
residential property, W Dallas-Victory, opened in June of 2006, and
soon thereafter was named a Forbes Magazine “Top Business Hotel.” W
Residences, offering the W lifestyle at home, have been announced for
Scottsdale, Fort Lauderdale, Downtown New York, Hoboken, Philadelphia,
Downtown Atlanta, South Beach, Hollywood, Phoenix, Austin, and Las
Vegas. Internationally, W has announced plans for hotels in Hong Kong,
Istanbul, Doha, St. Petersberg, Santiago, Milan, Athens, Shanghai,
Dubai-Festival City, Barcelona, Dubai-The Palm and Guangzhou. W’s
first Retreat & Spa, W Maldives, opened in September of 2006 and in
March of 2007, received the prestigious Travel + Leisure Design Award
for Best Resort. W has plans to open Retreat & Spa hotels in Vieques,
Koh Samui, and Verbier, the latter of which will serve as the brand’s
first ski retreat. For more information, visit http://www.whotels.com.
CONTACT: For more information on Joss Stone:
Capitol Music Group
Angelica Cob-Baehler, Senior Vice President, 323-871-5552
angelica.cob@capitolmusic.com or visit www.jossstone.com
or www.myspace.com/jossstone
or
For more information on Travelocity and Voluntourism:
VOLLMER Public Relations
Alyson Briggs, 972-488-4790
alyson@vollmerpr.com
SOURCE: Travelocity