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
