Destination Travel Web Site, OfficialTravelGuide.Com, Launches New Direct to Hotel Online Booking

Consumers Now Have Direct Access to Hotels' "Guaranteed Best Rates"

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. October 14, 2008

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX, August 3, 2005 - Destination travel Web site today launched a brand-new technology, dmoDirectTM, that enables state-of-the-art search functionality and direct, online access to major hotel brands' online reservation systems and their guaranteed best rates. dmoDirect effectively eliminates all middlemen, merchants, commissions and transaction fees from online hotel reservation bookings and allows consumers to book with confidence about the value of their selection.

Originally developed by the Destination Marketing Association International (formerly International Association of Convention & Visitors Bureaus), OfficialTravelGuide.com was purchased in late 2004 by USDM.net, the leading interactive agency for the travel industry, who redesigned the site as a complete travel portal and search engine. The exclusive travel portal for Destination Marketing Association International, OfficialTravelGuide.com allows consumers to gather the most detailed, up-to-date information about the destinations they are considering for their travels from Web sites designed and maintained by local convention and visitor bureaus (CVBs) around the world.

"Consumers won't find Expedia, Travelocity or other third party rates on OfficialTravelGuide.com," said Leah Woolford, Founder and CEO of USDM.net. "What they will find using dmoDirect is direct online booking at their favorite hotels with best-rate guarantees, hotel loyalty points for booking, and a wealth of official travel information about what to see and do in more than 1,250 destinations around the globe."

Provided by official local and regional destination marketing organizations (DMOs), tourist offices and CVBs, travel information available through OfficialTravelGuide.com is comprehensive, current and accurate. The hotel room best-rate guarantees are pulled directly from a hotel's online reservation system by dmoDirect. These "direct source" features guarantee consumers an exclusive level of travel content depth and integrity.

"DMOs are the trusted brand for destinations, providing travelers and meeting planners with the most in-depth official destination information available," said Michael Gehrisch, President and CEO of Destination Marketing Association International."OfficialTravelGuide.com, as a portal, is the one-stop shop and direct-to-the-source online booking value that we believe online leisure travelers want."

According to the Travel Industry Association of America's Travelers Use of the Internet, 2004 Edition, consumers favor using the Internet to research, plan and increasingly book their travel reservations online. Of the 98.3 million travelers who currently use the Internet, 63.8 million (65 percent) use the Internet for travel planning and 44.6 million (45 percent) use the Internet for travel reservations. Half of online travel planners use destination Web sites to plan their trips.

OfficialTravelGuide.com's dmoDirect technology gives hotels the ability to offer consumers direct access to best rates, without the padded costs that come with merchants, commissions and transaction fees. Not only does OfficialTravelGuide.com give consumers reliable travel information at the destination level, but it provides them with the best hotel deals directly from the source. Hotels and resorts are embracing direct booking on their own Web sites as a way to offer consumers the best rates and the value of loyalty points and company programs.