Hotels.com and Columbus Internet Launch Facebook App ‘Hotels WithMe’ across EMEA

Facebook app helps travellers choose a hotel with their friends and families

London, October 18 2011 – Hotels.com and Columbus Internet have today announced the roll out of their Facebook app, 'Hotels WithMe', to France, Italy, Germany and Sweden. The roll out comes following the successful launch of the app in the UK in September 2010 and APAC in June 2011.

The ‘Hotels WithMe’ app enables friends, families and colleagues to get together to collectively browse, choose and book a hotel. Friends are invited to join a 'trip', from where they can perform a hotel search, view all the results together, and then chat about hotels they like before voting on their favourites.

“'Hotels WithMe’ is perfectly adapted for the social-media generation, letting travellers plan trips together,” said Andrew Sittermann, CEO at Columbus Internet. “We are very proud to be working with Hotels.com to provide the first application on the web which lets people research and book hotels together in real-time.”

‘Hotels WithMe’ users have access to almost 140,000 hotels through Hotels.com, from five-star resorts and city-centre boutique properties to local independent guesthouses and bed-and-breakfasts. The hotel information on the app includes high-quality photos and detailed descriptions of the facilities. Google Maps and Google Streetview are also integrated, so users can research the location and area surrounding their accommodation.

The app automatically keeps track of prices and availability of all the hotels on the shortlist. If a room-type becomes unavailable or the price changes, the updated information is shown next time one of the users logs in. Once all members of the ‘trip’ agree on the hotel, a quick click on the “book” button links straight through to the Hotels.com booking page.

Josie Shah, Head of Affiliates at Hotels.com, comments, “The new app will make the process of choosing and booking the perfect hotel for you with family, friends, and colleagues simple and straightforward, and most importantly a truly collaborative experience. We are pleased to be partnering with Columbus in the UK to bring our world class hotel product to this app.”

As well as being available on the five Hotels.com pages, the app can also be added to any Facebook information or fan page. Once the app is added, users can then browse and book properties through that page. In a unique move every time a booking is made, the information page will earn commission via the affiliate programme, which is managed by AffiliatePerformance GmbH.

“We are very excited to be managing the first really attractive affiliate programme in Facebook,” said AffiliatePerformance's Managing Director Matthias Juergensen. “The use of this app through information pages will be of particular interest to those championing sports event, bands or concert tours as it can be pre-set with default dates and locations to match users needs and maximise commission opportunities.”.

Making this application even more attractive to those running information pages, whenever a user sends out an 'invite' for friends to join a trip, the new users are directed to the ‘Hotels WithMe’ app within that specific information page, driving up traffic and increasing likes.

Hotels.com: As part of the Expedia, Inc. group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com, the global hotel specialist, offers more than 135,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide. If the customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the world's largest hotel contracting teams in the industry, negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are 2 million reviews from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers make an informed choice when booking. The company currently operates 77 Hotels.com sites around the world including 15 sites in 10 languages across Asia Pacific alone.

Columbus Internet is one of the leading providers of social shopping applications both within and outside of Facebook. Columbus Internet is based in Berlin Germany and was founded in 2008.

AffiliatePerformance, founded in 2007 by Matthias Juergensen, is a seasoned affiliate management agency with clients in the travel, dating and financial sectors. AffiliatePerformance specialises exclusively in the creation and management of affiliate programmes to deliver maximum results. AffiliatePerformance succeeds by applying their expertise on analysing programme progress and continuous improvement. The team has a proven track record of successful affiliate programme implementations as well as a comprehensive background in e-commerce marketing and technology.

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