Hotwire, the premier discount travel site that offers bargains without the hassles of bidding, today announced its total registered user base has reached 7.3 million, an increase of 800% since January 2001.
Travel customer transactions also soared 500% during this same period, establishing Hotwire as a Top-5 travel site within its first full year of operations.

“Offering deep discounts without the hassles of bidding and our great working partnership with leading airlines combined to help us rapidly build one of the leading travel destinations on the Web in a very short time”, said Karl Peterson, Hotwire president and CEO. “Despite a difficult year for the travel industry, we were able to grow sales at tremendous rates and we look forward to a robust 2002.”

Hotwire targets the discount-seeking leisure traveler ?Esomeone who is willing to trade their flexibility for a better deal. Unlike Priceline, Hotwire doesn`t require customers to bid or submit credit card information up front. Instead, Hotwire`s consumer friendly model shows the lowest price available.

Hotwire launched in October 2000 with the financial backing of the world`s leading airlines. Today, Hotwire is partnered with 33 top domestic and international airlines, more than 4000 hotels and several major car rental companies sell inventory through specially negotiated Hot-FaresSM and Hot-RatesSM. By asking customers to be flexible on certain details like exact time or airline, Hotwire offers travelers significant discounts off published prices and even airline Web sales.

www.hotwire.com

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