Expedia Rolls Out Homepage Redesign to Respond to the Needs of Increasingly Mobile Travelers

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Expedia.com EXPE, the world's largest online travel agency*, today announced its most significant redesign since 2002, debuting a brand-new homepage that adds fully responsive design and a simpler, more streamlined layout to bring rich, beautiful travel imagery and Expedia's search interface to focus.

Internal Expedia research shows that customers search as many as 48 times across the web before feeling confident enough to book air travel. We believe a travel search experience that is clear, clean and easy to navigate will make that process easier.

Designed to meet the evolving needs of today's increasingly mobile travelers, the new homepage is specifically optimized for desktops and mobile devices to load pages nearly twice as fast as before, reducing the appearance of the booking wizard from more than 2 seconds to just over 1 second. The new homepage also features more intuitive, seamless navigation with one-click access to search Expedia's industry-leading inventory of flights, hotels and more, and recommendations based on previous activity to further reduce the number of clicks required to go from homepage to booking.

A result of rigorous usability testing and direct customer feedback from millions of global travelers who plan and book trips with Expedia each month, the new homepage design is now available in the U.S. with global roll out coming later this year.

"When it comes to travel destinations, it's fair to say our homepage is a pretty powerful one. So we tested a myriad of variants of the homepage to optimize interactions across different devices," said Michael Gulmann, Vice President, Expedia Global Product. "In testing labs, we watched users get excited about the clean, consistent experience for planning their next trip. It became clear that the nuances we care so much about – search wizard interaction, images, font size, etc. – are the keys to providing a positive booking experience, regardless of device. The new homepage represents a major step towards satisfying the ever-changing needs of our customers."

Expedia's new homepage underpins the company's ongoing commitment to investing in the latest technology and top engineering and design talent to try and develop the best customer experiences in digital travel. The new homepage also serves as a platform to highlight our media partnerships for our consumers.

Customers can visit viewfinder.expedia.com to learn more and browse a visual timeline displaying the evolution of Expedia.com's homepage.

About Expedia.com

Expedia.com is the world's leading full-service online travel site, helping millions of travelers per month easily plan and book travel. Expedia.com (http://www.expedia.com/, 1-800-EXPEDIA) aims to provide the latest technology and the widest selection of top vacation destinations, cheap tickets, hotel deals, car rentals, destination weddings, cruise deals and in-destination activities, attractions, services and award-winning travel apps. With the Expedia Best Price Guarantee, Expedia.com customers can get the best rates available online for all types of travel.

Expedia, Expedia.com, Expedia Rewards, Find Yours and the Airplane logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners © 2014 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. CST # 2029030-50

Disclaimer: *Based on a comparison of other full-service online travel agencies, defined as those providing booking and services related to air, hotel, cruise, car and activities to a global customer base. Data based on comScore Media Metrix for Expedia, Inc. Sites, Worldwide, Average Monthly Unique Visitors, Oct '12-Sept '13.

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SOURCE Expedia.com