NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Travelzoo (Nasdaq:TZOO), a global Internet media company, today announced the finalists for the 2008 Travelzoo Awards. The Travelzoo Awards, also known as 'The Tzoos', celebrate the companies behind the best deals in 20 categories, including airlines, hotels, vacation companies, cruise agencies, cruise lines, shows & events, car rentals and destinations.
"Our team of 40 deal experts have evaluated more than 67,000 deals to determine the companies behind the best deals in each of the 20 categories," said CJ Kettler, President, North America, Travelzoo. "Based on their reliability, appeal, competitiveness, consistency and overall quality, 73 Travelzoo Award finalist companies have surpassed our expectations of providing consumers with great deals. We're thrilled to be able to recognize and celebrate some of the best travel companies in the travel industry."
Travelzoo Award finalists will be recognized at the Travelzoo Awards ceremony on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at the Fairmont Chicago. The event is scheduled to take place during TravelCom 2008, which attracts more than 1,000 travel industry professionals and media. For more information visit http://www.travelzoo.com/tzoos.
The 2008 Travelzoo Award finalists are:
Leading Provider of Domestic Airfare Deals * American Airlines * Frontier Airlines * JetBlue Airways * Skybus Airlines * Virgin America Leading provider of international airfare deals * American Airlines * British Airways * Qantas Airways * United Airlines * Virgin Atlantic Airways Best overall provider of airfare deals * American Airlines * British Airways * JetBlue Airways * United Airlines * Virgin America Leading provider of lodging deals by an upscale or boutique property * The Fairmont Dallas * The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess * The James Chicago * Mondrian Scottsdale * Pan Pacific Vancouver Outstanding deals by an individual hotel * MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas * Millennium Broadway Hotel New York * Nickelodeon Family Suites by Holiday Inn * Sir Francis Drake Hotel * Swissotel Chicago Outstanding deals by a hotel chain or brand * Kimpton Hotels * MGM Mirage * Millennium & Copthorne Hotels * Omni Hotels * RockResorts International Provider of outstanding domestic vacation package deals * Expedia.com * NWA WorldVacations * Orbitz * Pleasant Holidays * Southwest Airlines Vacations Provider of outstanding international vacation package deals * CheapCaribbean.com * Dooley Vacations and Sceptre Tours * Funjet Vacations * Gate 1 Travel * go-today.com Best overall provider of vacation package deals * CheapCaribbean.com * Dooley Vacations and Sceptre Tours * Gate 1 Travel * go-today.com * Pleasant Holidays Most outstanding provider of cruise deals by an agency * CruCon Cruise Outlet * CruiseDeals, Inc. * Cruises-N-More * CruisesOnly * Travelocity Most outstanding provider of deals by a cruise line * Carnival Cruise Lines * Celebrity Cruises * MSC Cruises * Norwegian Cruise Line * Royal Caribbean Cruise Line Leading provider of outstanding car rental and bus deals * Alamo * Advantage Rent-A-Car * Avis Rent A Car * megabus.com * Orbitz Most outstanding achievement in marketing of travel deals for adestination * Barbados Tourism Authority * Grand Bahama Island * Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association * Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau * Tourism Malaysia Outstanding deals by an online travel agency * BookIt.com * Expedia.com * Orbitz * Travelocity * TripRes.com Best overall provider of show & event deals * Alan Wasser Associates * Cirque du Soleil, Las Vegas * Davenport Theatrical Enterprises * Situation Marketing * Wynn Las Vegas Leading provider of travel deals, Canada * Delta Hotels * CruCon Cruise Outlet * Sunwing Canada Inc. * TargetVacations.ca * WestJet Leading provider of travel deals, Europe * African Travel Safari Club (UK) * Corinthia Hotels International (Europe) * FlyLoco.de (Germany) * Travelpack (UK) * XL.com (France) Leading provider of travel deals, Asia-Pacific * Hankyu Express International Co., Ltd (Japan) * Spring Airlines (China) * Super Star Travel (Taiwan) * Venetian Macau Resort Hotel (Hong Kong) Outstanding innovation in creating WOW! travel deals * British Airways * CruCon Cruise Outlet * megabus.com * MGM Mirage * Virgin America Best overall provider of outstanding travel deals * CheapCaribbean.com * British Airways * BookIt.com * Gate 1 Travel * MGM Mirage
In order to determine the 2008 Travelzoo Award Finalists, Travelzoo's deal experts evaluated over 67,000 deals researched in 2007 on the following 5-point system:
1. Reliability: The Test Booking Center(tm) performed over 100,000 verifications on deals published by Travelzoo in 2007. The Test Booking Center validates both online and offline qualifications including availability, accuracy of information published and ease of booking. When tested for this level of reliability, the deals provided by Finalist companies met all the requirements of the testing process and scored in the 90th percentile or higher.
2. Appeal: Of the 244,500 user ratings collected by Travelzoo in 2007, Finalist companies consistently achieved user rating scores of between 4.5 and the highest score of 6.
3. Competitiveness: Travelzoo Award Finalists offered competitive travel deals that were considered outstanding compared to similar offerings in the marketplace. Qualitative user feedback indicated Finalist companies regularly developed deals that inspired Travelzoo users to book trips they did not otherwise plan on taking. Additionally, proprietary campaign performance data sourced directly from Travelzoo advertising partners was evaluated to determine the level of consumer appeal.
4. Consistency: All companies consistently provided Travelzoo users with exceptional offers throughout the past year that inspired incremental travel, based on both qualitative and quantitative user feedback.
5. Quality: Travelzoo's 40 deal experts regularly consult with more than 900 travel companies around the world to uncover the best deals. All deal experts were surveyed for their nominations in 20 categories to arrive at preliminary nominations. The Travelzoo Awards Committee, comprised of 10 senior deal experts, studied Finalist companies determined by this survey, and with the data points listed above, determined the winners in 20 categories.
About Travelzoo
Travelzoo is a global Internet media company. Travelzoo's media properties, which reach more than 12 million travel enthusiasts in the U.S., Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and the U.K., include the Travelzoo(r) Web site (www.travelzoo.com), the Top 20(r) e-mail newsletter, the Newsflash(tm) e-mail alert service and SuperSearch(tm), a travel search engine. Travelzoo publishes offers from more than 900 advertisers. Travelzoo's deal experts review each offer to find the best travel deals and confirm their true value. Travelzoo is headquartered in New York City.
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