NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Travelzoo (Nasdaq:TZOO), a global Internet media company, today announced the finalists for the 2009 Travelzoo Awards. The Travelzoo Awards, also known as 'The Tzoos', celebrates the companies behind the best deals in travel, including airlines, hotels, vacation companies, cruise agencies, cruise lines, shows & events, car rentals and destinations. Travelzoo's 85 deal experts around the world evaluated more than 80,000 deals to uncover the companies behind the best deals in 23 categories.
"With such incredible deals in the market we are thrilled to be able to honor and celebrate the top 94 travel companies who have surpassed our deal evaluation criteria," said Shirley Tafoya, President, North America, Travelzoo. "These finalists continue to inspire consumers to take their next trip and ultimately help drive demand for travel within the U.S. and abroad."
Travelzoo Award finalists will be recognized and winners will be announced at the 3rd Annual Travelzoo Awards ceremony taking place on Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at the Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta. The event also coincides with TravelCom 2009, which attracts more than 700 travel industry professionals and media. For more information visit http://www.travelzoo.com/tzoos.
The 2009 Travelzoo Award finalists are:
Leading Provider of Domestic Airfare Deals American Airlines AirTran Airways Delta Air Lines JetBlue Airways Virgin America Leading provider of international airfare deals British Airways Lufthansa Qantas Airways United Airlines US Airways Best overall provider of airfare deals, Canada Air New Zealand British Airways Porter Airlines Sunwing Airlines WestJet 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 Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North Jumeirah Essex House Mondrian Miami The Fairmont San Francisco Wynn Las Vegas Outstanding deals by an individual hotel Atlantis, Paradise Island The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Swissotel Chicago The Inn at Essex Outstanding deals by an individual hotel marketed in Canada Delta Chelsea Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Marriott Niagara Falls Fallsview Hotel & Spa MGM Grand Las Vegas The Juniper Hotel Outstanding deals by a hotel chain or brand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Kimpton Hotels Millennium Hotels and Resorts Morgans Hotel Group Starwood Hotels & Resorts Best overall provider of vacation package deals to warm weather destinations Apple Vacations CheapCaribbean.com Funjet Vacations NWA WorldVacations Liberty Travel Best overall provider of vacation package deals, Canada Sunwing Vacations TargetVacations.ca Transat Holidays TravelTST.ca WestJet Vacations Best overall provider of vacation package deals to Asia and Europe Friendly Planet Travel Gate 1 Travel go-today.com Sceptre Tours smarTours Most outstanding provider of cruise deals by an agency CruCon Cruise Outlet CruiseDeals.com Cruises & Tours by Brennco Cruises International Travelocity Best overall provider of cruise deals to Europe, Asia or South Pacific Celebrity Cruises Costa Cruises Norwegian Cruise Line Royal Caribbean International Viking River Cruises Best overall provider of cruise deals to the Americas, Caribbean or Bermuda Carnival Cruise Lines Celebrity Cruises Imperial Majesty Cruise Line Norwegian Cruise Line Royal Caribbean International Leading provider of outstanding car rental and bus deals Alamo Rent A Car CarRentals.com Hertz megabus.com Thrifty Car Rental Most outstanding achievement in marketing of travel deals for a destination Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Barbados Tourism Authority New York State Department of Economic Development Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau Tourism Ireland Outstanding deals by an online travel agency BookIt.com Expedia Orbitz Travelocity TripRes.com Best overall provider of show & event deals Cirque du Soleil Feld Entertainment Live Nation Major League Baseball National Basketball Association Outstanding innovation in creating WOW! travel deals British Airways megabus.com Qantas Airways Sceptre Tours Southwest Airlines Best overall provider of travel deals, Europe African Safari Club (UK) Binolii GmbH (Germany) Hotels & Residences du Roy (France) Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour (UK) XL.com (UK) Best overall provider of travel deals, Asia-Pacific Hilton Cairns (Australia) H.I.S. Co., Ltd. (Japan) Meriton Apartments (Australia) The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel (China) Best overall provider of travel deals, Canada CruCon Cruise Outlet Delta Hotels Mirvish Productions Sunwing Travel Group Transat Holidays Best overall provider of travel deals, US American Airlines British Airways CheapCaribbean.com MGM Mirage Starwood Hotels & Resorts
In order to determine the 2009 Travelzoo Award Finalists Travelzoo's deal experts evaluated over 80,000 deals researched in 2008 on the following 5-point scale:
1. Reliability: The Test Booking Center(tm) performed over 115,000 verifications on deals published by Travelzoo in 2008. 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 more than 200,000 user ratings collected by Travelzoo in 2008, 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 85 deal experts in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, regularly consult with more than 1,000 travel companies around the world to uncover the best deals. All deal experts were surveyed for their nominations in 23 categories to arrive at preliminary nominations. Over the next four weeks the Travelzoo Awards Committee, comprised of 13 senior deal experts, will be studying the deals from the Finalist companies, and with the data points listed above, will determine the winners in 23 categories.
About Travelzoo
Travelzoo is a global Internet media company. Travelzoo's media properties, which reach more than 14 million travel enthusiasts in the U.S., Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain, Taiwan and the U.K., include the Travelzoo(r) Web site (www.travelzoo.com), the Top 20(r) list, the Newsflash(tm) e-mail alert service, the Travelzoo Network(tm), the SuperSearch(tm) search tool, and the Fly.com(tm) search engine. Travelzoo publishes offers from more than 1,000 advertisers from around the world. Travelzoo's deal experts review offers to find the best travel deals and confirm their true value. Travelzoo's global headquarters is in New York City.
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