Expedia Inc has announced a new partnership with a luxury Dubai-based Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts.
The new agreement means Expedia will feature Jumeirah Group hotels, allowing Jumeirah access to the 60 million people who visit all of Expedia”s sites each month, nearly 475,000 of which look for hotels each day. Jumeirah will feature on Expedia.com and hotels.com.
Jumeirah currently has 10 hotels and resorts including the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Jumeirah Lowndes Hotel in London and the Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South in New York, but the group is planning to build or is already building 13 hotels to add to its existing portfolio.
The planned hotels will be in London, Dubai, Shanghai, Thailand (Phuket) and Argentina, as well as Abu Dhabi, Aqaba, Doha and Mallorca.
Jumeirah Han Tang Xintiandi will be the next to open, in Shanghai this year. The Jumeirah No 1 Blackfriars will open in London, although the date is yet to be confirmed. The redevelopment of the Jumeirah Beach Club in Dubai is counted in the 13 planned hotels, and will open in 2010.
Expedia offers travellers nearly 80,000 hotels on more than 70 websites, including the luxury brand Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as well as hotels under the groups InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Starwood and Marriott.