Marriott Enhances Website

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Marriott International announced several new features to Marriott.com that enable leisure travelers to design their own travel packages, book last-minute weekend getaways and search for the availability of specific rates up to one year in advance. In addition to these enhancements, a new meetings and events planning feature has been launched. New features on Marriott.com include: Design Your Own Vacation Packages, which enables leisure travelers to custom design their own vacation packages, including hotel rooms, flights and car rentals for anytime they want to travel; Last-Minute Weekends, which offers travelers domestic and international last-minute getaway packages that include a choice of hotel rooms, airline tickets and car rentals; and Future Rate Search, which helps travelers plan trips by identifying dates when attractive rates are available — travelers can search availability of specific rates for any two-to four-week period nearly one year in advance. Three international sites were also recently launched for the German, Japanese and Mexican markets. In 2002, Marriott.com set a record generating more than $1 billion in gross sales in a single year, representing nearly a seven-fold increase since 1999. Today, more than 75% of all Marriott rooms booked on the Internet are reserved through Marriott.com as opposed to third party travel sites, said the company.