Hotels.com reports Arthur Hoffman to take on top role at Venere.com

Hotels.com has revealed that Arthur Hoffman is to be the new Managing Director of Venere.com, the European online hotel reservations specialist recently acquired by Hotels.com's parent company, Expedia.com.

In his new role Hoffman will be responsible for spearheading the development of Venere.com, continuing its growth from a leading European enterprise into a global player in the hotel accommodation booking arena. He will work with a dynamic and experienced team based in Rome.

David Roche, President of Hotels.com and Venere.com, commented: "I am delighted to have Arthur onboard. He is an experienced travel professional with a proven track record in developing and growing businesses. His considerable experience will be highly beneficial to the Venere.com brand and we look forward to seeing it develop from strength to strength under his leadership."

Hoffman brings with him a wealth of experience in the travel market. For the past five years he has held the position of Managing Director of Expedia's Asia Pacific region. In this role he has been responsible for overseeing all Expedia's operations in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and India, as well as the continued growth of the Expedia brand across the APAC region.

Prior to joining Expedia, Hoffman was General Manager for Qantas Holidays, a role which saw him take responsibility for strategy, e-Commerce and IT for the brand.

During his career Hoffman has also served as a strategy consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and Arthur Andersen. Hoffman holds an MA in Science from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and an MBA from INSEAD in France.

Hoffman takes over the Managing Director role at Venere.com from Emmanuel de Rycker, who leaves the company to become the European Managing Director of Circles, recently acquired by Sodexo, based in London.

Roche continued: "Emmanuel has grown and developed the Venere.com business and has integrated it into Expedia after the acquisition last year, and he now passes on the baton to Arthur. We wish Emmanuel every success in his future endeavours."

Hoffman will continue to serve as a Director on the board of eLong, Inc, the second largest online travel provider in China, of which Expedia, Inc. is a major shareholder.

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About Venere.com
Venere.com is an Expedia Inc. company created in Italy in 1995. Venere.com is the European specialist for online reservation of hotels and other types of accommodation and one of the leaders on the global market. Since September 2008 Venere.com is an Expedia Inc. company (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace.

About Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com offers more than 100,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide including New York hotels, Edinburgh hotels, along with a wide selection of hotels in Dublin, hotels in Rome and hotels in London.

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