Expedia to Give Away $1 Million in Travel Prizes on Facebook

Online competition for free travel prizes just got a little tougher with Expedia.com’s announcement of its newest Facebook promotion. Winners of the Expedia FriendTrips Game will receive $1 million worth of travel in what Expedia is calling the largest sweepstakes ever hosted on Facebook. Expedia FriendTrips was launched on March 31 and will run for a total of six weeks. At the game’s conclusion, vacations will be awarded to the winning entrants.

To play, interested travelers need to become a fan of Expedia on Facebook at www.facebook.com/expedia. They will then create a “virtual plane” and will point that plane towards one of a series of vacation destinations. Then, they must populate the plane with five of their Facebook friends, each of whom also needs to become a fan of Expedia. The friends are then entered to win once they accept the invitation.

”Expedia FriendTrips is not only the largest sweepstakes ever hosted on Facebook, it is the largest promotion in Expedia’s history by a wide margin,” said Scott Durchslag, president, Expedia Worldwide.

The new social media campaign is part of a larger strategy on Expedia’s part to expand its reach via the Web.

”Social media is a pillar of our new strategy, along with mobile, where we just announced Expedia Hotels for iPhone and Android,” Durchslag continued. “Nothing is more intrinsically mobile and social than travel which is why it contributes the most image content on both the social and photo-sharing sites. Expedia is building a powerful online community where people can share their travel experiences with one another and with all of our travelers.”

The majority of the featured trips have been contributed by various conventions and visitors bureaus and key partners representing different regions of the world. Five of the winning trip prizes each are valued at up to $100,000 or more.

Trip prizes include:
• Wonders of South America: The winner and five friends will be flown in Premium Business Class on LAN Airlines to Chile and then on to Peru and Foz do Iguassu, Brazil, for a luxury 14-day tour valued at up to $160,000.

• Luxury in St. Vincent: The winner and five friends will fly to Buccament Bay Resort on St. Vincent in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, where they will spend seven nights in private waterview villas while enjoying spa visits, golf, scuba, tours and more on a trip valued at up to $125,000.

• European Cruise: Winners will fly first class to Venice or Rome and tour the Mediterranean onboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Jade. The winner and five friends will stay in a 6,000-square-foot Garden Villa with their own personal butler service, a value of up to $100,000.

• Viva Las Vegas: The winner and five friends will stay for seven nights in a four-star suite with access to limousine service, shows, restaurants and clubs; spa treatments; a shopping spree; golf, helicopter tours; and more for a trip valued at up to $100,000.

Other trips include such destinations as Australia; Bermuda; Banff, Canada; New York; Riviera Nayarit, Mexico; South Africa; South Korea; and Tahiti.

Participants can double and triple their chances of winning by bringing more Facebook friends into the game. A Facebook friend on one plane can join multiple planes, or he or she can build different planes of their own. Once a particular entrant has brought 25 friends into the Expedia FriendTrips Game, his or her chance of winning doubles. Should he or she bring 50 friends into the game, his or her chance of winning triples.

Expedia will also award four $250 Expedia travel credits daily to contest participants who contribute pictures and share stories of why they want to visit a particular featured destination.

Visit www.Expedia.com and www.Facebook.com/Expedia.