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MapQuest's New Multi-Stop Route Builder Feature Provides Cost-Efficient Planning for Summer Travels

#1 Requested Feature Among MapQuest's 50 Million Visitors

DENVER -- June 28, 2006 - Just in time for the busy July 4th travel weekend, MapQuest.com has launched a beta (http://www.mapquest.com/maps-directions/) of its new multi-stop Route Builder feature. This new tool lets travelers save time and money by mapping out their entire journey - and multiple destination stops in between - in one convenient step.
MapQuest's Route Builder feature was the #1 requested feature among the millions of MapQuest consumers. MapQuest.com recently had a record 50 million unique monthly visitors, two and a half times more than the leading competition.*

Hotel Booking "Despite record gas prices, most Americans are still planning to drive to their annual Fouth of July and summer vacation destinations," said Jim Greiner, VP and GM, MapQuest. "MapQuest.com continues to be the leading resource for people to find places and get reliable directions. And now the new Route Builder feature lets travelers map out driving directions between multiple stops - saving them time, gas money and frustration."

Groople In the News Travelocity Teams with Groople to Offer Group Hotel Bookings New shopping tools added to Travelocity's hotel booking engine let travelers book 5+ rooms in a single reservation SOUTHLAKE, Texas and DENVER (February 1, 2005) Planning this summer's faraway family reunion Or maybe you're a coach needing a bunch of rooms for that upcoming youth tournament If so, you'll want to check out new functionality on Travelocity that makes planning and booking group travel a snap. Today, Travelocity announced an agreement with Groople Inc., a leading provider of online group travel bookings that gives Travelocity customers a specialized groups section with discounted hotel rates, group content and new planning features that are unavailable on other travel sites.

Travel Agency MapQuest's Route Builder lets users:

Groople (www.groople.com), the leader in group travel planning, has partnered with Go10000, a travel focused development and hosting firm, to bring to market a new group collaboration site for the travel space. GroopVine will provide the solution to the complex communication and booking problems group travel planning can create. Enhancing the online travel space by combining the key elements of social networking such as invitations, forums, messaging, photos and video posting, with the best in online travel booking, GroopVine is the only place for group travelers to shop, plan and book together online.

Cheap Hotel * Add up to 10 location destinations along a route;

8mong many firsts for the group market, the new technology platform enables consumers to do something that other sites haven k allowed to book travel and accommodations for more than five rooms in a single online session. Featuring more than 56, 000 hotels, including 7, time group rates, Groople is primed to become the industry largest automated solution for unmanaged group leisure travel, a market estimated at $18 billion to $24 billion. Under its hosted inventory and commission models, Groople generates group bookings niche by niche for hotels and plans to add air, car, cruise, bus and rail later this year.

Flight Booking * Search for destination by address or place name;

New travel plans must be reserved and travel completed one (1) year from the original booking date and are subject to availability.

Travel Agent * Optimize route to avoid highways or toll roads;

New travel plans must be reserved and travel completed one (1) year from the original booking date and are subject to availability.

Hotel Chicago * Find gas stations, hotels, restaurants, ATMs, and other places along the way;

Online Booking * Re-order stops by dragging and dropping and automatically recalculate driving directions;

Travel Health Insurance * Print, or email route; and

Hotel Reservation * Choose to show or hide directions as the route is plotted.

London Hotel Booking So, whether it's figuring out various stops for the kids' car pool, dropping off deliveries across town or a cross-country field trip to visit Aunt Tilly, hitting as many minor-league ballparks along the way, MapQuest can get users beyond just Point A and Point B.

Discount Travel According to the May 2006 MapQuest Road Trips survey, more than half of Americans are taking road trips this summer, and July 4th weekend ranks highest for road trips at 17%, with Memorial Day and Labor Day tying at 12%.

Orlando Hotel Other findings from the survey:

Booking Agency * 72% of those planning to take a road trip this year said that gas prices were affecting their summer travel plans.

International Travel Medical * Nearly one in 10 said they plan to cancel trips altogether to avoid the pain at the pump.

New York Hotel * But despite the prices, nearly half of Americans (49%) plan to take a road trip this summer nevertheless, according to the report.

Online Travel Booking * Travel volume will remain relatively consistent over the summer months, with August as the most popular time for summer travel (29%), followed by July (27%) and June (24%).

Travel Medical Insurance * 25% of Americans were undecided on their summer travel plans.

Miami Hotel MapQuest Summer Road trips Survey Methodology

Air Deccan Booking The MapQuest poll was conducted online from May 3-8, 2006, by ICR of Media, PA. ICR interviewed a national sample of 1,023 adults who have online access. In addition to the national sample, 3,000 interviews were conducted in the top 20 US cities.

Las Vegas Nevada Travel * comScore Media Metrix, May 2006

Las Vegas Nv Hotel
About MapQuest MapQuest helps people find places. MapQuest offers Internet, mobile, business solutions, and published products worldwide. MapQuest.com, both the top mapping and directories site on the Web according to comScore Media Metrix, served more than 50 million users in May, 2006. MapQuest, a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, is based in Denver, Colorado. About AOL AOL and its subsidiaries operate a leading network of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscription service in the United States. Web brands include the AOL.com(r) website, AIM(r), MapQuest(r) and Netscape(r). AOL offers a range of digital services in the areas of education, safety and security, communications and music. The company also has operations in Europe and Canada. AOL LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. and is based in Dulles, Virginia.

Hotel Florence Booking Online Source: AOL

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