HotelsCombined.com Names Hichame Assi Head of Strategy - Online Marketing

Sydney, Australia, 4 February 2010 –- HotelsCombined.com — the world’s leading hotel search engine and price aggregator — proudly announces Hichame Assi as the new Head of Strategy - Online Marketing. In this role, Hichame will lead a number of product development and online marketing initiatives.

 “With experience in both information technology and eCommerce strategy, Hichame is a dynamic addition to the HotelsCombined.com team,” said Michael Doubinski, General Manager HotelsCombined.com. “Through further development of strategic online platforms and subsequent marketing, HotelsCombined.com will no doubt continue to shine as the worldwide hotel meta-search engine leader, offering the very best product for our users and our partners,” added Doubinski.

Hichame’s longstanding career in the online travel industry includes nine years at OctopusTravel.com, where he most recently served as General Manager of the Australia/New Zealand division, re-building its presence and introducing a successful online marketing strategy in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Previously, Hichame worked as Head of eCommerce for OnHoliday Group in London, during which time he was nominated by Travolution – the UK's leading publication for the online travel industry – for the Rising Star award recognizing up-and-coming talents in the online travel industry.

Hichame is currently working on a PhD in Social Networking and Open Innovation through the University of London, where he also earned a Master of Science in eCommerce in 2004. “I’m really looking forward to working with such a dynamic and smart team and helping to extend the HotelsCombined.com social and commercial network functionality,” said Hichame. “As online travel booking continues to change the face of global travel, my main priority will be to help make www.HotelsCombined.com the most comprehensive hotel search engine with the most interactive and personal experience,” he said.

About HotelsCombined.com

HotelsCombined.com is the world’s leading hotel meta-search engine and world’s largest online hotel rate aggregator, with the largest database of 200,000 hotels in 20,000 destinations, across 195 countries. HotelsCombined.com laser targets its resources to deliver more than 900,000 real-time hotel deals which can be price compared and booked directly through leading supplier partners such as Expedia.com (NASDAQ:EXPE), Booking.com, Travelocity.com and Hotels.com as well as via corporate hotel partnerships with InterContinental (NYSE:IHG), Hilton and many others. More than 6.5 million HotelsCombined.com monthly worldwide visitors utilize 4.5 million hotel images, 2.5 million hotel descriptions and maps and 1.5 million customer reviews to help choose the best hotel and best available deal. HotelsCombined.com has received critical acclaims from travel industry experts such as Arthur Frommer, founder of Frommer’s Travel Guides and Budget Travel Magazine, who said, “There's now an aggregator for finding inexpensive hotel rooms anywhere in the world, and its results seem phenomenal” and CNN has also praised HotelsCombined.com saying, “If you are looking for hotels, HotelsCombined.com gives you a darn good search.” For more information or to find unbeatable hotel deals, visit www.hotelscombined.com.

###

Media Contact

Vicki Byrne

Head of Business Development

Phone: +61 2 8011 4192

Mobile: +61 403 561 344

Email: Vicki@HotelsCombined.com

Website: http://www.HotelsCombined.com