HomeAway Partners With Social Travel Site Gogobot.com

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- HomeAway®, Inc. – the world's leading online vacation rental marketplace – today announced a distribution partnership with Gogobot.com, a social travel site that enables users to connect with friends via social networks to transform the way they plan and share their trips. This agreement enables Gogobot.com users to access more than 230,000 vacation rental listings on HomeAway.com, complete with reviews from past guests.

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Launched in November 2010, Gogobot.com offers personalized recommendations from friends for all aspects of travel planning including restaurants, accommodations and attractions, by tapping into the power of social network sites, Facebook and Twitter. Through its partnership with HomeAway, which has a large and diverse inventory of vacation rentals, travelers can compare the space and affordability of vacation rentals to other accommodations when planning trips through Gogobot.com.

"Vacation rental travel implies families and friends gathered together in beautiful and unique properties, making it a great fit for people who want to share their experiences," says Tom Hale, chief product officer of HomeAway. "We're excited to offer HomeAway's extensive selection of vacation rental properties to travelers as they turn to social networks to plan their trip."

"Our partnership leverages the power of personal connections to give travelers the opportunity to live like a local, ultimately helping to provide a richer and more authentic experience," says Travis Katz, founder and CEO of Gogobot. "We are thrilled to partner with HomeAway as vacation rental homes have become an increasingly important option for travelers."

About HomeAway, Inc.

HomeAway, Inc., based in Austin, Texas, is the worldwide leader in online vacation rentals, representing more than 540,000 paid vacation rental home listings throughout 120 countries. HomeAway offers an extensive selection of vacation homes that provide travelers with memorable experiences and benefits, including more room to relax and added privacy, for less than the cost of traditional hotel accommodations. The company also makes it easy for vacation rental owners and property managers to advertise their properties and manage bookings online. The HomeAway portfolio includes the leading vacation rental websites HomeAway.com, VRBO.com and VacationRentals.com in the United States; HomeAway.co.uk and OwnersDirect.co.uk in the United Kingdom; HomeAway.de in Germany; Abritel.fr and Homelidays.com in France; HomeAway.es in Spain; and AlugueTemporada.com.br in Brazil.

In addition, HomeAway operates BedandBreakfast.com, the most comprehensive global site for finding bed-and-breakfast properties, providing travelers with another source for unique lodging alternatives to chain hotels. For more information about HomeAway, please visit www.HomeAway.com.

About Gogobot

Gogobot (www.gogobot.com) is writing a new chapter in online travel where friends, not strangers, are the key to creating extraordinary travel experiences.  Launched in beta in November 2010, Gogobot helps people tap into their personal networks via Facebook and Twitter to easily get and share travel advice. Gogobot's founders were key to the early success of MySpace and Yahoo Answers and are now bringing this deep understanding of the social web to travel. The company is backed by Battery Ventures, Google CEO Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors and MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe. Gogobot is based in Menlo Park, California.

SOURCE HomeAway, Inc.