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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 Worldwide and Venere.com, comments, “It is a great coup for us to have brought 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 for Expedia Asia Pacific. 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 time at Quantas, Hoffman oversaw the development and implementation of a new IT platform, which included online booking tools for both the consumer and travel trade.

During his career Hoffman 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, a company recently acquired by Sodexho Alliance, based in London. Roche continues, “Emmanuel has made real progress in developing the Venere.com business and integrating 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 endeavors.”

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.

Exciting news for hoteliers looking to optimize their distribution and receive more hotel reservations.

Expedia today is introducing the new Expedia Easy Manage program, a hotel partnership option with a commission model for qualifying hotels in Europe, Middle East and Africa. These hotels can quickly and easily sign up to offer their hotel rooms on more than 70 Expedia and Hotels.com sites, as well as on Venere.com.

This great news also represents the integration of the Expedia and Venere.com hotel inventory following Expedia’s acquisition of Venere in 2008.

Hotels interested in learning more about working with Expedia and Venere.com, please visit joinexpedia.com.

Drop by the Venere stand at the International Hotel Chain & Travel Agency Pavilion and meet our very friendly Sales & Customer Service team. Our staff will welcome you with Venere travel gadgets and will be happy to answer any question you may have about venere.com.

Venere.com stand at FITUR 2009: Pav. 6, Stand 6G17.

• Dublin for kids

Planning a family trip to Ireland? In this travel blog post, Beth lists the 5 best kids attractions in Dublin including Imaginosity, The Ark, Phoenix Park, the Dublin Zoo and Chester Beatty Library.

• Attractions for Kids in Paris

Planning a family vacation in France? Milafel reviews 5 Paris attractions for children including the Eiffel Tower, the kid-friendly Cité des Sciences de Paris La Vilette,  Centre Georges Pompidou,  a Seine River cruise and Disneyland Paris.

• What to Bring  when Traveling with Kids

In this blog post on what to bring when traveling with a baby, Shabana gives great packing tips and provides a checklist of children’s clothing, first aid box, travel gears and baby toys.

• Tips for Flying with Children

Traveling by air with a young child can carry with it some extra challenges. Amy gives 5 useful tips for flying with preschoolers and how to deal with new airline regulations and security lines.

• Child Friendly resorts in Andalusia

Looking for a kid-friendly accommodation in Marbella or another beach resort in the South of Spain? Check out some of our best family friendly hotels in Andalusia including Atalaya Park Hotel in Estepona, Alanda Club in Marbella and Envia Hotel in Vícar.

Photo of  by  JadedJulia

•  Romantic Luxury Hotels in Bali

Offering luxurious accommodations, top quality services, award-winning swimming pools and spa & wellness centers in an intimate atmosphere,  Villa Kubu Hotel (Seminyak), Uma Ubud Hotel (Gianyar) and Alila Ubud Hotel (Ubud) are 3 of the most romantic hotels in Bali.

•  Romantic Restaurants in London

Anna reviews three of  the most romantic restaurants in London: Bateaux London, Gordon Ramsay’s Claridge’s and Roussillon. If you’re planning a special London weekend with your lover, be sure to make a reservation at one of these gourmet restaurants.

• Romantic Things to Do in Budapest

Phil lists the best things to do in Budapest for travelers planning a second honeymoon in the Hungarian capital. Margaret Island, Széchenyi Thermal Bath and the labyrinth of Buda Castle are not to be missed when on a romantic break in Budapest.

• Romantic Things to Do in Copenhagen

In this travel blog post, Kesha takes you for a stroll through Romantic Copenhagen and its fairytale castles. A visit to Amalienborg Palace, Cupid at Thorvaldsen Museum and a night at the Opera are some the best things to do and see when on a weekend of romance in Copenhagen.

• A Scenic Drive on the Romantic Road

For travelers dreaming of a fairytale holiday with their loved one, Anna suggests a trip driving Germany’s Romantic Road. Wonderful castles, lovely villages, breathtaking sceneries, cozy hotels and gourmet restaurants make this German region the perfect destination for a romantic road trip in Europe.

1. Basic tips for traveling in Italy by train

More than 90 blog post comments including travel questions and answers that make this article a useful guide to train travel in Italy.

2. Visit the venere.com stand at BIT Milan 2008

Comments left by  travel industry professionals who visited our stand at the 2008 International Tourism Exchange expo in Milan.

3. Expedia to Buy Venere.com

Interesting reader comments and reactions to the acquisition of venere.com by online travel industry leader Expedia Inc.

4.Win a luxury stay with Venere.com!

Messages from readers who share their love for Venere and our Behind The Scenes at Venere.com video.

5. Help for traveling adulterers

A controversy over a French website that provides custom-made alibis to traveling adulterers who don’t want to get caught cheating.

Photo by apesara

It’s been so much fun reading and writing for the Venere Travel Blog that it was difficult to agree on the five articles to pick, but here is our list:

1. Best Aperitif Bars in Rome

Since me and my Venere colleagues often meet up in a cocktail bar for a few relaxing after-work drinks, we really enjoyed reading this blog post on the best aperitif places in Rome. This aperitif bar review by Nicole Arriaga and the comments left by readers made us discover some of the coolest wine bars in Rome.

2.  Hotels for Chocolate Lovers

As Susan wrote yesterday, we have come to know that many of you are chocolate addicts and, since we here at Venere are chocoholics too, this hotel review is definitely one of our favorites. The hotels for chocolate lovers  reviewed in this yummy article are the Etruscan Chocohotel (Perugia), the Chocolate Boutique Hotel (Bournemouth), the Langham Hotel (Boston),  La Banisterie (Avignon) and the NH Koln City Hotel (Cologne).

3. Top 5 Movie Set Hotels

If, like us, you have always dreamt of being a Hollywood movie star for one day, you will enjoy this blog post on film tourism too. In this article, Mascha reviews five hotels featured in movies including Apartment R/134 Margutta (Roman Holiday), Hotel Des Bains (Death in Venice), Hotel Fontanebleau Resorts (Goldfinger), San Domenico Palace (The Adventure) and Hotel York (Vertigo).

4. Monkey Thieves in Thailand

This amusing post about monkey pickpockets in Thailand is certainly one of the funniest travel stories on the Venere Travel Blog. Sarah Edge tells us her adventure at Monkey Temple in Prachuap Khiri Khan – a  monastery enjoying fantastic views of the Burmese mountains and the Thai Bay – when a big monkey stole her bag and ran up a tree to get away from her.

 5. How to get over your summer love

Getting back from a dreamy beach holiday in Santorini, Ibiza or Sicily,  and going through a lost love crisis? Do not miss Susan’s summer love heartbreak tips: indulge in self-pity,  eat chocolate, replace your lover quickly, and become a rock star. Any more tips on how to get over a holiday romance? Leave a comment and let us know.

Photo of heart drawn in the sand by Gisela Giardino

The Venere Travel Blog has been online for a year now. It’s been fun and we hope that it was as good for you as it was for us.

You have come to know us, and we have come to know you. Judging from the Top-5 most read articles, you like chocolate and sexy design. Here’s your favourite articles for 2008:

1. Michelin Star Restaurants
Our article about venere.com hotels with on-site fine dining was one of the first articles published on our new travel blog in January 2008. The articles features yummy gourmet hotels in France, Germany, Italy and Poland.

2. Train Travel in Italy
Practical tips for traveling Italy by train, from seat reservations to finding out which train carriage is the right one. This is also one of the most commented articles, making it a complete guide to train travel in Italy. Pisa to Florence or Milan to Naples, find out how to enjoy the ride!

3. Adult Hotels
Published in July 2008 in the heat of Summer, the venere.com top-5 clothing optional and adults-only hotels. Located in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Australia, these naughty resorts offer relaxing luxury stays with fun activities.

4. Chocolate Churros in Madrid
Hot chocolate with churros is big in Spain. It’s typically eaten for breakfast, but can be enjoyed throughout the day. Any time is a good time for enjoying this thick and rich beverage made with dark chocolate in any of these recommended Madrid coffee bars.

5. Sexy Hotels in Europe
Following publication of the annual list of sexy hotels on sexiesthotels.com we got to looking for hot & smoking hotels on venere.com in Italy, Turkey, Holland, Germany and Greece. Sexy design, location, amenities and toiletries, these venere.com hotels are as sexy as it gets!

Tomorrow: our favorite articles

Birthday Cake photo by gotbrimmed

The venere.com team wishes you a happy holiday season!

Paola and Gianni, who are used to booking hotel rooms through venere.com, were very happy to stay in a beautiful luxury hotel in Rome for the first time in their life. The couple from Sassari, Sardinia,  really enjoyed the luxury and comfort of their splendid, romantic hotel suite.

Thanks to Paola and Gianni too for their kindness and good humor!

Offering cool user-friendly features, such as comprehensive travel reviews and articles by in-house travel writers and professional sources, semplified search and bookmarking tools, beautiful geo-tagged pictures, exciting design and advanced mapping technology, PlanetEye is a unique Web 2.0 travel site that helps you plan  your trip. 

On Planeteye.com, travelers can discover holiday destinations in Europe and around the world, organize their trip by exploring Planeteye maps, share their travel experiences and write reviews about restaurants, hotels, activities and tourist attractions.

If you are in London to attend this year’s World Travel Market show, drop to say hello to the friendly Venere staff who will be happy to answer your questions and give you some cool gadgets.

Angela is giving the prize to her sister Paola who will travel to Rome with her husband in early December. The couple will have the chance to stay in the beautiful hotel suite featured in the ‘Behind the Scenes at Venere.com’ video.

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Participating in our Watch & Win Contest was fun and easy! To win a luxury stay in Rome, you just had to watch our funny video and answer a simple question : ‘In the video, Giuseppe drives his scooter and passes three Rome landmarks. In what order does he pass them?’. The right answer was ‘Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Vatican’.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first venere.com contest and congratulations to Paola and her husband!

Venere was founded in 1995. Global private equity firm Advent International acquired a 60% controlling stake in the company in November 2006. The other 40% in stakes remained in the hands of Venere’s founders. Venere.com offers 29,000 hotels around the world, 26,000 of which in Europe. Venere.com is currently adding accommodation properties at a rate of more than 1,000 per month.

For Expedia Inc, global leader in online travel, the transaction will add more than 10,000 incremental hotels and other types of accommodation such as B&B and vacation rentals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to its worldwide lodging offering.

Dara Khosrowshahi, President and CEO of Expedia, Inc.:

Acquiring Venere will bring a well-known, respected European consumer brand to the Expedia portfolio. Additionally, it will immediately expand our supply footprint in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and enable Expedia to diversify our business model approach to hotel partners worldwide.

Marco Ficarra, CEO of Venere Net S.p.A.:

We are thrilled at the prospect of becoming part of Expedia because our dedication to offering superior service to travelers via our extensive network of hotels and Bed and Breakfasts is a great fit with the most respected group of brands in travel. In addition, our team of passionate travel professionals located in Rome, London and Paris will complement Expedia’s global team, as we continue to provide hotels new ways to optimize their distribution mix.

Our very own Federica (30) and Luca (29) got married in Frosinone, approx. 90 km (56 miles) south-east of Rome. Federica works at Venere since 2004 as an information architect and Luca joined in 2007 as a database quality assurance operator.

Congrats from all of us at Venere.com! The big question remains: will they call their first born Venus?

Venere.com, the Europe and Italy hotel specialist, and Trenitalia, the Italian National Railway, are today launching a new co-branded service where Trenitalia users can book their train ticket and their accommodation on the co-branded web site.

This new hotel reservation service is dedicated to the more than 500 million business travelers, commuters and tourists alike traveling Italy by train each year. The Trenitalia web site will feature a customized search box with direct access to over 24,000 hotels, B&B’s and other vacation rentals worldwide. Over 8,500 hotels in Italy alone.

Gianfranco Battisti, Commercial Director of the National and International Passenger Division at Trenitalia comments:

Extending our online product is a primary objective for Trenitalia. The partnership with venere.com is an important milestone in reaching more users and capitalizing that traffic. In our selection process for finding a suitable partner among highly qualified international competitors, venere.com proofed the ideal partner to complement Trenitalia’s online travel efforts.

Marco Ficarra, CEO of venere.com comments:

The partnership with Trenitalia is a great sign that venere.com is confirming the levels of attention at home that have already taken the company to international market leadership. Online accommodation is growing fast in Europe, where venere.com is independent market leader, and Trenitalia users are in the front line when it comes to internet. Venere.com will be able to offer these users the best deals and the most choice.

For more information contact:
Micaela Zanarini, PR Manager at venere.com: zanarini@venere.com
Marco Mancini,Trenitalia Press Room: m.mancini@ferroviedellostato.it

Venere.com is growing fast and so we are looking for some new colleagues here at Venere.com. Some of the perks of working at Venere:

• Daycare center for your kids
• Venere.com was elected in the top-35 of Great Place to Work ® 2008
• 194 good-looking colleagues (and some of them are single too!)
• Free yoga class!
• Live in Rome, Italy, where it’s always sunny!

Check out these job openings at venere.com:

Senior SEO Specialist

Head of User Experience

SEM Analyst