Leading GDS Provider and Renowned International Hotel Brand Provide Customised Courses to Travel Agents

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 10 March 2010 - Travelport, one of the world's leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS) and operator of the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, has today announced that it has teamed up with Marriott International for hotel training courses designed for the Middle East travel trade.

The classroom-style seminars, which are being held across the region, are giving Galileo-connected travel agents the opportunity to learn how to make hotel bookings through the system, as well as how to sell Marriott's international properties even more effectively to their customers.

During the sessions, participants are demonstrated key hotel booking features offered by Travelport including Galileo Room Master, a shopping solution which provides access to hotel properties worldwide, as well as the GDS provider's 'Best Available Rate Programme', a comprehensive database containing the best publicly-available hotel rates in real-time.

Travel agents also have the added benefit of learning more about the hotel properties they are booking for their customers. During the course, representatives from Marriott International are on hand to explain the brand's value proposition and provide the trade with tools and incentives to book its wide range of hotels, including the Marriott Hotel Excellence and Best Price Guarantee Programme.

"With such an extensive network of travel agents worldwide, Travelport's GDS is becoming an increasingly important sales channel for major hotel groups such as Marriott to optimise their room inventory," said Greg D'Souza, Director of E-Commerce and Intermediaries at Marriott International. "Our training courses with Travelport provides agents with the knowledge and tools to book our hotel rooms efficiently through their preferred channel."

Over the past several months, Travelport has been focused on increasing its visibility in the Middle East as an effective sales channel for hotel bookings, partnering with several major hotel groups to raise awareness of its hotel offering and educate local travel agents on the ease of booking non-air segments on the Galileo platform.

"We are delighted to team up with renowned hotel suppliers such as Marriott International and will continue to work closely with leading hotel groups to encourage and facilitate hotel bookings through the Galileo GDS," said Jennifer D'Souza, Regional Commercial Director, Travelport GDS.

With a strong global network and extensive hotel and car content, Travelport provides travel agents with access to more than 430 hotel brands, 88,000 properties and 30,000 car rental locations worldwide, along with some of the most competitive rates and live inventory available through the GDS.

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About Travelport
Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. Travelport is comprised of the global distribution system (GDS) business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a leading global, multi-channel provider of hotel and ground services and Airline IT Solutions, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines. With 2008 revenues of $2.5 billion, Travelport operates in 160 countries and has approximately 5,300 employees.

Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.

More information about Travelport is available at www.travelport.com

About Marriott International
MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NYSE:MAR) is a leading lodging company with more than 3,400 lodging properties in 68 countries and territories. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA and had approximately 137,000 employees at 2009 year-end. It is recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the best companies to work for, and by Newsweek as one of the greenest big companies in America. In fiscal year 2009, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of nearly $11 billion.

For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com.

© Press Release 2010