7% of customers had marriage in mind for Valentine’s!

Cambridge 17 Feb 2004: Following a survey carried out to measure romantic intentions for this year’s Valentine’s weekend, a heart-warming 7 % of Active Hotels’ customers stated they were either planning to propose to their partner or hoping for a marriage proposal. Perhaps unsurprisingly, of those intending to propose, the French led the way in the commitment stakes (7%), followed closely by the Spanish (6%). The British and Germans came in joint third place (3%) and contrary to their romantic reputation, the Italians came in last place with only a mere 1% declaring an intention to pop the question! The data was collected following a series of special offers and promotions made available on Active Hotels whereby hotels displayed romantic packages specially created to lure seasonal lovebirds. Two thirds of the total bookings received for Valentine’s were made by males, with 9% leaving arrangements until the last minute, by booking on Friday 11th February. A substantial one third of all Valentine’s bookings were made by females, reflecting a shift in traditional perception and the more pro-active role of the new age woman. A growing majority of today’s modern men are happy to take a back seat and leave romantic arrangements to their partner to deal with! Feedback received from Active Hotels’ online hotel reviews illustrates the success of this year’s Valentine’s offers, with comments so far confirming that at least one couple are now engaged! In addition, a couple that are already engaged made the following comment: “We are getting married in the Llwyn Onn in June, and wanted to celebrate Valentine’s day there. The four poster bed was lovely. The meal was excellent, and we can’t wait for our wedding day!” Overall, married couples accounted for a fifth of all Valentine’s bookings, showing that the flames of passion still burn for those who have already tied the knot! The top 3 European Valentine’s destinations, (by country of origin) are summarised in below: Top 3 Destinations for Valentine’s 2005 UK Travellers 1. London 2. Manchester 3. York French Travellers 1. Paris 2. London 3. Lyon German Travellers 1. London 2. Montpellier 3. Paris Italian Travellers 1. London 2. Paris 3. Rome Spanish Travellers 1. London 2. Milan 3. Madrid – End- About Active Hotels: Active Hotels (a Priceline company), is one of Europe’s leading online reservation providers to the hotel industry. The company has over 10,000 hotels, which it promotes through 1,500 distribution partners, including many of the market leaders in online travel. Active Hotels currently sell over 2 million hotel room nights per annum. See www.activehotels.com Media enquiries: Mandy Zakhour, European Media Relations, Active Hotels, [email protected] tel: + 44 (0) 1223 578134