HomeAway Honored with Prestigious Gold Effie Award®
for “Hotel Hell Vacation” Advertising Campaign

AUSTIN, TX, June 9, 2011 – HomeAway, Inc., the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, was chosen as a recipient of a Gold Effie Award in the “Travel/Tourism/Destination” category for its first large-scale national advertising campaign, 2010’s “Hotel Hell Vacation.” The Effie Awards, now in its 43rd year, are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand’s success.

HomeAway’s campaign reunited actors Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo in their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold from “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” and kicked off with an ad which aired during Super Bowl XLIV as a mock movie trailer, encouraging viewers to visit HomeAway.com to see a short film based on the original movie. The effectiveness of the ad was instantly apparent as it drove more than one million visits to HomeAway.com immediately following the airing and increased traffic to the site by more than 500 percent in the subsequent 24 hours.

"As a first-time advertiser, this award is an incredible honor and a true testament to the hard work and hours spent by our entire team over the course of the campaign," says Brian Sharples, founder and chief executive officer of HomeAway®. "To be the recipient of such a coveted award that not only measures creative excellence, but also the campaign’s effectiveness, confirms that we truly accomplished what we set out to do, which was raise awareness about our brand and the vacation rental category."

HomeAway partnered with Publicis in the West to develop the “Hotel Hell Vacation” campaign. Along with subsequent online advertising, interactive content and social media efforts, the campaign continued to drive exposure for the HomeAway brand, barely a four-year-old company at the time. The impact of the campaign also resonated with vacation rental homeowners, HomeAway’s chief market, increasing unaided brand awareness by 333 percent.

To see the complete list of winners, visit: http://www.effie.org/pressroom/06_07_11



About The Effie Awards:
The Effie Awards are known by advertisers and agencies globally as the pre-eminent award in the industry, and recognize any and all forms of marketing communication that contribute to a brand's success. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement. Today, Effie celebrates effectiveness worldwide with the Global Effie, the Euro Effie, the Middle East / North Africa Effie and more than 40 national Effie programs. For more details, visit www.effie.org. Follow @effieawards on Twitter for updates on Effie information, programs and news.

Media Contact:
Eileen Buesing
Senior Director of Global Public Relations, HomeAway, Inc.
512-493-0375
ebuesing@homeaway.com