Discount Travel Pioneer Michael J. Hartley of Cheap Tickets, Inc. is Named the 2000 National Ernst & Young Service Entrepreneur of the Year

Business Wire, Nov 13, 2000

Business Editors

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2000

[pilcrow (paragraph sign)] Honolulu Entrepreneur Receives Top Honors at Prestigious 14th

Annual Awards Conference Recognizing Leaders of Tomorrow

In recognition of his strong work ethic, out-of-the-box thinking, and high regard for public service, Michael J. Hartley, CEO and chairman of the board of Cheap Tickets, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTIX), has been named the 2000 National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R)in the Service category.

Cheap Tickets was born in 1986 when Hartley and his wife placed a local newspaper advertisement for a number of airline tickets they couldn't use. Response to the brief ad, which read, "Inter-Island Coupons...Cheap Tickets...Discounted Airfare," was overwhelming, prompting Hartley to run another one as an experiment. Replies to the second ad were even more enthusiastic, and Hartley knew he was onto something.

Since then, the growth of Cheap Tickets has been phenomenal. The company has doubled its revenues every year since it was established, operates one of the most successful e-commerce sites in virtually any industry today, and is one of the few online travel service providers that has achieved profitability.

Hartley, along with national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winners in eight other categories, was selected by an independent panel of judges from among nearly 500 regional award recipients. All of these recipients were acknowledged at an awards gala - the world's largest gathering of entrepreneurs - on Saturday, November 11 in Palm Springs, Calif. National and regional award recipients were culled from nearly 4,000 nominees from around the country.

"Entrepreneurs like Michael Hartley are changing the landscape of business and are having a profound effect on our lives," said Gregory K. Ericksen, National Director of Entrepreneurial Services for Ernst & Young. "He is a model for future entrepreneurs to follow in this technological age where virtually anything is possible."

"Pie in the Sky" Thinking

Having served as president and CEO of two airlines, Hartley knew that, on average, 30 percent of airline seats go unsold in any given year. Using his connections and knowledge of the industry, he approached major and regional airlines with the concept of consolidating discount airfares, allowing airlines to sell otherwise unsold seats and consequently offering leisure travelers significant savings. As he successfully secured more and more discount airfares from airlines such as American Airlines, Continental, and TWA, he grew the company by investing his personal savings in operations as well as in targeted marketing programs.

Hartley opened the first Cheap Tickets retail store in 1986 in Honolulu. Just one year later, the company extended its reach across the country with the toll-free phone number, 1-800-OK-CHEAP. In 1997, Hartley expanded the company's reach even further by launching an e-commerce site, www.cheaptickets.com. Within a few years, the site was ranked seven in a list of travel Web sites by Inter@ctive Week, and reached a record $89 million in net revenues last year.

Today, Cheap Tickets has more than seven million subscribers and adds another 19,000 each day. It employs more than 1,000 people in four call centers and offers more than 400,000 discount airfares with over 35 airlines. Earlier this year, Hartley announced plans to launch a Cheap Tickets Web site for travelers based in Europe, hoping to become the world's leading global discount travel seller.

Hartley is convinced that his commitment to superior customer service is at the core of Cheap Tickets' success. He has expanded the breadth of Cheap Tickets' product offerings to include car rentals, hotel accommodations and cruise packages, and has recently introduced "Super Cheap Tickets Discount Fares," an ideal solution for travelers looking for the lowest priced airfares. In addition, Hartley is developing a "best-of-breed" customer care division with offices in Hawaii, California, and Colorado, providing visitors to www.cheaptickets.com with live customer service support.

Hartley also believes that travelers should have the power to make informed choices on their own. As a result, www.cheaptickets.com displays a comprehensive list of important flight details - like carrier names, departure times, connections, taxes and fuel surcharges - for travelers to use when making their plans. According to Hartley, providing this information up-front differentiates Cheap Tickets from its competitors and helps turn new subscribers into repeat customers.

National EOY Finalists

In the Service Entrepreneur Of The Year category, national finalists are: Robert L. Brown, CEO and president, CBS Personnel Services, a leading staffing and recruiting business based in Cincinnati, Ohio; and Michael E. Henry, CEO, Jack Henry & Associates, Inc. (Nasdaq: JKHY), a software provider for financial institutions based in Monett, Mo.

About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards Program