Online travel company, Expedia, has announced the launch of a new charity initiative. TravelRelief has been set up by Expedia Affiliate Network to provide customers with the opportunity of donating money to charitable organisations participating in the scheme. Through TravelRelief.org, those booking a hotel through Expedia will now be able to contribute at least eight per cent of the booking price to a participating organisation of their choice.

According to senior director, marketing and strategy for EAN, Lily Cheng, TravelRelief has been designed to help non-profit organisations see moral support converted into financial support to help fund their projects. TravelRelief has been co-branded with Hotels.com, which is another subsidiary of the Expedia brand.

Cheng added that all the scheme required customers to do was to remember to visit TravelRelief.org once they had booked one of the 50,000 hotels available worldwide through Expedia. She went on to say that because the initiative was economically sustainable, it was win-win for all those involved.

EAN is a division within Expedia designed to develop partnerships. The model means that it can team up with charities and dedicate a percentage of the hotel booking paid for by Expedia customers to those charities.

TravelRelief already has six partners in the scheme, and hopes that many more will join through a simple sign-up process. The initial charities being helped by TravelRelief include Cancer Research UK, The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Samasource, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Hong Kong Shark Foundation and Project Kaisei.