SideStep Inks Marketing Deals With Leading Ground Transportation Providers

Traveler's Search Engine to Build Direct Relationships Between Consumers and Trusted Travel Brands

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20 -- SideStep, Inc., the traveler's search engine, today announced both new and expanded marketing agreements with seven leading ground transportation providers, including Dollar Rent A Car, Thrifty Car Rental, Amtrak, Hertz, Payless Car Rental, EZ Rent-A-Car and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. SideStep's portfolio of customizable marketing solutions helps suppliers to build brand and drive sales through direct relationships with avid travelers.

  Key campaign elements will include:

  -- Targeted advertising -- SideStep will feature geographically targeted
     offers within search results on both the SideStep.com Web site and the
     SideStep toolbar
  -- Featured specials -- SideStep will detail partners' best deals on
     SideStep's TravelFinds tab (www.sidestep.com/travelfinds), which
     showcases notable travel bargains
  -- Email marketing -- SideStep will highlight additional travel values
     from the carriers via its SideStep TravelFinds email newsletters

"We aim to stay close to our customers, and SideStep helps us to achieve this by encouraging more consumers to use the Enterprise.com site," said Scott Shuler, Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Rent-A-Car. "As the leader in travel search, SideStep has proven to be one of our most effective online marketing partners," he continued, "and we are expanding our marketing investment with the company to take full advantage of the range of marketing programs SideStep offers."

"SideStep offers us marketing programs that deliver high volumes of valuable customers," said Charlie Coniglio, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group's Staff Vice President, eCommerce. "SideStep's sales team is easy to work with and committed to our mutual success. We appreciate the company's partner-focused style and look forward to working more with SideStep in the upcoming months."

"SideStep offers its partners a broad range of marketing programs, from email marketing to targeted, in-product advertising," said Jim Price, SideStep's Vice President, Ground Transportation. "And with more than 3.5 million unique users each month, SideStep enables marketers to reach more prospects than all other players in travel search combined. As these partnerships confirm, SideStep delivers."

Online search advertising is positioned for significant growth. Industry analysts predict that US online advertising will grow fifty-three percent from $11.5 billion in 2005 to $17.6 billion in 2008, while total advertising in the US is expected to grow ten percent from $278.5 billion to $307 billion for the same period. Comparatively, paid search is projected to grow thirty-seven percent in 2005 alone, from $3.5 billion in 2004 for $4.8 billion in 2005.

SideStep helps consumers find outstanding travel values through SideStep.com and the SideStep(TM) toolbar, as well as through TravelFinds Specials(SM) and TravelFinds Spotlight(SM), the company's popular email newsletters.

SideStep is actively hiring to support its growth. For job listings, see www.sidestep.com/jobs.

About SideStep

SideStep -- the traveler's search engine -- brings compelling offers from numerous travel providers to more than 3.5 million consumers each month. The company has forged alliances with leading travel marketers such as JetBlue Airways, Continental Airlines, Hyatt Corporation, Orbitz, Best Western, Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental. SideStep has been named one of TIME Magazine's "50 Coolest Web Sites" and declared "Best of the Web" by Forbes. The company is privately held and has raised more than $17M in funding from Trident Capital and individual investors. For more information, visit www.sidestep.com.