TripRewards® to Celebrate First Birthday with Cake-Eating Contest

Top American eaters, including William “The Refrigerator” Perry, will compete in a cake-eating contest at Grand Central Station to celebrate the first birthday of TripRewards, the world’s largest hotel loyalty program.

One dozen eaters will test their stomachs against five-pound cakes in a battle for dessert supremacy. Legendary Chicago Bears defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry, who weighs in at more than 300 pounds and who once tried his hand at hot dogs at Nathan’s, also will participate in the eating competition.

The eater who consumes the cake the fastest will win one million TripRewards points and the title of “World Birthday Cake-Eating Champion.”

One million TripRewards points can be redeemed for either 166 free hotel night stays, five months worth of car rentals, 181 $25 gift cards from top retailers, 30 mountain bikes, 68 blenders, or 18 plane tickets or other great rewards.

The event will begin at approximately 9:30 AM EST on Tuesday, May 10, and can be viewed on the Web by visiting www.triprewards.com/cake. Commuters, spectators and fans are welcome to watch the competition, cheer on their favorite eaters and enjoy free cake from a 10-foot tall, 8-foot wide TripRewards birthday cake.

Cendant Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel franchisor, launched TripRewards last year as its single largest marketing initiative to provide a unified loyalty program for its eight hotel brands. Since its launch, the program’s membership base has grown to more than 4 million.

TripRewards enrollment is free and available online at www.triprewards.com or by visiting any Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Travelodge®, Howard Johnson®, Knights Inn®, Wingate Inn® or AmeriHost Inn® hotel or by calling toll-free, (800) FOR-TRIP – (800) 367-8747.

Featuring points-earning opportunities with more than 6,000 hotels and 50 partners, as well as more than 150 point-redemption options, TripRewards is the world’s largest loyalty program, based on the number of participating hotels.

With approximately 80,000 employees, New York City-based Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD) is primarily a provider of travel and residential real estate services to businesses and consumers in more than 100 countries. Cendant’s Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, N.J., is the world’s largest lodging franchisor with 6,395 hotels representing 519,031 rooms on five continents under the Super 8®, Days Inn®, Ramada®, Travelodge®, Howard Johnson®, Knights Inn®, Wingate Inn® and AmeriHost Inn® brands. Cendant’s franchised hotels sell nearly one out of every five economy and midpriced room-nights in the United States, and Cendant franchises 10.3 percent of the entire U.S. hotel room supply, according to Smith Travel Research and Cendant financial data. All hotels are individually owned and operated under franchise agreements with Cendant subsidiaries.