NEW YORK, Following an overwhelming response to its online 80th anniversary promotion today, The Leading Hotels of the World confirmed that the dedicated promotional website had failed. Despite efforts to carefully manage and plan for this worldwide promotion, the traffic exceeded many hundred times the volume per second than the norm. Even with significantly increased server capacity and upgraded infrastructure, the system was insufficiently prepared to cope with the demand. Technical difficulties ensued and the system was unable to take reservations.

The Leading Hotels of the World confirmed that every individual who pre-registered for the promotion is currently being contacted by email. With this apology and explanatory email, there will be a form which will allow them to re-attempt to secure reservations at the promotional USD 19.28 rate via email.

The Leading Hotels of the World would like to assure all pre-registered individuals that all email addresses collected for the purpose of this promotion will be deleted once the offer is completed.

Ted Teng, President & CEO, The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. stated: "Today we suffered a catastrophic technical failure, which is uncharacteristic for our highly respected brand. We should have been better prepared and we weren't. We disappointed many people and I apologize for that. We intend on making every effort to restore our customers' confidence."

The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. is the prestigious luxury hospitality organization representing over 450 of the world's finest hotels, resorts and spas, and is the operator of www.lhw.com/ and www.lhwspas.com/ -- the online sources for your luxury lifestyle. As the largest international luxury hotel brand, the firm maintains offices in 26 major markets across the globe.

Since 1928, the company's reputation for excellence derives from the exacting levels of quality it demands of its members, each of which must pass a rigorous, anonymous inspection covering 1,500 separate criteria.

For reservations and information, visit www.lhw.com/ or telephone toll-free from the USA, Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, (800) 223-6800.