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In research conducted by HotelsCombined.com this week, the following eight leading travel sites were compared for hotel availability over Christmas: Booking.com, Gtahotels.com, HotelClub.com, Hotwire.com, Lastminute.com, Laterooms.com, Priceline.com and Opodo.co.uk.*

HotelsCombined.com compared the number of available hotels returned by these sites for the world?s ten most visited cities: Paris, Barcelona, London, New York, Beijing, Mexico City, Rome, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Moscow.

Booking.com topped the list with a total of 2,394 available hotels across ten cities, providing substantially more availability than the other seven websites, despite not having any available hotels for Moscow.

HotelClub.com came second and GTAhotels.com third with a total of 1,591 and 1,582 available hotels respectively.

To see the complete statistics including the number of available hotels returned by each site for each city, go to: http://www.hotelscombined.com/AboutUs/Press/Christmas2007.aspx

Michael Doubinski, Business Development Manager of HotelsCombined.com said:

?HotelsCombined.com lets consumers search over thirty top hotel sites at once, enabling them to find more availability and better prices. We compare many big brands such as Lastminute.com, Hotel.de, HotelClub.com and OctopusTravel.com, and we continue to add more hotels everyday through our partnerships with suppliers.?

*The survey counts hotels which have at least one room available for instant online reservation for the stay starting 24th to 25th December (Christmas Eve to Christmas Day).

About HotelsCombined (www.hotelscombined.com):

HotelsCombined.com is a hotel search engine that helps consumers to compare hotel rates from multiple travel websites. They search and compare hotel offers and deals across all major hotel reservation websites, which are searched directly and in real-time to show up-to the minute pricing and availability. HotelsCombined.com is based in Sydney and established in 2005 by former executives of HotelClub.com and RatesToGo.com. For more information, please visit www.hotelscombined.com.

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According to the 23rd annual survey, the cost of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' is $19,507 in 2007, a 3.1 percent increase over last year. The rise in gift prices mirrored the U.S. government's Consumer Price Index - a widely used measure of inflation calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Consumer Price Index is up 3.5 percent so far this year.

Each year, the PNC Christmas Price Index (http://www.pncchristmaspriceindex.com) provides a look at the events and news that helped shape the economy during the year. Since 1984, educators across the country have used the Christmas Price Index to teach economic trends to students of all ages. With that in mind, this year's Christmas Price Index Web site has been updated to include more interactive activities such as a live chat with chief investment officer Jim Dunigan, enhanced games, annual results and trends, a Flash presentation and much more. Educators who visit the site will also find a complete sample lesson plan on related material from The Stock Market GameTM (SMG) program, America's premier educational stock-market simulation.

"Over time, the Christmas Price Index has reflected trends in the broader economy," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. "This year, increased commodities prices, concerns about the value of the dollar and the first minimum wage increase in 10 years were major factors in the increases to the Christmas Price Index."

Other Christmas Price Index Highlights include:

- True Loves will have to pay a bit more for the five Gold Rings this year, as the jewelers who provide the prices for the rings report having no choice but to pass increased prices along to consumers as the price of gold continues to rise.

- As always, this year's Christmas Price Index is driven in large part by the birds. The 20 percent increase for the cost of Geese-a-Laying is reflective of increased food prices in the Consumer Price Index. The Calling Birds (canaries), up 25 percent, are purchased at national pet store chain PetCo and tend to rise along with higher demand and increased shipping costs for retailers.

- The eight Maids-a-Milking received their first raise in 10 years when Congress increased the minimum wage to $5.75 an hour earlier this year. The Milkmaids can expect to see further increases in 2008 and 2009, as Congress has already approved increases to the minimum wage for both years.

True Loves Spending More than Ever:

For those True Loves who prefer to do their shopping online, PNC Wealth Management calculates the cost of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' gifts purchased on the Web. This year, the trends identified in the traditional index are repeated in the Internet version, with an overall growth of 3 percent, compared to 3.1 percent in the traditional index.

As part of its annual tradition, PNC Wealth Management also tabulates the 'True Cost of Christmas,' which is the total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song's verses. This holiday season, very generous True Loves will pay more than ever before - $78,100 - for all 364 items, up from $75,122 in 2006. This 4 percent increase is about even with last year's 3.5 percent increase.

The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (www.pnc.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services organizations providing retail and business banking; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management; asset management and global fund services.

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