Press Release

On 20th Year Anniversary, Wimco, Luxury Vacation Villa Specialist, Announces Opening Of London Office

NEWPORT and LONDON, May 2003 - At a time when many travel-related companies are contracting, Newport-based WIMCO, the luxury villa rental specialist in the Caribbean and Europe, will open a European reservations and sales office in London this spring.

The May 2003 launch of the new division, to be known as WIMCO International, coincides with Wimco's two-decade history as the foremost and discrete purveyor of private luxury accommodations to a discerning international clientele.

The expansion also comes at a time when Wimco's exposure to international markets through its award-winning website has continued to increase its international client base - to date without the benefits of UK based reservations services to either the UK or Europe.

"Our growth in French and Italian villa rentals, and the increasing volume of clients out of the UK made it a natural progression for us to get closer to our clients in order to better serve them," says Janis Gordon, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "By serving British, French and other European markets in their own languages and currency -- and at times convenient to them - Wimco further underscores its 20-year commitment to providing superior service."

Gordon notes that the movie "Enchanted April," soon to be a musical, epitomizes a long-standing British tradition of seeking out sun-splashed villas in Italy, the South of France and selected Caribbean islands.

"In addition to drawing attention to our Wimco villas in Tuscany, Umbria, Capri, St. Tropez, Provence and the Cote d'Azur, we also hope to expand the British appetite to such Caribbean meccas as St. Barthelemy in the French West Indies," Gordon says. She notes that this island is where Wimco began as the exclusive representative for Sibarth Villas over 20 years ago.

One of Wimco's most experienced villa experts will relocate from Newport to head the London office and staff of three reservations agents. Eleanor Bettle will serve as Reservations Manager, and has been a senior reservations agent and Team Leader of Air Operations for 13 years in Newport. A graduate of the University of Denver, Ms. Bettle brings 20 years of experience in the travel industry. In addition to specific villa knowledge and destination expertise about Europe's sunniest pockets, Wimco and now Wimco International represents a number of premier properties in the Caribbean's most desirable islands: St. Martin, Anguilla, Nevis, Saba, Barbados, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Mustique, and Turks and Caicos.

For 20 years Wimco has been the exclusive representative of Sibarth Villas, a Sotheby's affiliate, in St. Barthelemy, an island famous for its luxury rental villas, celebrities, secluded privacy and a chic lifestyle.

Wimco International is open as of May 26, 2003, in the Mayfair offices of 16 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HT. By phone, please call toll free 0800 838 318; email info@wimco.co.uk; or log on to the website www.wimco.co.uk.

Wimco in the US can be reached by writing Wimco, PO Box 14671, Newport, RI 02840. By phone, please call toll free 1/800/932-3222; email: info@wimco.com; or log on to the website www.wimco.com.

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