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18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.EXTRASPACEExtra Space Storage LLCmsn.comView
Extra Space Storage® Inc. (Extra Space) is a real estate investment trust based in Salt Lake City, Utah with regional offices in California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Texas. Extra Space Storage is the second largest operator of self-storage in the U.S., and is a national owner, developer, acquirer and operator of professionally managed self-storage properties.
Extra Space Storage is a thirty year old company that has been involved in the self-storage industry since its inception. It is a growth-oriented company creating a new standard in the self-storage industry. Both customers and communities benefit from Extra Space Storageʹs professional approach to storage. Featuring attractive, convenient and secure facilities operated by professional managers, Extra Space Storage seeks to change the association of self-storage as a temporary holding place for rarely-used things to a desirable, safe, and customer-oriented facility perfectly suited for maintaining and accessing valued personal and business possessions.

Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns and⁄or operates 870 self-storage properties in 34 states and Washington, D.C. The Companyʹs properties are comprised of approximately 550,000 units and over 59 million square feet of rentable space, offering customers a wide selection of conveniently located and secure storage solutions across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. The Company is the second largest owner and⁄or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the United States.

The preservation of this brand is of paramount importance to Extra Space in all aspects of its operations, including and especially on the Internet. Operating the brand as a gTLD will likely be an important part of its digital strategy in the future. Extra Space will be analyzing and evaluating other .BRAND gTLD applications as well as general market adoption to determine short and long-term potential best-in-class use case options to most effectively serve and enhance Extra Space’s online strategy as a leader in the self storage market.

The intended future mission and purpose of the .EXTRASPACE gTLD is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Extra Space and its qualified affiliates, for Extra Space customers. Extra Space will be the entity to file this application and bring the .EXTRASPACE gTLD to market.

Although ICANN has not specifically recognized a .BRAND gTLD specification in the current round, it is widely anticipated in the brand community that this will become a specialty subset of gTLDs. .EXTRASPACE is intended to be one of those .BRAND gTLDs, with the goal of protecting Extra Space’s online presence and identity, expanding its marketing and promotion efforts, providing a secure channel for online products and services.

Extra Space intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within the .EXTRASPACE gTLD to Extra Space and its qualified affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Extra Space to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the Template Registry Agreement is intended to exempt Extra Space from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.

Extra Space currently plans a three-stage rollout for Extra Space’s gTLD(s):

1. Stage One

The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve Extra Space registering a limited number of .EXTRASPACE second-level domain names.

This initial use will provide Extra Space’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .EXTRASPACE gTLD domain names, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate Extra Space staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the application, delegation and setup phases of the .EXTRASPACE gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.

2. Stage Two

Once all testing has been successfully completed, Extra Space will begin allocating domain names in .EXTRASPACE for more widespread internal corporate use. During this same period of time, Extra Space will begin evaluating strategies to potential migrate traffic away from its existing second-level domain names.

It is in Stage Two that Extra Space will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other registrants such as licensees or other strategic parties. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to other parties, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage Three. However, any expansion would be conditioned upon a review of the Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) set forth in the template registry agreement to ensure compliance with Extra Space’s business model.

3. Stage Three

Depending upon the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage Two, Extra Space may begin to implement the migration of Internet traffic away from Extra Space’s legacy domain names, and toward the Extra Space gTLD. It is in this stage that Extra Space also may implement its decision to extend registration rights to licensees or strategic parties, depending upon compliance with Specification 9 as noted above. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic, and industry factors at the time.

After consideration of the following factors: analysis of Extra Space’s existing domain name portfolio; internal analysis of marketing initiatives; and the fact that Extra Space will have full control over the number of registrations in the .EXTRASPACE gTLD namespace, Extra Space is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 3,000 in the first five years of operation.

Based on its experience to the end of Year 5, and based on its experience with any expansion implemented in Stage Three, Extra Space will assess whether its business plan and any future expansion strategy. It is anticipated by Extra Space that changes to the domain name industry, and particularly the impact of .BRAND gTLDs, will take at least five years to be realized and assessed. Any decision to expand the gTLDs beyond corporate, qualified subsidiary and affiliate, and licensee use will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.

The potential use of the .EXTRASPACE gTLD by these or other business segments will also be driven by Extra Space’s future business strategies as identified in its annual report and investor filings.
gTLDFull Legal NameE-mail suffixDetail
.HOTELESDespegar Online SRLfairwindspartners.comView
18.1 Mission and Purpose of .HOTELES

Despegar Online SRL (“Despegar”) is a leading multinational tourism organization that is a branch of the largest online travel agency in Latin America. Despegar enables customers to book airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages, and other travel-related services, and also powers travel bookings for various airlines, hotels, rental car agencies, and other tourism-related organizations internationally. Despegar serves more than five million clients annually and has a presence in 21 countries. Its services and online content are accessible in the .COM gTLD and various ccTLDs.

Despegar is applying for five generic-term gTLDs: .VUELOS and .HOTELES, which target its Spanish-speaking audiences; .PASSAGENS and .HOTEIS, which target its Portuguese-speaking audiences; and .HOTEL, which targets its English, Spanish, and Portuguese-speaking audiences.

The intended future mission and purpose of .HOTELES is to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace provided by Despegar for a Spanish-speaking audience. At present, a dedicated, secure namespace does not exist; Despegar believes that consumers and travel companies will benefit from the presence of a secure portal dedicated to serving Spanish-speaking markets. Despegar is applying for .HOTELES, but at the time of filing this application, there has not been enough time, and there is not enough market information available, to fully analyze and evaluate all potential use case options.

Despegar will be analyzing other gTLD applications and general market adoption to determine potential use case options to most effectively serve and enhance its online strategy as a leading provider of travel services. Despegar helps customers in many parts of the world make various travel arrangements and reservations and aims to protect its customers and other Internet users from fraudulent information. .HOTELES will accord with the company’s targeted focus by providing a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for Internet users searching for relevant content.

One of Despegar’s most important business segments is powering hotel reservations, and Spanish-speaking individuals comprise one of its key customer demographics. .HOTELES will become one of Despegar’s core assets as it is intended to enhance Despegar’s online presence and identity; expand its marketing and promotion efforts; provide a secure channel for hotel bookings and reservations; and create a marketplace dedicated to Spanish-speaking audiences and markets.

Despegar intends to initially limit registration and use of domain names within .HOTELES to Despegar and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates. This initial limited use will allow Despegar to establish its operations and achieve full sustainability. This limited distribution, coupled with the other requirements set forth in Specification 9 of the template Registry Agreement, is intended to exempt Despegar from its annual Code of Conduct Compliance requirements.

After Stage 3 (see below), Despegar will evaluate whether opportunities exist to carry out the business strategy for .HOTELES through expansion that continues the sustainable operations of the registry through fee-based registrations to parties other than Despegar and its qualified subsidiaries and affiliates.

Despegar currently plans a four-stage rollout for the .HOTELES gTLD:

1. Stage 1
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve Despegar registering a limited number of .HOTELES second-level domain names.

This initial use will provide Despegar’s IT and security personnel the time to run a number of tests to ensure seamless and secure access using .HOTELES domain names, interoperability with various software and Web-based applications, and unbroken and secure use of all names. This initial allocation will also allow the appropriate Despegar staff to coordinate with the internal and external staff responsible for the delegation and setup phases of the .HOTELES gTLD to ensure a proper transition from delegation to full operation.

2. Stage 2
Once all testing has been successfully completed, Despegar will begin allocating domain names in .HOTELES for more widespread internal corporate use. During this same period of time, Despegar will begin evaluating strategies to potentially migrate traffic away from its current patchwork network of second-level domain names, which are registered in a variety of TLDs, to Despegar’s new gTLDs.

It is in Stage 2 that Despegar will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other registrants such as licensees and⁄or strategic partners. Should an assessment of its expansion strategy lead to a decision to extend registration rights to other parties, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage 3. However, any expansion would be conditioned upon a review of Specification 9 (Registry Code of Conduct) in the template Registry Agreement to ensure compliance with Despegar’s business model.

3. Stage 3
Depending on the analysis of the evaluations undertaken in Stage 2, Despegar may implement its decision to extend registration rights to licensees or strategic partners, potentially including but not limited to travel companies, hotels, airlines, and other tourism organizations, depending upon compliance with Specification 9 as noted above. The dates of such expansion are subject to change depending upon business, strategic, and industry factors at the time.

After consideration of the following factors: analysis of Despegar’s existing domain name portfolio; internal analysis of marketing initiatives; and the fact that Despegar will have full control over the number of registrations in the .HOTELES namespace, Despegar is confident that the number of domain name registrations will be less than 10,000 in the first five years of operation.

4. Stage 4
Based on its experience with any expansion implemented in Stage 3, Despegar will assess whether its business plan and expansion strategy should be augmented by extending registration rights to a broader class of licensees, including potentially customers of Despegar. It is anticipated by Despegar that changes to the domain name industry will take at least five years to be realized and assessed. Any decision to expand the gTLD beyond corporate, partner, and licensee use will take into account this experience as well as the technical analysis of potential expansion.

Notwithstanding the potential future expanded use of .HOTELES beginning in the sixth year of operation, Despegar currently anticipates implementing a throttle mechanism to ensure that any proposed expansion is controlled and responsible.

Specifically, under the anticipated throttle mechanism Despegar would cease registration of domain names to this potential expanded universe of registrants if and when it reaches 90 percent of the annual 50,000-domain name transaction threshold currently provided for in the template Registry Agreement. Despegar believes that is prudent to incorporate this “time-out” into the business plan in order to reevaluate potential future growth and the necessary resources to ensure that this growth does not negatively impact the secure and stable operation of .HOTELES when approaching the 50,000-domain name transaction threshold. This proposed “time-out” mechanism is described in greater detail in the responses to the financial questions (Questions 45 through 50) of this application.

The potential use of .HOTELES will also be driven by Despegar’s future business strategies. Utilizing current projections based upon Despegar’s existing business, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, Despegar estimates second-level domain name registrations to be in line with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in response to Question 46 of this application.