ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES [Abstract]

ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

(8) ACCRUED EXPENSES AND OTHER CURRENT LIABILITIES

Accrued expenses and other current liabilities consisted of the following:

	December 31,
	2011		2012
Accrued payroll and welfare		20,056,636		26,410,878
Accrued loyalty point program expenses		13,261,223		17,440,601
Accrued commission to third-party distribution partners		7,911,693		10,650,853
Accrued advertisement expense		1,662,040		8,957,787
Tax-related payables		4,014,812		4,014,812
Other accrued expenses		13,702,496		18,356,333
Other payables		10,385,062		10,162,939
Advances and deposits from customers		29,981,078		21,815,833
Business and other taxes		3,948,394		7,326,445
Payable to former shareholders		1,999,427		1,994,540
Payable for investment in non-consolidated affiliates		-		2,856,000
Accrued purchase consideration		-		13,300,000
Contingent purchase consideration		-		6,900,334
eCoupon program virtual cash liability		20,880,306		48,783,511
Total accrued expenses and other current liabilities		127,803,167		198,970,866

In April 2006, the Group received US$3,334,151 of released escrow funds on behalf of former selling shareholders in relation to the sale of the Company's shares held by Billable Development Ltd., Guiying Wang and Yijie Wang to Expedia Asia Pacific in 2004. After the deduction of certain fees and expenses, the Group paid US$71,206 to Yijie Wang in 2009, US$2,687,754 to Billable Development Ltd. in 2010 and US$74,336 to Guiying Wang in 2010. As of December 31, 2011 and 2012, the amounts payable to these former shareholders were RMB1,999,427 and RMB1,994,540 (originally US$318,415), respectively, with the fluctuation due to the changes in the RMB to U.S. dollar exchange rate.

The advances and deposits from customers as at December 31, 2011 and 2012 was primarily prepayment by customers for the purchase of the hotel groupbuy products.

The increase in the eCoupon program virtual cash liability as at December 31, 2012 was primarily due to additional reserves for our customers after the significant expansion in the size of our eCoupon program during the year ended December 31, 2012.