Forbes.com officially launched its new, standalone luxury travel site on Thursday. The new site joins ForbesAutos.com, launched May 2005, and Forbes.com as the company's third online business.

ForbesTraveler.com is designed for discerning affluent travelers, and is intended to be an all-inclusive online destination for inspiring, planning and booking distinctive travel experiences, the company said, is. ForbesTraveler.com sponsors at launch include American Airlines, Coldwell Banker Previews International and SkyAuction.com.

"Travel coverage on Forbes.com has always been among our most popular lifestyle content…. We're taking that success and converting it into a standalone business dedicated solely to luxury travel, and we think consumers and advertisers will be pleased with the results," Jim Spanfeller, president and CEO of Forbes.com, said in a statement.

According to Guideline Research, among $100,000K+ income households, 52 percent of travel spending is done online; and households that had spent $3,000 or more on travel within the previous 12 months have a higher propensity for heavy web usage than any other media, including newspapers, TV or magazine, according to MRI research.

Barry Golson is editor of ForbesTraveler.com, having previously served as executive editor at TV Guide, Playboy and World Press Review, as well as editor-in-chief at Yahoo Internet Life. Todd Benedict is the site's advertising director; most recently he was the Northeast Regional Sales Manager for Forbes.com.

ForbesTraveler.com features include a specialized focus on luxury hotels and resorts only, advice from top hotel concierges worldwide, a luxury travel-expert panel, destination guides in collaboration with Mobil Travel Guide and Frommer's Travel Guides, travel tools (Flight Tracker, Frequent Flyer Distance Calculator, Mileage Manager, etc.) and a travel booking search engine powered by SideStep.

The ForbesTraveler 400 will be announced soon and will highlight the 400 hottest hotels and destinations in the world.