Priceline.com makes opaque hotel deals available on iPhones

October 29, 2009 | Online Travel

The app lets travelers use iPhone or iPod touch to quickly find and book last-minute hotel rooms using priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price hotel service and save up to 50% over published hotel rates.

Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) today announced the availability of the Hotel Negotiator App on the App Store. The app, which features The Priceline Negotiator (William Shatner), lets travelers use iPhone or iPod touch to quickly find and book last-minute hotel rooms using priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® hotel service and save up to 50% over published hotel rates.

The Hotel Negotiator App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch.

“Our Hotel Negotiator App is designed for travelers who are on the road or at an airport and decide at the last minute that they need a room for the night,” said priceline.com Chief Marketing Officer Brett Keller. “The app also works for travelers who prefer to make their hotel arrangements after they’ve arrived in a city and have become familiar with the geography. Hotel Negotiator lets them use their iPhone or iPod touch to quickly negotiate the price and book a room from priceline.com’s comprehensive assortment of quality hotel rooms up until 11:00 p.m. ET on the night they need the room.”

Priceline.com’s Hotel Negotiator App includes the following unique features:

- The Priceline Negotiator. Activate the Hotel Negotiator App and The Priceline Negotiator (William Shatner) gets the whole phone vibrating as he punches his way through the screen.

- Winning Bids recommendations. Choose a city and the Hotel Negotiator App displays multiple recent winning bids made by other priceline.com customers for hotels in different parts of the city at different star levels.

- Shake-Down geo-locator-triggered hotel search. Shaking the device establishes the traveler’s location using location-based features and then performs a Winning Bids search for hotels in the surrounding areas.

- One-Page checkout. A specially designed one-page checkout screen speeds users through the bidding process.

- Instant Bid Results. Users will know instantly whether their bid is accepted. If it is, they’ll receive all the details on their hotel and its location.

- Native iPhone navigation. Users will instantly recognize the slides and wheels that help them navigate through the Hotel Negotiator shopping and booking experience.

- Not in the mood to negotiate? The Hotel Negotiator App also contains an option for browsing priceline.com’s broad assortment of published-price hotels for a particular city or town. Browsing can be initiated by choosing a city or by shaking the device which will bring up a selection of hotels within that specific area.

Hotel listings can be sorted by star level, price, proximity and popularity. Hotel listings include address, star level, customer reviews and satisfaction scores, zoomable maps, pictures and descriptions. All of the hotels on the list can be booked either online or by automatically calling priceline.com’s hotel booking specialists.

Travelers who need help with other trip arrangements can select another option on the Hotel Negotiator app that takes them to a priceline.com website configured for iPhone and iPod touch. There, they can check flight status and browse and book airline tickets and rental cars on a published-price or Name Your Own Price basis.