Now That's Last-Minute: New Priceline.com Study Shows That Almost Half Of Mobile-Equipped Travelers Waited Until After 5:00 P.M. To Book Their New Year's Eve Hotel Rooms

NORWALK, Conn., Jan. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A new priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) study of New Year's Eve hotel booking activity has found that 42% of all mobile-equipped travelers waited until after 5:00 p.m. local time to pull the trigger on their New Year's Eve hotel reservations.  Meanwhile, 65% booked their rooms after 2:00 p.m. and 13% waited until after 9:00 p.m. to make their reservations.  The data reinforces earlier priceline.com studies suggesting that travelers with mobile devices are more prone to make their travel reservations at the last minute, often after they've arrived in their destination city.

"Travel apps like Priceline can be game changers for hotels on holidays like New Year's," said John Caine, priceline.com's Chief Product Officer.  "It gives them that one more shot at selling last-minute rooms to mobile-equipped travelers who already may be in, or close to town, having dinner, clubbing, or watching the fireworks."

To assemble its data, priceline.com reviewed bookings made through its free Priceline app for iOS and Android devices, and its Tonight-Only Deals service for the app.  The app is particularly popular among mobile users because it allows them to find hotel discounts up to 35% or more for check-in that same night.  Every Tonight-Only Deal shows the exact hotel along with amenities, photos, location, guest reviews, satisfaction scores and, of course, the specially discounted rate.

The New Year's Eve study looked at which destinations were the most successful in pulling in procrastinating revelers, and where these mobile consumers found the biggest room savings. 

Top Last-Minute New Year's Eve Destinations For Mobile-Equipped Travelers

#1 Las Vegas Strip

#2 Downtown Chicago

#3 Houston Galleria

#4 Downtown San Francisco

#5 Downtown Boston

#6 Chicago's Grant Park

#7 Atlanta's Midtown/Downtown Area

#8 Downtown Minneapolis

#9 Downtown Denver

#10 Downtown Seattle

Savings, which were substantial in some cities, could have been a driver for close-in New Year's bookings.  Mobile-equipped travelers using the Tonight-Only Deals feature on the Priceline app to book their New Year's Eve rooms saved an average of 53% in San Francisco, 52% in Las Vegas, 41% in Seattle and 37% in Chicago. 

The Priceline app with the Tonight-Only Deals feature can be downloaded for free from the iTunes store http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/priceline-hotel-car-negotiator/id336381998?mt=8&uo=4.  Priceline.com also offers a version of the app, with hotel and rental car booking features, for Android, that can be downloaded for free from the Android market https://market.android.com/details?id=com.priceline.android.negotiator.  Priceline.com also has a mobile-friendly website m.priceline.com.

About The Priceline Group

The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 270,000 participating hotels worldwide. The Group is composed of four primary brands - Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and Rentalcars.com - and several ancillary brands. The Priceline Group provides online travel services in over 180 countries in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

Booking.com is the number one online hotel reservation service in the world, offering over 260,000 hotels (as of January 1, 2013), and is available in 41 languages. More recent hotel counts are available on the Booking.com website. Priceline.com gives leisure travelers multiple ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. In addition to getting compelling published prices, travelers can take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices available, or the recently added Express Deals^SM, where travelers can take advantage of hotel discounts without bidding.

Agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation service that is available in 38 languages. Rentalcars.com is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in over 6,000 locations. Customer support is provided in 40 languages.

SOURCE Priceline.com