Priceline.com Expands Popular Hotel Negotiator App With New Service for Negotiating Last-Minute Rental Car Deals

NORWALK, Conn., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced today that it has expanded its popular Hotel Negotiator App by adding a new service that enables travelers with iPhone and iPod touch to save up to 40% on rental cars by negotiating last-minute deals through priceline.com's Name Your Own Price® rental car service.

Priceline's money-saving Hotel Negotiator App is one of the top 10 free travel Apps on iTunes.  Priceline also announced today that its expanded Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App will continue to be offered for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.  For more information and high-resolution images of the Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App, visit http://www.priceline.com/iphone/media.  

"Our new rental car App is designed for travelers who are flying to a city, or may even be at their destination airport, and decide at the last minute that they need a rental car," said priceline.com Chief Marketing Officer Brett Keller.  "Priceline's Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator lets iPhone and iPod touch users quickly choose a car type, negotiate the price and book their rental, all right within the App, up until 30 minutes before their desired pickup time.  iPhone and iPod touch users also will appreciate the fact that the App has been designed to take advantage of the iPhone's native features and functionality."

Priceline's Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App has the following unique rental car features:

• The Priceline Negotiator.  Activate the Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App and The Priceline Negotiator (William Shatner) gets the whole phone vibrating as he punches his way through the screen.
• Top-Quality Rental Cars.  The Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App works exclusively with 5 major rental car companies – Hertz, Avis, Alamo, National and Budget.
• 30-Minute Pickup.  Priceline has slashed its previous 2-hour advance notice for pickup.  Now, rental car customers can book their rental cars and have them ready for pickup in as little as 30 minutes.
• Winning Bids recommendations.  The Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App displays recent winning bids made by other priceline.com customers at the desired airport for different car types (economy, compact, mid-size, standard, full-size, premium, luxury, convertible, minivan, SUV).  Using the native iPhone slide feature, customers can adjust their own Name Your Own Price® offer up or down.
• One-Page checkout.  A specially designed one-page checkout screen speeds users through the bidding  and booking process.
• Instant Bid Results.  Users will know instantly whether their bid is accepted.  If it is, they'll receive all the details on their rental car and pickup counter location.

Priceline's Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator App also lets travelers quickly find and book last-minute hotel rooms at savings of up to 50%.  Travelers can see Winning Bids made by other priceline.com Name Your Own Price® hotel customers for the cities and hotel star levels they want, then make their own bid on the spot.  Travelers who prefer not to bid can activate the Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator's Hotel Radar feature, which lets them point their iPhone in any direction to see available hotels, rates and approximate distances.  Hotels can be booked online or by automatically calling priceline.com's hotel booking specialists.  Travelers also can shake their iPhone or type in a city to see published-price hotel listings.

About The Priceline Group of Companies

The Priceline Group of Companies (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with approximately 61 million room nights booked in 2009.  The Group is composed of four primary brands – Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw.  The Priceline Group provides online travel services in 34 languages in over 94 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Based in Amsterdam, Booking.com is a leading international online hotel reservation service operating in over 81 countries in 36 languages.  Booking.com offers its customers access to approximately 86,000 participating hotels worldwide.

In the U.S., 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. Priceline.com also operates the following travel websites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com.

Bangkok-based Agoda.com is an Asian online hotel reservation service that offers hotel rooms around the world and is available in 30 languages.  With headquarters in Manchester, UK, TravelJigsaw is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in more than 4,000 locations in 80 countries.  Customer support is provided in 20 languages. 

SOURCE Priceline.com