Priceline.com Finds Major U.S. Cities Are Big Winners as Travelers Stay Closer to Home for Labor Day 2011

NORWALK, Conn., Aug. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. travelers are choosing to spend Summer's last long holiday weekend (September 3-5) in the States, according to priceline.com's (Nasdaq: PCLN) annual list of the Top 50 Labor Day Destinations.

New York City's Midtown West area is the #1 most popular destination for Labor Day 2011, followed by #2 Chicago's North Michigan Ave./River North Area and #3 Las Vegas Strip North.  Priceline's Top 50 Labor Day list is based on thousands of hotel room booking requests made on priceline.com's Name Your Own Price® hotel service for the holiday.  Because the survey is based on actual booking requests, and not on consumer preference polls or votes, priceline.com believes its annual survey is one of the more accurate predictors of Labor Day travel trends.

Priceline.com www.priceline.com said it still has plenty of last-minute airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages, tours and attractions, and cruises available for Labor Day getaways.  For last-minute travel ideas, check out http://www.priceline.com/pricebreakers.

This year, no European cities made Priceline's Top 50 Labor Day list.  "The results were a bit of a surprise, since London was such a big draw for Memorial Day following the Royal Wedding," said Brian Ek, Priceline's in-house Travel Ekspert.  "It's possible that the civil unrest in Europe is having some effect on tourism.  However, visitors to the major U.S. cities are likely to see crowds over the long weekend, which is positive news for restaurants, theaters and retailers with their back-to-school sales."

About The Priceline Group
The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 190,000 participating hotels worldwide.  The Group is composed of four primary brands – Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw – and several ancillary brands. The Priceline Group provides online travel services in over 110 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 155,000 hotels, and is available in 43 languages.  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.  Agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation service that is available in 37 languages.  TravelJigsaw is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in over 4,000 locations.  Customer support is provided in 29 languages.

SOURCE Priceline.com