It's Sno Wonder: Priceline.com's Mobile Hotel-Booking Apps See Surge In Reservations Following Freak October Snowstorm
NORWALK, Conn., Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After a freak October nor'easter left them without heat, light or power for desktop computers, many residents of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut fired up their mobile devices to book last-minute hotel rooms through priceline.com's (Nasdaq: PCLN) Hotel Negotiator app for the iPhone, iPad, Android and iPod Touch.
Beginning Saturday, when heavy snows began to take down power lines, priceline.com saw a 270% surge in hotel bookings in those states through its various mobile apps. By comparison, desktop-generated bookings in those three states increased 38%.
Priceline.com also noticed some interesting hotel booking trends associated with the power outage.
- Immediately following the outage (presumably when residents thought it would be short-lived), priceline.com mobile customers in those states booked 3- and 4-star hotels for one-night stays. Over 99% booked same-day check-ins.
- Beginning Sunday, when reports started surfacing that the outage could be up to a week or more in some places, there was an immediate booking shift to lower-priced hotels of 2.5 stars and below for multiple-day stays.
- On Saturday, when the snow began falling, priceline.com mobile customers were a median distance of 5 miles away from the hotels that they booked. By Monday, after nearby hotels rapidly filled up, mobile customers were booking hotels at a median distance of 69 miles away to get out of the cold and dark. That 60+ mile median distance remained in effect for several days until sections of the three states regained power and hotel rooms freed up.
"Incidents like the October nor'easter demonstrate the value that mobile devices and apps can bring to the travel industry and to travel consumers," said John Caine, priceline.com's Senior Vice President, Marketing. "Without apps like Hotel Negotiator, many consumers would have been forced to go the 'old school' route of finding a hotel via the phone book (and a flashlight). Such a time-consuming alternative may well have left them out in the cold as area hotels filled up quickly."
Priceline's Hotel Negotiator app for the iPhone, iPad and iPodTouch can be downloaded for free at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/priceline-hotel-car-negotiator/id336381998. The Android version of the app can be downloaded for free from the Android market
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.priceline.android.negotiator.
Hotel Negotiator includes the following features:
- Winning Bids recommendations. Choose a city and Hotel Negotiator 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 your location using location-based features and then performs a Winning Bids search for hotels in the surrounding areas.
- Instant Bid Results. You'll know instantly whether your bid is accepted. If it is, you'll immediately receive all the details on your hotel and its location.
- Two booking options. If you're using priceline.com's Name Your Own Price® hotel service, you can enter your bid using your smartphone. For published-price hotel rooms, you can book the room with your device.
Hotel Negotiator 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.
About The Priceline Group
The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 200,000 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 150 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 170,000 hotels (as of November 7, 2011), 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. 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
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