NORWALK, Conn., Jan 09, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Since opening its doors in 1998, priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) has saved customers more than $5.5 billion* on their travel purchases. Today, priceline.com made a commitment to increase those savings with the launch of a significant web site redesign and service upgrades that give customers even more choices when it comes to finding the right travel products at the right price. "Priceline.com has always provided customers with great savings on travel," said Jeffery H. Boyd, priceline.com's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our new site builds on the success we have achieved in providing more choices to our customers. In each product path, customers will begin with a search of the best published prices and will be shown more ways to save on their trip, including advanced search, packaging and our famous Name Your Own Price(R) service, which still offers the lowest prices available."

Today's launch is being supported by a nationwide, multi-million-dollar advertising campaign with the theme, "More Ways To Save." The campaign, which breaks on TV around the country, focuses on priceline.com's accumulated customer savings with a savings "ticker" that appears throughout the ads. The spots also feature priceline.com's longtime celebrity spokesman, William Shatner.

Priceline.com's new features are embedded throughout its core airline ticket, hotel and rental car products. The features include:

Airline Tickets

-- Fare Search. Select a trip and priceline.com will display an easy to compare grid of itineraries and prices for a variety of airlines. Using priceline.com's powerful TripFilter(TM) search engine, customers can filter hundreds of flight results in seconds using multiple airline, airport and flight time combinations to locate the exact flights that meet their needs. Flights can be viewed by segments or in round trips. Priceline.com's TripFilter(TM) technology can sort by lowest price and departure and arrival time windows. Customers also can choose their booking class (economy/coach, business, first class). Displayed prices are "all-in," showing all applicable taxes and fees.

-- Full Flight Details. Before booking a trip, customers can view full flight details, including aircraft, route, connections and flight times.

-- Airport Information. Priceline.com now displays airport location information, local transportation options, airport parking information, rental car agencies and local hotels.

-- More Ways To Save Trip Tips. Priceline.com will let customers know if they can save even more money through advanced search of alternate airports and different dates.

-- Limited Availability Notification. Now, customers see an image that lets them know when there are only a few seats left at a given price.

-- Buy A Package And Save. Now, priceline.com airline ticket customers will see how much they can save by adding a recommended hotel and rental car to their ticket purchase.

-- Name Your Own Price(R). Flexible travelers can save even more by using this feature where they pick the travel dates and price, and priceline.com works to find an airline partner willing to accept that price. Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price service is different from other travel services. With Name Your Own Price, customers receive their exact itinerary only after purchase.

Hotel Rooms

-- Hotel Search. Select a destination and priceline.com will display an easy to compare grid of hotels, neighborhoods, star ratings and prices. Most hotel listings feature a description of the property, plus pictures, maps, reviews and ratings, star ratings and daily pricing. Hotel listings can be automatically sorted by neighborhood, price, star level, popularity and hotel or brand name. After selecting a hotel to review, customers can further refine their choice by selecting room and bed types and whether the room is smoking/non-smoking. Priceline.com has access to more than 60,000 hotels, including all of the country's leading brands.

-- Customer Reviews. Want to know what other travelers thought about a hotel? That's easy to do with the unbiased customer reviews provided with many of the hotels reserved through priceline.com.

-- Buy A Package And Save. Now, priceline.com hotel customers will see how much they can save by adding an airline ticket and optional rental car to their hotel room purchase.

-- More Ways To Save Trip Tips. Priceline.com will let customers know if they can save even more money by selecting a different part of town, star rating, a similar destination, or by choosing different travel dates. The new hotel service also shows pricing for specific days of the week, so customers can see how prices may change depending on the part of the week they choose.

-- Name Your Own Price(R). Flexible travelers can save up to $100 per night** by using this feature where they pick the travel dates, neighborhood, star level and price, and priceline.com works to find a hotel willing to accept that price. Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price service is different from other travel services. With Name Your Own Price, the exact hotel is shown only after purchase.

Rental Cars

-- Rental Car Search. Select a destination and priceline.com will display an easy to compare grid of car types, rental car companies and prices, starting with the majors - Hertz, Avis, Alamo, Budget and National. The grid can automatically be expanded to include more rental car companies and prices. Depending on the desired length of their rental, priceline.com will show customers daily or weekly rates along with the estimated total rate including all taxes and fees.

-- Off-Airport and One-Way Rentals. Priceline.com customers have the option to rent from in-city locations and they also can choose to pick their car up from one location and drop it off at another.

-- Name Your Own Price(R). Flexible travelers can save even more by using this feature where they pick the travel dates, car type, pickup/dropoff location and price, and priceline.com works to find a major rental car company willing to accept that price. Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price service is different from other travel services. With Name Your Own Price, the exact rental car company is shown only after purchase.

-- Upgrade And Save. Priceline.com will let customers know if special savings are available by making Name Your Own Price offers for higher-level car classes.

* Priceline.com's $5.5 billion savings figure is calculated based on the difference between its customers' total cost (i.e., the total price for a successful offer) and the lowest published price for the customer's exact same itinerary tabulated at the time of booking since June 7, 1998 across each of priceline.com's Name Your Own Price(R) Air, Hotel and Rental Car products and its retail Vacation Packages product.

** Over the last 12 months, a substantial percentage of Name Your Own Price(R) hotel reservations have resulted in savings of up to $100 in comparison to the lowest published rates on other leading online travel sites for the same itinerary. Actual prices and availability are always subject to change and there is no guarantee that hotels or prices will be available. All prices and dates may not be available at time of travel booking and savings are not guaranteed.

About Priceline.com

Priceline.com is the leading travel service for value-conscious leisure travelers. No other travel service gives customers more ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. In addition to getting all the best published prices, leisure travelers can narrow their searches using priceline.com's TripFilter(TM) advanced search technology, create packages to save even more money, and take advantage of priceline.com's famous Name Your Own Price(R) service, which delivers the lowest prices available.

Priceline.com operates one of Europe's fastest growing hotel reservation services through Activehotels.com, Activereservations.com, Bookings.net and priceline.co.uk. The company also operates the following travel web sites: Travelweb.com, Lowestfare.com, RentalCars.com and BreezeNet.com. Priceline.com also has a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including priceline mortgage and certain international licensees.

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SOURCE: priceline.com

Priceline.com Investor Relations

tags: hospitality