With the help of William Shatner, priceline.com introduced what it called the “most powerful one-stop travel reservation site on the internet for airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and packages.”
The “Star Trek” actor is helping in the site’s multi-million-dollar TV ad campaign.
Priceline.com decided to pursue a multi-product travel search engine after the company introduced a retail airline ticket service in 2004.
That product helped priceline.com increase its full-year travel bookings by 52%. Using gross travel bookings, meaning the total value of all travel products booked to include taxes and fees, priceline.com says it became the fastest growing of the major online travel services.
“When travelers come to priceline.com, they know they’re going to find a broader global assortment of travel products and those products will frequently be available to them at prices and savings they won’t find anywhere else,” said Jeffery H. Boyd, president and CEO.
He said priceline.com advantages over competitors include not only better prices, but also more suppliers.
Mr Shatner is the spokesman for an ad campaign called “Shop — Compare — Save.” In TV spots, he encourages consumers who are comparison-shopping for such basic items as groceries to “brainstorm” priceline.com into a comparison-shopping travel service.
Priceline says its worldwide travel service includes 60,000 hotels, airlines and rental car companies.
The company also says it is the only internet travel service letting customers trade travel or brand flexibility for the exact price they want to pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms or rental cars.
Priceline says its users can save up to 40% over published prices at other sites.
Report by David Wilkening
