The Priceline Group has agreed a deal to add some of its online travel brands to TripAdvisor’s instant booking platform.
Booking.com will be the first Priceline brand to list its inventory on TripAdvisor, which allows customer to book without leaving the TripAdvisor site.
Other group brands Priceline.com and Agoda.com are likely to join Booking.com on the TripAdvisor platform in the near future.
"Having The Priceline Group join the instant booking platform is a huge win for travelers and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have them as our first strategic, global online travel agency partner," said Stephen Kaufer, president and CEO of TripAdvisor.
"Millions of TripAdvisor users coming to the site to plan, compare prices and book their trip will be able to instantly book options from The Priceline Group’s global hotel inventory in addition to the 235,000 properties that are already instantly bookable on TripAdvisor."
The instant booking function lets travelers make reservations of Booking.com-branded hotels simply by clicking on the ‘Book Now’ button in TripAdvisor.
"We now believe this branded channel can help introduce more customers to our brands and the experiences we provide," said Priceline Group EO Darren Huston.
It marks a change of heart for Priceline after initially being reluctant to join the TripAdvisor instant booking service due to concerns over a lack of branding.
The instant booking feature rolled out two years ago in the US and after a slow start it has gained a sizable inventory of hotels from major chains, including Marriott, Accor and Best Western.
