Priceline triples size of tonight-only deals

September 14, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

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Priceline's Tonight-Only Deals hotel reservations service has been expanded to offer 3- and 4-star hotels in approximately 150 destinations around the U.S. on a typical evening. The app's coverage has more than tripled from the 34 markets it offered at launch.

Tonight-Only Deals is bundled into the Priceline Negotiator app available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android. It's also available for travelers who access priceline.com's mobile-enhanced website m.priceline.com.

Tonight-Only Deals® gives mobile device-equipped travelers access to an exclusive inventory of top-quality hotel rooms that can be booked for check-in that same night at discounts of up to 40% or more off priceline.com's regular published hotel prices. Tonight-Only Deals® will be posted on the service at 11:00 a.m. local time. Room reservations can be instantly booked up until 11:00 p.m. local time, or until they sell out. The app shows the names of all the available Tonight-Only Deals® hotels with descriptions, maps and photos, along with the rates and the percentage discounts. Tonight-Only Deals® also will display each hotel's customer satisfaction score and reviews generated by priceline.com guests who have stayed there.

Priceline.com also announced today the results of an internal savings study among Tonight-Only Deals customers. The study found that Sunday is the most popular check-in night among last-minute mobile bookers, while Thursday night check-ins tend to deliver the deepest savings. The study also found that, on average, mobile users who booked Tonight-Only Deals saved 41% compared to the published retail price. And 25% of those who booked saved 50% or more off retail prices. All savings are calculated off the freshest, lowest retail rate available on priceline.com.

Hotel prices can (and do) change at any time. That's why Tonight-Only Deals is supported by a "fresh-shop" feature where every participating hotel's best retail price is individually checked right before the Tonight-Only Deal gets posted on the app. "Considering the fluctuations in hotel prices, we think it's important to wait until that last minute to compare prices so consumers know that the savings calculation they're seeing is as fresh and accurate as it can be," said Tim Gordon, Senior Vice President, priceline.com Hotels.

Here's how the Tonight-Only Deals® service works as part of the Priceline Negotiator® app: When a traveler searches the app's published-price hotel listings for a same-night stay, the app will also look for Tonight-Only Deals® and alert the traveler if specially discounted deals are available. The traveler will then see a list of up to three available hotel room reservations per city and will see which hotels have reservations available. Travelers can choose to see the Tonight-Only Deals® or continue with their hotel search. In either case, room reservations can be immediately booked through the Priceline Negotiator® easy check-out feature.