(priceline.com Incorporated, Norwalk, CT) A booking site that offers more than 80,000 travel activities around the world. Priceline.com launched in 1998 as a "name your own price" booking site where buyers submitted the price they were willing to pay for airline tickets, hotel rooms, vacation packages and rental cars. If a vendor in the system agreed to the price, the transaction was consummated and priceline.com received a commission.
Eventually, the company migrated to a business model where "Express Deals" are offered to travelers - almost an instant booking situation where the consumer can trust the speed and economic discount of the transaction. Over the years, Priceline also became involved in other promotion categories, including groceries, gasoline, auctions, long distance telephone service and home loans. See
online auction.