Dallas, Texas 05/09/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN)’s companies, including the Booking.com & Agoda, are all active advertisers with TripAdvisor hotel meta-search across the world, however when it is about participating in the new Instant Booking product from TripAdvisor’s, Priceline has now decided that it will not play. Speaking from Amsterdam on the PCLN’S Q1 earnings-call on 8 May, Darren Huston, the chief executive office says that Priceline & TripAdvisor have a very “healthy” & “symbiotic” relationship, and working together on different products, but after thinking about the “strategic-value” of participating in TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking, Priceline has decided not to for now.
A firm decision
Huston said, that TripAdvisor has made their decision and that they have made their own. He also added that they are not afraid to make any really difficult decisions and that they do that every day. The introduction of this Instant Booking in the TripAdvisor’s hotel-meta-search product via mobile is very important as they believe that it will up monetization. That is because the users will not find themselves to be lost in the hand- off to 3rd -party hotel/ any online travel agency-sites in order to book their stay.
The advantage
Although this kind of Instant Booking has an advantage of enabling the users to enter their personal & credit card details in the app or the mobile site, the fulfillment & the customer service is handled by an online-travel agency or a hotel partner, & that is visible as the users go through this booking process.Getaroom.com & Choice Hotels are the ones who are participating so far, however,Priceline Group Inc (NASDAQ:PCLN) has made a decision to walk away. Huston has contrasted this working with Google, where Priceline Group is 1 of its largest advertisers, an on the advertising projects where Priceline sees any kind strategic value against the manner in which it views TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking.