Priceline "Negotiator"/Shatner Explosion Commercial

[travelAlot]

Howdy all, I wanted to alert that I read that Priceline has a new commercial (to be released soon -- probably for Super Bowl airing) showing William Shatner in a bus that explodes -- meaning the end of the Negotiator as Priceline is trying to emphasize its retail travel business vs NYOP. As such it is unclear if NYOP is going away -- nothing on the website but, given all the multiple Bonus Cash offers (on my/friends' accounts with a 1/31/2012 expiration date, some even for $9/day), it seems like this is where things may be headed.

Have any of you heard any definitive info? I've emailed PL customer service for clarification (not holding my breath as they're in India or wherever and will likely send back a canned response). If it is going away, I need to make a bunch of bids to firm up 2012 travel.

[thereuare]

I don't have any 'inside' information, but i highly doubt that Name Your Own Price is going away... it's what differentiates PRICELINE from other booking services. My take is that they don't want people to think of "bidding" when they here the name PRICELINE, but rather want them to think "travel", so they're changing ad campaigns in order to focus on the broad range of services they offer, not just name your own price.

With the above noted, if you're concerned that it's going away you could of course sure up your plans and purchase your travel for the next year now.

[mcfly1982]

They are not getting rid of it (thank god) Priceline has confirmed that its an attempt to "educate the public about the other side of our business where you don't have to bid"

"Name your own price has always been a core offering of the brand and will remain so."

[hohogap]

That's comforting. Can't imagine they'd bow out of their original hook, but understand the marketing effort.

[travelAlot]

FYI that i did receive a response from Priceline. Based on what the others said, I believe NYOP's elimination entirely would be horrific in terms of alienating longtime customers and basically handing over customers to Expedia aka HOTWIRE. That said, PL's customer service responses are known for restating the obvious and not being particularly helpful (being based in a foreign country); however the answer is a bit of a concern.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for taking the time to send us an e-mail. We understand that

you would like to know whether we are discontinuing the Name Your Own

Price feature on our website in future.

Please note that we have not received any updates regarding any future

changes in the Name Your Own Price feature on our website. We are still

providing the Name Your Own Price reservations on our website.

Moreover, please continue to check back with us as we are constantly

improving our existing products and adding new ones.

We thank you for the opportunity to assist you and hope you find this

information helpful.

Sincerely,

J------ M.

Customer Service Specialist

<br><br>Original Message Follows:

------------------------<br>Subject: Name Your Own Price -- Future

Changes??

Product: HOTEL

Category: Terms and Conditions

Itinerary :

Comments :Hello, I read that the "negotiator" (William Shatner) ads are

going away. Does that mean that "Name Your Own Price" bidding is

entirely being eliminated? Or will it continue? If there is a change, as

of what date? I purchased a couple Entertainment Books (with $20 bonus

money) -- in part for the Priceline offer -- and want to bid so that I

can use them if NYOP is being discontinued. Thank you for your

assistance.

[mbstone]

Please note that we have not received any updates regarding any future

changes in the Name Your Own Price feature on our website. We are still

providing the Name Your Own Price reservations on our website.

Moreover, please continue to check back with us as we are constantly

improving our existing products and adding new ones.

Not very encouraging, is it? The trouble with Name Your Own Price is the low intelligence of the average travel consumer. First, PL discovered they could fool the bidding public with misleading information displayed during the bidding process: "Based on recent data, your bid has only a small chance of success." Then, they introduced Shop and Compare and made would-be bidders hunt for the tiny NYOP icon on the page, and guess what? Lots of people bought hotels at rack rates figuring that since they bought the room through PL, they must be getting a good deal. PL never did advertise how phenomenally cheap NYOP hotel deals often are for savvy bidders. And there is that substantial segment of the public that either doesn't quite trust NYOP, or doesn't know enough about negotiating theory to appreciate NYOP. Most people still buy hotel rooms by meekly calling hotels and asking "how much." People like you and I don't make money for PL. (I haven't paid more than $60 for a room in maybe ten years, and $45 is more typical.) "Shop and compare," and gross NYOP overbids from people who don't know any better, is where PL's bread is buttered.

If they do away with NYOP my assumption would be, their business-process patent has expired and some other company would take its place.

[thereuare]

I'm surprised there is so much question around this...

PRICELINE's Name Your Own Price is not going away (at least not anytime soon). As per my comments above, the ad campaign will change to focus on all of their services, not just 'Name Your Own Price'.

[mlaurence]

This commercial will catch everyone's attention, but I think it's totally the wrong kind of attention. It's just like Netflix's boneheaded idea to drop DVDs, for which they saw their stock plummet, their users get angry, and even though they took it back, they're still paying a heavy price. Priceline IS name your own price. They're not hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz or HOTWIRE. It's fine if they want to offer a side-by-side reservation service, but when they laugh and laugh about blowing up their iconic image, it's clear they don't understand what makes them unique. Stupid move.

[dahammer]

No doubt, this has become an interesting thread, but whether "the negotiator" is offed in a bus crash or makes it out alive, hotels will still have unsold rooms each night. Selling these off via opaque sites such as PRICELINE or HOTWIRE or some of the more recent entries brings incremental revenue to a property for rooms that would have sat empty. It increases occupancy levels and the added room revenue covers variable costs while driving business to the bar and restaurant, myself excluded! :P By not identifying the name of the property beforehand, the hotel can sell rooms below discounted government and corporate rates and not upset these large customers.

mbstone:

As for the shop and compare side of PL, this is a great idea for folks who are intimidated by the bidding process or for those who have bid unsuccessfully. It allows PL to capture this business that might have gone to Expedia, Orbitz and others; the traveller still needs a room, PL figures why let them walk? Also, I would not place much credence in an email generated by some customer service robot in Mumbai.

As for PL not making money on your $60 bid, I would say if your previously rejected bid was $59, PL will only make their booking fee margin. But don't forget, this is an automated transaction and requires very little in the way of labor, so if they make $6, that's 10% in my book. I think travel agents make (or made) 15%. Frequently, I will check out using the interactive system on the TV and occasionally I can find out what PL remits for room and tax for my stay, in some cases the difference is 20% of my final price charged to my credit card.

My only regret is after using PL for about 7 years, booking hundreds of rooms, saving myself thousands of $$ with the help of this great BetterBidding community, that I didn't buy PRICELINE stock. I seriously doubt they will change their business model and give up Name Your Own Price. However if they did, I am sure someone else would pick up the slack. Capitalism has a way of inviting competition which makes things better.

[suntex]

I just see the ad mentioned on CNN a minute ago.

The anchor did mention Priceline using the Ad to start the "end" to NYOP service on their website.

Or atleast that's what I heard. I'm hoping she is wrong.

[Memphis_Guy]

With their new ad campaign that features the "Priceline Negotiator" dying a fiery death in an exploding bus, I have heard that Priceline is trying to move customers to their "fixed discount" pricing model. Does that mean the end of bidding? Is this a good thing for us? Does anyone have any idea what this will mean for us who are really, really, REALLY, tightwads with our travel dollars?

[thereuare]

Again...

I'm surprised there is so much question around this...

PRICELINE's Name Your Own Price is not going away (at least not anytime soon). As per my comments above, the ad campaign will change to focus on all of their services, not just 'Name Your Own Price'.

[dahammer]

With their new ad campaign that features the "Priceline Negotiator" dying a fiery death in an exploding bus....

Not wishing to be macabre here but..... did we see the corpse?

I really love the speculation surrounding this ad campaign, to have the likes of CNN carrying PRICELINE's water creates a priceless buzz and is a dream come true for the PR types. Did Bill Shatner escape? Time will tell, but my bet is nothing changes regarding Name Your Own Price.

I think I read somewhere that a hotel needs 65% occupancy to break even, so for many properties there will be ample supply of unsold rooms. Kind of like an over-ripe banana, its good today so sell it at a discount because it's garbage tomorrow.