Priceline.com Enters Last-Minute Travel Market With Full Suite of Airline Ticket, Hotel and Rental Car Products

Business Wire, March 8, 2001

Business Editors and Travel Writers

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2001

Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), the Name Your Own Price(SM) service on the Internet, today announced its entry into what some experts are calling the hottest sector of the online travel market: last-minute travel.

In addition to its advance-purchase travel products, priceline.com now offers domestic travelers a choice of last-minute options, including:

- Last-minute airline tickets. At priceline.com, you can buy an

e-ticket as late as 6:00 p.m. EST for U.S. travel the next day on

a full-service, name-brand airline.

- Last-minute hotel rooms. At priceline.com, you can book a hotel

room as late as 6:00 p.m. EST for use that same night.

Priceline.com has rooms in all star categories, from economical

1-stars to the most luxurious 5-stars.

- Last-minute rental cars. At priceline.com, you can rent a car in

and have it ready for pick-up in as little as 4 hours.

Priceline.com has cars in 11 categories, from compact to luxury,

minivan to SUV.

Research organizations covering the online travel industry report that last-minute travel is a growing segment of the leisure travel market. Forrester Research, Inc. found that 11.5% of the more than 12 million online households in the U.S. who bought leisure travel online used last-minute travel online products.

In a recent published survey of Internet users, PhoCusWright reported that one-quarter of all U.S.-based Internet users, representing 25 million people, are last-minute travelers. The research organization classified last-minute travelers as those who took unplanned, last-minute trips at least 100 miles from home in the last six months.

By using priceline.com, travelers can save up to 40% over published retail prices for leisure airline tickets and hotel rooms, and up to 20% or more over published rental car rates.

"Travelers have been conditioned to expect higher prices for last-minute bookings," said Pauline Frommer, editor-in-chief of Frommers.com and special travel advisor to priceline.com. "What they don't realize is that travel products are highly perishable. No one wants to fly seats empty, leave rooms unoccupied or keep cars idle on the lot. If you can be flexible, everything's negotiable, which is why priceline.com works so well for last-minute travelers."

"Priceline.com is pleased to once again respond to our customers' requests with a new, valuable service," said Daniel H. Schulman, president and CEO of priceline.com. "Whether it's a family emergency or just a spur-of-the-moment desire to travel, now consumers can come to priceline.com for their last-minute travel needs and save."

About priceline.com

Priceline.com is the Name Your Own Price(SM) Internet pricing system that provides services across four broad product categories: a travel service that offers leisure airline tickets, hotel rooms and rental cars; a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee; an automotive service that offers new cars; and a telecommunications service that offers long distance calling services. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including pricelinemortgage and certain international licensees. In these arrangements, priceline.com generally receives royalties for licensing its intellectual property. Priceline.com also holds securities carrying the right to purchase a significant equity stake in the licensees under certain conditions. Unless those rights are exercised, the results of licensee operations will not be included in priceline.com's financial statements.

Information about Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Expressions of future goals and similar expressions including, without limitation, "may," "will," "should," "could," "expects," "does not currently expect," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: inability to successfully expand the Company's business model both horizontally and geographically; adverse changes in the Company's relationships with airlines and other product and service providers; systems-related failures; the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property rights; the effects of increased competition; losses by the Company and its licensees; any adverse impact from negative publicity and negative customer reaction relating to recent announcements concerning the Company; legal and regulatory risks and the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. For a detailed discussion of these and other factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Company's most recent Form 10-Q and Form 10-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.