New Priceline.com 'Labor Day Top 50' Hotel Survey Uncovers Where People Will Be Going - And...

Business Editors

NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 25, 2003

Anaheim, Vancouver, Seattle and San Diego all see big jumps in

popularity; Higher-end hotel properties dominate Labor Day demand

In a new survey of hotel room demand for the Labor Day period,

The biggest potential surprise was New York's Midtown West neighborhood sitting atop the list of 50 most-requested destinations for the Labor Day weekend. Even with images of blackout-stranded commuters and tourists still fresh in travelers' minds, Manhattan kept its allure for the big weekend.

Several cities experienced big increases in popularity compared to the start of the summer. Anaheim's Disneyland moved up 29 places, from #45 in May to #16 in September. Vancouver moved up 25 spots, from #31 in May to #6 in September. Seattle moved up 20 spots, from #30 in May to #10 in September. And San Diego moved up 18 places, from #22 in May to #4 in September.

Consumer preferences for higher-end hotels continued to grow over the summer. Three-, 4- and 5-star properties were requested 79 percent of the time for Labor Day weekend, compared to approximately 71 percent of the time in April/May. In particular, requests for 3-star properties climbed from approximately 31 percent in April/May to 46 percent for Labor Day weekend.

"The upward trend in demand for certain star levels shows that consumers are increasingly aware that they can upgrade their accommodations for relatively little money," said Chris Soder, priceline.com's Executive Vice President, Lodging and Vacation Services. "For example, by using priceline.com's unique Name Your Own Price hotel service, travelers can save up to 40 percent or more over rates found on other major online reservation services for the exact same hotels."

Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price hotel service is unique and different from other online hotel reservation services. Priceline.com enables leisure travelers to pick the type of hotel they want, the exact neighborhood they want and the price they want to pay. Priceline.com then works with its hotel partners to find one willing to provide top-quality accommodations at the customer's price.

Priceline.com works with over 9,500 participating hotel properties in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean and Asia (China and Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia). All of the major hotels in the U.S. work with priceline.com. Hotels is one of priceline.com's fastest-growing travel products. In the 2nd quarter 2003, priceline.com reported that it sold a record 1.5 million hotel room nights - a 38 percent year-over-year increase.

Here is priceline.com's top 50 list for Labor Day. The list is based on actual consumer demand for hotel occupancy during the Labor Day weekend. Priceline.com's Memorial Day Top 50 list is available on the priceline.com Web site in the press release section.

Priceline.com's Labor Day Top 50 List

#1    Midtown West, New York
#2    North Michigan Avenue, Chicago
#3    O'Hare Airport Area, Chicago
#4    Downtown & Harbor Island, San Diego
#5    French Quarter, New Orleans
#6    Vancouver
#7    Back Bay/Copley/Theater District, Boston
#8    Disney World Vicinity, Orlando
#9    The Loop/Grant Park, Chicago
#10   Downtown Seattle
#11   Union Square East/Embarcadero, San Francisco
#12   Downtown/Riverwalk, San Antonio
#13   Las Vegas Strip
#14   Downtown, St. Louis
#15   Downtown, Toronto
#16   Disneyland area, Anaheim
#17   Downtown/Union Square West, San Francisco
#18   Universal Studios/Sea World, Orlando
#19   Midtown South, New York
#20   Downtown, Philadelphia
#21   Mission Valley, San Diego
#22   Downtown, Austin
#23   Montreal
#24   Midtown East, New York
#25   Downtown, Atlanta
#26   Downtown, Boston
#27   Airport/Mall of America, Minneapolis
#28   Coastal area, San Diego
#29   Airport area, Los Angeles
#30   Airport area, Seattle
#31   Historic District, Savannah
#32   Downtown, Buffalo
#33   Inner Harbor, Baltimore
#34   Riverfront, Cincinnati
#35   Convention Center, San Francisco
#36   Meadowlands, New Jersey
#37   Beach Area, Ft. Lauderdale
#38   Airport area, San Francisco
#39   Hilton Head Island
#40   Garden District, New Orleans
#41   Miami Beach
#42   Downtown, Portland
#43   Beverly Hills/Westwood, Los Angeles
#44   Monterey/Pacific Grove, Monterey
#45   Kensington/Knightsbridge, London
#46   Costa Mesa, Orange County
#47   Downtown, Cleveland
#48   Colorado Springs
#49   Central Park South, New York
#50   Waikiki North, Oahu

About priceline.com

Priceline.com offers products for sale in two categories: a travel service that offers leisure airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises; and a personal finance service that offers home mortgages, refinancing and home equity loans through an independent licensee. Priceline.com operates the retail travel Web sites Lowestfare.com and Rentalcars.com. Priceline.com is part-owner of Travelweb LLC. Priceline.com licenses its business model to independent licensees, including pricelinemortgage and certain international licensees.

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