Priceline.com has eliminated its “Name Your Own Price”
product for flights, but the same feature for hotels and car rentals is still
active, a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.
“There’s been a dramatic evolution in both technology and
consumer behavior when it comes to booking travel,” Priceline.com’s Flavie
Lemarchand-Wood said.
Lemarchand-Wood pointed to a new strategy that Priceline.com
announced earlier this year, which “will help customers connect with deals
faster and more easily than before.”
In a release earlier this year, Priceline.com said it was
focused on a new product strategy “focused on personalization and speed” with
an easy-to-use experience that has cross-platform capabilities (at the time,
Priceline.com cited the high number of consumers using a mobile platform to
book travel).
On Friday, Lemarchand-Wood said Priceline.com users would
still be able to access Express Deals for flights in the absence of Name Your
Own Price for flights. That will give customers “deep discounts without bidding
to make the booking experience easier to use, mobile-friendly, with no extra
steps.”
“Express Deals for flights, available across all platforms,
provides savings up to 50% off published rates and reveals the exact itinerary
and airline carrier immediately after purchase,” she said.
Priceline has had the “Name Your Own Price” model since Jay
Walker launched the website in 1997.