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Priceline / Travel Industry / Travel Advertising / Travel News / Travel Booking Sites / → All Tags

Priceline Kills Off Captain Kir...Err, the Priceline Negotiator

We're not as-a-rule opposed to seeing travel advertising mascots getting killed. Last December, when Air New Zealand murdered off their spokespuppet Rico, we even declared ourselves to be fairly pleased. The borderline rapey rat-like character had become insanely grating even (especially?) for a felt puppet. So when the airline announced a viral Whodunit game where players tried to figure out Rico's murderer, we figured that was as good an excuse as any to be rid of him.

But today we weep. For today, Priceline kills off the Priceline Negotiator. The travel industry icon, played by William Shatner, has been the face of the travel bidding and booking company for 14 years. To give you an idea of how big a business and culture story this is, it's being run everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to Perez Hilton. They sound sad too. Not as sad as we are, of course, but it's there if you read between the lines. For his part Shatner describes himself as being "in grief mode."

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Technology / Travel Tech / Travel News / Social Media / Priceline / Hotels / → All Tags

Was 2010 the Year of the Mobile Traveler? Heck, Yes!

A shot from our tour of Tokyo-Haneda's new tech-heavy Intl Terminal

Even though you didn't make TIME Magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2010 like you did in 2006, that doesn't mean that other media outlets agree. In fact, AdAge has declared 2010 to be the Year of the Mobile Traveler, and we totally agree of course. What they don't realize is that while this year brought more people than ever to incorporate technology with travel, the next few years will be just as pivotal, and here's hoping even more so.

Just think about the new, fun things we started using this year: in-flight WiFi, paperless boarding passes, smartphone apps, iPads, 4G, and even location-based social networking like Foursquare. It's been a banner year for travel and tech, and here's to you that embrace it.

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April Fool's Day / Travel News / Twitter / Priceline / → All Tags

April Fool's Day in the Travel Twittersphere

Yes, what you see above is William Shatner putting a facial haired version of himself in a headlock. Of course it's all part of the April Fool's Day fun at Priceline as the "Evil Negotiator" took over the their Twitter today to announce special travel deals like "$5,000/night for a 1-star hotel in the lost city of Atlantis. Submarine fare not included!" and "$99,999/night for a hotel in the 4th Dimension!"

The Priceline gag is only one of the excellent April Fool's Day travel jokes on the 'net, and although Tnooz already did a round-up of the fake stories, we've been watching Twitter to see who's trying to put one over on travelers today. Check out our findings...

April Fool's among travel tweeters, after the jump!

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Priceline / Travel Websites / Last-Minute Travel / Travel Deals / Comedy / → All Tags

Priceline Negotiator Goes Animated with Seth MacFarlane Cartoons

Among the videos and shorts that funnyman Seth MacFarlane has sprinkled around the intertubes, the cartoons in his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy are consistently among the most popular. The animated comedy web series - where classic cartoon characters pop up in hysterical albeit disturbing ways - catapulted MacFarlane's SethComedy YouTube channel into Most Watched Channel of the Week when it debuted. There's now a Cavalcade Hulu channel and the first season has even been released on DVD. That kind of popularity practically begs for digital sponsorship and advertising, and online travel agency Priceline has been more than willing to provide both.

The company has just inked a new deal with MacFarlane and - coincidentally - has chosen this month to announced a new and more generous best-rate-guarantee promotion. For a limited time, natch.

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Travel Websites / Last-Minute Travel / Holiday Travel / Priceline / Budget Travel / Travel Deals / → All Tags

Wherein We Warily Test The Priceline Negotiator's Last-Minute Deals

Seriously, Shatner?

There've been Priceline gripes a-plenty, but we've also begrudgingly admitted to using "The Negotiator" to wrangle ourselves travel savings when it suits us. In our very, very, very last-minute search for holiday travel deals, what should we stumble upon than a menu of Flights Under $150, expiring tomorrow. *Flash-Act Now!-Flash*

Is The Shatner for real, though? Prices averaging at about $150 round-trip, with some departures the day before Christmas? We had to dig a little deeper to see if Captain Kirk was fooling us with that karate stance and winning grin.

What we found, after the jump.

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iPhone Travel Apps / Priceline / Budget Travel / iPhone / → All Tags

William Shatner's On Your iPhone; Just Touch Him For Hotel Deals

We'll come right out and admit it: we have used Priceline's Negotiator before and like what it did for us. Even the omnipotent appreciate discounts and the thrill of chasing a deal. Still, we're not sure how we feel about sitting down to make serious travel reservations on our iPhone. Sure it's the internet just like we get on our laptop, but it just doesn't feel as official. But like Priceline could give a crap how we feel, since they've just released their own iPhone travel app.

The app of course focuses on good old William Shatner, aka The Negotiator, and his special Priceline ability to let you list your own nightly hotel rate blindly for a hotel (after choosing star rating and neighborhood), and possibly be accepted for over 50% off published rates. Our two most recent experiences at the hands of Captain Kirk got us 5-star hotel rooms in both Berlin and Chicago for $80 a night, so maybe if we don't even use a computer to make the reservation we'll be even more cavalier? So long as the app is free, which it is, we'll be fiddling with it. Who can resist a free travel app anyways?

Related Stories:
· Priceline Launches iPhone App For Hotel Bidding [USAToday]
· iPhone: Priceline's new app is best for last-minute hotel bids [BudgetTravel]
· iPhone Travel Apps coverage [Jaunted]

Laid-Off Travel / Priceline / Travel Insurance / Recession Travel / → All Tags

Priceline Will Offer Refunds If You Lose Your Job (But Only If You Buy Trip Protection)

No need to hold a bikini car wash to pay for your vacation with the new Priceline trip protection.

What was very en vogue in the last quarter of 2008 and at the start of 2009 has suddenly become en vogue again. But we won't complain because it's actually a good thing. Priceline.com has announced it will offer a full cancellation and refund for anyone who books a trip on their site and then loses their job. From the press release:

The expanded trip protection is available for priceline.com’s vacation packages, Name Your Own Price® hotel rooms, published-price and Name Your Own Price® airline tickets, and rental cars booked as an add-on to any priceline.com travel reservation.

However, as this is part of Priceline's optional travel insurance you need to select this option in order to get a refund. But um, we hope that won't happen because we want you to keep your job! Trip protection costs as little as $16 for a flight and $5 a night for a hotel reservation.

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Rental Cars / Priceline / Travel Websites / → All Tags

Tips And Tricks For Scoring The Best Priceline Rental Car Rate

Priceline is dicey for some things, good for others, and fantastic for a very few. There's an anti-Priceline argument to be made for airlines because flying is enough of a hassle without adding in unpredictability. Hotels are much better, since if you're flexible on location you can pretty much control everything else. Rental cars, however, are all the way at the great end of the "Priceline is awesome" spectrum, since car companies are functionally interchangeable and for the purposes of a short trip, a car is a car is a car.

Name-Your-Own-Price car rentals come with the usual Priceline disadvantages. As always, bids are non-refundable and changes are unavailable. Car rentals specifically also come with the caveat that you can't bid on one way trips.

That said, car rentals also come with the usual array of advantages. Just out of the box, you're likely to get 20%-30% off the discount price. You can push the price down even more by using the usual array of insider Priceline strategies.

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Priceline / Cheap Travel / Last-Minute Travel / → All Tags

Anatomy of a Recent Bidding Adventure on Priceline

I don't know about you, but I've always done well by bidding for hotel rooms on Priceline. Sure, not knowing where you might end up is unnerving, but you can limit your downside by focusing on four- and five-star properties and doing a little bit of research. The discounts more than make up for any imperfections. In the past I've gotten great rates at hotels like the Strand Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, the Renaissance M Street in Washington, D.C., and the Crowne Plaza Key West La Concha, and now when I book a trip it's almost second nature to cobble together a bidding strategy and then click over to Priceline.

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Priceline / Rental Cars / Travel Deals / → All Tags

William Shatner Slashes Rental Car Rates on Priceline

If our recent one-way road trip got you all worked up and you feel the need to get behind the wheel of a rental car, you might want to check out the current deals on hand at Priceline.

Now that William Shatner, aka The Negotiator, is clearly jealous of all the Star Trek movie attention, he's been slashing rental car rates on Priceline in hopes of getting the attention back on him. Using the site’s Name Your Own Price feature you can save up to 30% off published rates, which is the usual deal they always offer. However, now they are promoting rates over 50% off in some of your favorite cities. Boston and Tampa seem to be two great places to start a trip, since economy cars start at only $13 a day. That leaves a lot of left over cash to spend on lobster, chowder, and whatever food Tampa offers—Applebee’s?

When you use Priceline’s bidding system, you won’t know what car company you’ll get until your price has been accepted. However, they do only work with the big boys of the rental wreck industry, so you’ll likely be behind the wheel of a Hertz, National, Avis, or Alamo offering.

If you scored a great deal thanks to The Negotiator, be sure to brag about it in the comments below.

Related Stories:
· Priceline Rental Car Spring Promotion [Official Site]
· Priceline Travel Hacks Work For International Hotels Too [Jaunted]
· Rental Cars coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Official Site]

Priceline / Travel Tips / Booking Sites / Hotels / → All Tags

Priceline Travel Hacks Work For International Hotels Too

Priceline's in the news this morning for their new Bring-A-Friend bonus, where you get $100 in Priceline credit when you book two or more hotel rooms at the same time for the same trip. We also know that many of you are going to Europe this summer, and we've even gotten a question from someone about using Priceline to book international hotels. So off we go.

The formal and informal rules for booking international hotels - the bidding process and the tricks that you can use to beat it - are basically the same as for domestic hotels. You put in the price, the star-level, and the locations that you're willing to accept.

Priceline spits out whether or not they managed to get you a room at that rate. If your bid fails you get to bid again, but you have to either reduce the star level or add another acceptable location. You can't just increase your price, which is the incentive to get you to bid higher initially.

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kayaking / Priceline / Active Travel / Go Go / Historical Travel / Monuments / Outdoor Travel / → All Tags

48 Hours in Washington D.C. - Part 3: Popped Collars and Lacklustre Cuisine

Jaunted weekend editor Victor Ozols escaped from New York over the Labor Day holiday for a blissful getaway to Washington D.C. He recounts the hits and misses of his time in the nation's capital in this three-part series.

After getting cleaned up from our museum adventure, we walked down M Street in Georgetown. I grew up in Northern Virginia but really couldn't claim any good knowledge of DC prior to this trip, so I actually thought Georgetown was the hip place to hang out. John pointed out the preponderance of "popped-collar douchebags" in G-town, and he was right, though they didn't particularly bother us. Adams Morgan and the U Street Corridor (with places like the Black Cat) are much hipper locales. But we didn't really care, and enjoyed our stroll through Georgetown, peering into several restaurants before finally deciding to dine at Ristorante Piccolo on 31st Street. Our meal was an enjoyable disaster.

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