NORWALK, CT— Priceline.com recently announced that it has expanded its relationship with Marriott International via a multi-year deal that offers the hotel chain preferred status for consumer searches on the discount distributor’s website. Participating Marriott properties will now have preferred status on Priceline, which means that when an on-line, travel-buying consumer searches for domestic hotels, Marriott will have a better chance of being offered that consumer’s business. According to Senior VP/Distribution Sales and Marketing Bruce Wolff at Marriott’s recent Security Analyst Meeting in Washington, DC, this agreement is part of the company’s distribution sales initiatives. “We have made an agreement with Priceline so that it will favor us,” Wolff said about the deal. Although Chris Soder, president/ Priceline’s hotel division, explained that every hotel within Priceline’s system has the same opportunity to be listed first, in response to consumers’ requests, under the new agreement with Priceline, Marriott will now have a greater chance of being selected as one of the 10 hotels contacted by Priceline. Soder added that Priceline also has similar relationships with other “major hotel companies,” but they have not chosen to announce their relationships. “[In addition], Marriott will encourage properties to participate in Priceline if they have excess inventory. It’s a mutual cooperation to do more business,” said Soder.
