Priceline's new Pricebreakers tool is here

Pricebreakers groups three popular hotels under one deeply discounted price; the winning hotel is revealed right after purchase.

When searching for a hotel room, travelers consistently prioritize two features above all: the hotel’s price and the hotel’s quality. Properties with the highest customer scores and the lowest rates are consistently the most popular.

Priceline has introduced Pricebreakers, a new platform innovation that algorithmically groups those popular hotels together in order to deliver the lowest possible price.

With Pricebreakers, travelers are shown three similar, highly-rated hotels, listed under a single low price. Every hotel has a customer review score above 7.0. And the price is guaranteed to be sharply discounted, up to half off published rates you can find elsewhere. Travelers are guaranteed to secure a room at one of those three properties, at the price presented. The winning hotel is revealed right after purchase.

Brett Keller, CEO of Priceline, said:

“While we’ve always known that price is the top consideration when choosing a hotel, Priceline data also shows that customer review scores have an outsized impact on booking behavior. Our private database now includes more than 150 million verified customer reviews and robust amenity data which powers our intelligent grouping algorithm. Pricebreakers lets our customers book the best-reviewed hotels at the best price, every time.”

While Pricebreakers is simple to use, the data science behind it is complex. Priceline grouping algorithms analyze billions of data points to identify the three best hotels for each unique customer search. The collection of hotels varies by destination and date, and includes individual traveler preferences as well as market-specific information to identify amenities that are particularly relevant, such as casinos in Las Vegas and free parking in major cities.

Priceline’s algorithms also have built-in flexibility to allow travelers to filter Pricebreaker hotels in real time according to their favorite hotel features. The amenity mix includes free breakfast, free wifi, indoor or outdoor pool, as well as spas, restaurants and fitness centers. Customers can search for pet-friendly hotels with a casino and a business center, or any other combination they prefer. Pricebreakers will then group three hotels that share those amenities under one deeply discounted price.

Karen Tepper, Vice President of Product and Mobile at Priceline, said:

“We created Pricebreakers to streamline the planning process for Priceline customers. With Pricebreakers, you know up front that you’re going to get a well-reviewed hotel at a deep discount. If you also need free breakfast and a bed for your pet poodle, you’ll get that. And you’re going to pay much less than the people in the room next door.”

Pricebreakers is now live on desktop, tablet, and mobile Priceline websites, and will soon be added to the Priceline app on iOS and Android. The very first search will showcase three hotels with excellent customer reviews and a deeply discounted price. To filter hotels by amenities and neighborhoods, travelers can click on the “Create Your Own” tab and choose the hotel features they like best.

SOURCE Priceline