Priceline to TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking: No Thanks

Priceline, one of the most popular online travel sites, has been absolutely stomping its competition, with bigger earnings than ever, thanks in part to is acquisition of the very popular booking site Kayak.com.  Numbers around 83 million hotels sold in a single quarter are proof positive that its solid brand image and constant marketing efforts are working wonders.

This definitely boosted Priceline’s user base, having gained Kayak’s own usership, and even getting more traffic for Priceline’s own brands, particularly Booking.com. Priceline still gets a lot of its profits from extremely strong international bookings. Additionally, markets like the Asia Pacific region, which have been steadily gaining momentum over the years, have definitely helped Priceline acquire higher profits.

However, one the company’s biggest worries is TripAdvisor’s Instant Booking feature, which allows users to complete their booking process while still on the TripAdvisor mobile app or website. This is the most recent cutting-edge technology that TripAdvisor utilizes to boost their visibility online and to offer more convenience and faster customer service. This is especially true in an industry that should give faster response to hotel accommodation inquiries and updates to interested consumers, travelers, and businesspeople.

What can this new app feature do for Priceline?
This new feature might weaken Priceline’s brand-building, which has taken the former years of meticulous branding and promotion to yield Priceline.com one of the highest-priced stocks in the S&P 500. On the other hand, Priceline’s shares are still rising, and the company is still on top of their game. But when it will last until is up to them and to their loyal customers. Priceline does their best to keep up with their momentum as they soar high in the industry today.

While TripAdvisor may be peaking in from the outside, hoping to accelerate past Priceline’s market standing, the latter is brewing the next strategy to hold on to their top notch position. What could happen between these two booking company giants as they battle it out is definitely an interesting scenario to stay tuned for.