Priceline

Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) is a commercial website which helps users obtain discount rates for travel-related items such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company is not a direct supplier of these services; it is similar to a web portal, providing comparative pricing from an assortment of service companies. It is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, United States. Priceline is the brainchild of venture capitalist Jesse Fink and of digital entrepreneur Jay Walker; the company's origins were closely tied with Walker's company Walker Digital. Hong Kong company Cheung Kong Holdings later purchased a significant portion of Priceline's stock.

It first gained prominence for its Name Your Own Price system, where travelers would name their price for airline tickets, hotel rooms, and car rentals. The price would be compared to undisclosed prices in the Priceline database, with the purchaser knowing the location and name of the rental car company, airline, or hotel only after the purchase had gone through, with no rights to cancel. (According to the web site, the no-cancellation no-refund policy is because Priceline offers the price to the hotel, airline, or car rental agency with the promise that the service would be sold and the seat or hotel will be filled, or the car will be rented.) Priceline's cut of the proceeds was the difference between the price an individual named and the price charged by the service establishment. More recently, it has moved to a more traditional model where travelers are presented prices and are also told the name of the establishment. Travelers can still choose to name their price but the number of participants in that program has significantly diminished.