For starters, Priceline managed to report revenue of $1.0 billion.  Analysts thought it would report revenue more in the neighborhood of $973.6 million.  Then another key win for the organization came in terms of earnings per share, as Priceline was able to report $5.33 per share instead of $4.97 per share.

What’s more, these successes don’t look like they’ll amount to a one-time event.  Priceline thinks it’ll be able to report between $710 million and $747 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, compared to the $689.4 million analysts thought they might see.  And EPS should amount to between $2.91 and $3.06 rather than $2.68.

Anyway, Priceline’s stock is now up 5.64 percent in after-hours trading, and Priceline President and CEO Jeffery H. Boyd said in a statement, "We are pleased by the Group’s strong performance in the 3rd quarter.  Increased gross travel bookings were driven primarily by our worldwide hotel business, which had a 54% increase in room nights booked."

Finally, for anyone who’s interested in the travel industry in general, we’ll note that Boyd’s also been quoted speaking in support of the Google-ITA Software deal.

Recently a number of other online travel agencies have offered similar promotions including Orbitz and Expedia’s Hotwire.com.

Priceline’s "Pricedrop Protection" for airline tickets allows a customer to book a ticket and be reimbursed if another customer books the same ticket at a lower fare. Priceline will automatically send the customer a check for the difference, from $1 up to $300 per ticket. Checks will be sent within 30 days of completion of a trip.

Jeffery H. Boyd
President and CEO
Priceline.com Inc.

The company’s Pricedrop Protection for vacation packages works the same way. Customers that book a vacation package and another customer books the same package at a lower price prior to departure will be reimbursed from $1 up to a maximum of $600.

"We believe the online travel agency landscape has become confusing for consumers, with different booking sites offering some promotional benefits, but not others," said priceline.com’s President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffery H. Boyd.

"Priceline.com decided to eliminate the confusion by combining all of the best promotional elements currently in the market into a simple, one-stop solution for travelers.
 

William Shatner
Priceline Negotiator

Given the near-constant talk of recessions and bubble-bursting, it’s almost surprising that there are such things as Internet top picks; most sites don’t have much to do with water, food, or shelter.  Priceline’s savings-oriented setup may have helped it rise to the top, though.

Also, our economic problems haven’t affected everyone in the world.  "International travel (especially Europe to U.S.) is becoming a larger part of Priceline’s business, and should help Priceline continue to outpace industry growth," Piper Jaffray analyst Aaron Kessler told Reuters.

Priceline’s stock is down this morning, but the same can be said for almost the entire market.  Priceline had a good day yesterday, and over the past six months, its stock has risen.  The Dow and Nasdaq have not.

All in all, Priceline’s on quite a streak, and even people who don’t travel and have no investments should appreciate it.  Here’s why: perhaps the company will avoid changing anything, and as a result, produce more Shatner commercials.

The chief executives of Expedia Inc. and Priceline.com said even with the convenience of online travel bookings and the large amount of useful reviews, customers wanting to go on a cruise still want to talk to a real travel agent to plan their trips.

Numbers from Phocuswright, a travel research firm, says total U.S. cruise revenue from ticket sales for 2007 was $13.4 billion, but only around 7 percent ($944 million) came from online bookings. Phocuswright estimates growth in online cruise bookings will grow to $1.3 billion in 2009, but that will comprise just 8 percent of the cruise booking market.

Seventy percent of total online cruise bookings were made via online travel agencies in 2007, instead of cruise company Web sites. "Although OTAs (online travel agencies) represent the lion’s share of online cruise bookings, the cruise lines themselves are playing a good game of catch up," said Douglas Quinby, senior director of research at Phocuswright, according to Reuters. "We expect the split to be 60/40 by 2009."

Priceline CEO Jeff Boyd said that customers want to know the details of a cruise vacation. "What kind of restaurants does this cruise ship have? Do I have to wear a necktie when I go to dinner? It’s stuff like that that people really want to know," he said.

"Consumers tend to be more reluctant to basically shop online and plop down 1,500 bucks without talking to a human and getting an assurance that yes, this is a nice ship."

Both Priceline and Expedia list customer service phone numbers for people who need more information on cruise bookings.