How it started
History
Priceline was founded by Jay S. Walker, who left the company in 2000, by which time Richard S. Braddock, Citicorp's #2, had come aboard as chief executive. Braddock left in 2004, having helped take the company public in 1999.
Entrepreneur Michael Loeb assisted in the "creation and early funding".
Priceline first became known for its Name Your Own Price system, where travelers would name their price for airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, and vacation packages. While the purchaser can select a general location, service level, and price. The sales are for opaque travel inventory; details are disclosed only after the transaction is complete with no possibility of cancellation.
Priceline's profit from the proceeds is the difference between the price suggested by a customer and the one charged by the service provider. It has also added a more traditional model, called Express Deals, where travelers have presented prices and a geographical perimeter within which the hotel will be located but are not told the name of the establishment.
Priceline offers a tool named Pricebreakers for Hotel bookings. It claims that the price of the hotels are up to 50% off retail. It is somewhat similar to Express Deal but instead of showing the geographical location within a perimeter, it provides the names of 3 hotels, and one of the hotels will be allocated after the payment is done.
From Wikipedia’s article on priceline.com, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2