Hotel booking website Priceline was once held up as an example of dot-come excess due to its incredible stock price. From a peak of over $900 USD in 2000, the dot-com booking agent fell to near zero as the dot-com bubble popped and investors fled the struggling company.
Now, it’s rapidly closing in on its bubble price. The different, however, is that this is a new and improved Priceline – a Priceline with a proven business model, revenue that’s the envy of much of the industry, and an extensive network of international subsidiaries offering hotel booking services in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
The online booking company, which has been promoted by Star Trek star William Shatner for over a decade, recently saw its stock price hit $969 USD as news of an incredible 24 percent increase in profits sent investors wild. The company’s profit reached $437 million on Thursday, with revenue for the same period $1.68 billion.
Analysts have pointed to a surge in summer travel booking as the cause of the great revenue figures, with booking increasing by 38 percent. Priceline’s largest market is the United States, but its subsidiary websites – including Bangkok-based Agoda.com – have captured a large share of the market in East Asia and other regions.
It’s great news, particularly for a company that once had a sub-$10 share price and a future that many believed would be measured in months, rather than years. A series of high-profile acquisitions have increased the size of Priceline.com in recent years – a factor that the company believes will help sales increase even further.
Riding the wave of excellent growth, Priceline believes that its sales will continue to increase at a rapid pace, with growth figures of 23 to 30 percent thrown around for the current quarter. The company’s success has been attributed to its focus on hotel bookings, which are more resilient to economic conditions than air travel.
