Priceline to List Some Travel Sites on TripAdvisor

Priceline Group Inc. agreed to list some of its travel websites on TripAdvisor Inc., an accord that will allow consumers to instantly book hotel rooms in Priceline's hotel inventory from TripAdvisor's platform.

The agreement builds on a continuing a long-term collaboration between the online travel companies. TripAdvisor, which launched its instant booking platform in 2014, had provided Priceline with referrals but competes with Priceline's Kayak.com. TripAdvisor and Kayak.com both allow customers to see all the rates offered by a range of online agents including Priceline on one site. Such "metasearch" sites let customers find the lowest prices on a single screen without having to click on several links to find rates.

Financial terms of the partnership weren't provided.

Priceline's first brand to join TripAdvisor's platform will be Booking.com, a website that dominates the online travel business in Europe and a brand that generates the biggest share of Priceline's profits. In a news release Wednesday, the companies said that Priceline.com and Agoda.com also are likely to list inventory on the platform.

Both TripAdvisor and Priceline have been facing increased competition for customers -- from Google's push into online travel to startups such as Airbnb Inc. TripAdvisor and Priceline both have been expanding their offerings through acquisitions in recent years.

TripAdvisor, which was spun off in 2011 from online travel agent Expedia, launched its instant booking platform to U.S. consumers in June 2014, with a gradual rollout to other international markets expected over time.

TripAdvisor shares, down 11% this year, rose 24% to $82.59 in recent premarket trading. Priceline, up 18% this year, rose 1% to $1,358 premarket.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 14, 2015 09:45 ET (13:45 GMT)

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