But as the question that the Travelsites team seeks to answer, as always, is should you use it? Read on to find out!

The entrepreneur who launched the priceline.com site is Jay Walker. Jay started several businesses before priceline. Some of them (New Sub Services, now named Synapse and owned by AOL) worked, and some (a mail order catalog business for light sculptures) didn't. When approaching a new market, Jay liked to think of himself as a new age Thomas Edison. He looked for marketing opportunities in existing businesses, and then tried to solve the problem for those businesses. Like Edison, he surrounded himself with tons of intellectual firepower. And like Edison, he relied on the protection that the United States Patent Office afforded. After solving the problem, he'd patent the idea so that others couldn't simply copy his efforts. This was a lesson he'd learned from his light sculpture business.

When thinking about travel, Jay pondered the following statement: American domestic airlines flew one million seats EMPTY each day.

How could that be?

The analysis proved that the airlines flew this way on purpose, because trying to sell those seats would actually cost them money. The only way to stimulate demand in the airline ticket market was to lower prices, and this cheapened all the seats that could be sold. In short, you sold more seats at lower profits, and the business could suffer. And to the airline, a few unsold seats could mean the difference between a good year or a year in the red. So Jay sensed he could build a business to help out these airlines.

The idea that became priceline was first supposed to be a market for trading airline tickets like other commodities -- coffee beans, iron, etc. When this idea progressed however, it became evident that the consumer would not understand this, so another concept was advanced. What would happen if the airlines let consumers tell them how much they'd like to pay? It was an interesting approach, for sure. The airlines were not sure however.  They needed a lot of cajoling to go along with the idea. In the end, only TWA and America West joined up for the launch. Jay recruited William Shatner as his spokesperson, and ran radio and newspaper ads. It worked very well for priceline.

After the first few days, priceline was selling hundreds of tickets per day, then thousands. The other airlines joined in, especially after Delta broke ranks to become a charter airline.

After Rick Braddock was hired as the company's first CEO, the company grew very quickly. A new car buying site was launched, and then hotels and rental cars joined the Name Your Own Price family.

During the time of net hysteria, priceline.com went public with great fanfare. The additional capital allowed the company to fund line additions like priceline Webhouse (groceries) and Perfect Yard Sale (like eBay), and it also funded the greater offline marketing the company was now doing. Television commercials with Shatner had now taken over the airways. The company was selling thousands of tickets, hotels and rental cars at this point.

When the crash came, priceline slowed it's growth and weathered the storm. Although the grocery and yardsale businesses didn't survive, travel kept on going.

After a few years of being the only site on the block, the competition had caught up to priceline. Hotwire.com had launched and done reasonably well. Orbitz and Expedia had spent millions of dollars online and off to brand themselves as consumer destinations. Priceline had to make the decision to sell "regular" tickets. They did this through their lowestfare.com subsidiary first and then added it to the main site. The little company from Connecticut began to grow again.

So with the active online market, including the supplier sites promising deep discounts, should you use priceline.com?

The short answer is yes. Although the airline market is very competitive, the name your own price product is still an easy way to save money. You need to do your homework though.

The Travelsites team usually goes to Hotwire and takes ten percent off the price there to make a bid at priceline. This works best within a few days of departure of the flight. At the new priceline you can also find the flight that most appeals to you and simply buy that.

Priceline's vacation package product combines it's net rate hotel room inventory and airline tickets. It's a great way to get a deal to the vacation destination of your choice.

But the real reason to use priceline is using the hotels and rental cars products.

Rental car is simple. Go to any site, find a price and take 30% off at priceline. Because most customers don't care who they rent from (Hertz, Avis, etc) this is a great way to find the best deal. Hotels are really great deals at priceline.com. Hotels are available in both the nyop and retail flavors (priceline bought Travelweb a few years ago).

Both types of hotel transactions are deep discounts, so you can find a great deal there. When you name your own price, you need to find a zone and the star level you're interested in buying and calculate a price about 40% off the prices you'll find at Expedia or Travelocity. Using this technique, the Travelsites team has grabbed great bargains in NY, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, San Diego and Chicago. It's definitely worked for us -- we bet it works for you.

Using the priceline site is fairly easy if you do the homework recommended above. One of the most important things to remember is that the name your own price transactions are non changeable and non refundable, so you really have to think before buying. The company is not flexible when it comes to refunds, so don't get yourself in a bind. The site has cool blues and yellows, and a very short path. Returning users can make a purchase in only three screens -- very quick. Remember to create a profile and keep your cc on file to use the site faster. Check it out!

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