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Technology Stocks : Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: freeus who wrote (2587)	5/7/2001 9:03:16 PM
From: jhg_in_kc	Respond to of 2743

Marriott expands relationship with Priceline.com WASHINGTON, D.C., May 8 (Reuters) - Hotel operator Marriott International Inc. (NYSE:MAR - news) has expanded its relationship with discount online seller Priceline.com Inc. (NasdaqNM:PCLN - news) in an effort to boost sales, a Marriott official said on Monday. ADVERTISEMENT Under the expanded agreement begun earlier this year, Marriott will become a more favored supplier of hotel rooms to Priceline customers under certain circumstances, Bruce Wolff, Marriott's senior vice president of distribution sales and marketing, told Reuters. ``If customers are willing to jump through some hoops, we're willing to give them a lower rate,'' he said. Wolff estimated Marriott generated about $20 million in sales via Priceline last year -- a relatively small amount compared with total sales of about $10 billion for the year. Still, Wolff said he expects the new arrangement to boost revenues from Priceline customers by about 50 percent. Wolff added that Marriott is not an investor in Priceline and will not become one under the expanded relationship. ``We did not take a play in it,'' he said. ``We're in the business of selling hotel rooms. We're dealing with them because they're giving us business.'' Separately, Marriott also said it should be on track to make an announcement by year-end on its first location for a high-end hotel venture with Italian jewelry maker Bulgari. ``Our effort is to keep getting to know one another better so our philosophy is united,'' said William Tiefel, Marriott's vice chairman who heads the company's luxury hotels division.