The Hotel Negotiator application uses priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price hotel service and lets consumers save up to 50 percent over published hotel rates. The application is available in the Android Market.

“An increasing number of travelers have mobile devices and we believe they will be receptive to booking parts of their itinerary, like hotels and rental cars, on these devices – particularly when they need these services at the last-minute, or even after they’ve arrived in a city,” said Brian Ek, spokesman for Priceline, New York.

“Earlier this year, we looked at a 2-week snapshot of iPhone users booking activity and compared it to the booking activity of customers using desktops,” he said. “We found that the iPhone users were much more inclined to book their hotel rooms at the last minute – many, in fact, booked their hotel rooms through the app after they had arrived in the city. 

“So mobile users appear to have travel booking needs that are a bit different from desktop users, and we find that exciting.”

Priceline provides worldwide online travel services such selling airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages.

Name your price and save
Android users can choose a city and the application displays multiple recent winning bis made by other Priceline consumers.

Users can shake their device and it establishes their location. Then, the application performs a winning bid search for hotels in the surrounding areas.

“We already have an app for the iPhone and iPod touch,” Mr. Ek said. “Android is one of the fastest growing segments of the mobile market, so it was a natural next step for our developers.”

Mobile bids
Additionally, consumers can enter their instant bid and get results immediately.

There are also two booking options.

Consumers who are using Priceline’s Name Your Own Price service, they can enter their bid using their Android.

For published-price hotel rooms, consumers can book the room via their device or call Priceline’s hotel booking specialists.

“We’re getting the word out about this with traditional press outreach, email, Web page promotional placements, and social media including Facebook, YouTube and, of course, our own blogs,” Mr. Ek.

“Probably expanding the Android app to include rental cars is next on our plate,” he said.