Priceline Outpaces Expedia With 32% Room Night Growth in Q1

The Priceline Group outpaced Expedia Inc. with a 32% year over year growth in room nights in the first quarter of 2014, compared with 24% at Expedia.

However, Priceline's room night growth decelerated from the first quarter of 2013, when it increased, 37.7%.

For the first quarter, Priceline notched a 35.6% increase in net income to $331.2 million on $1.64 billion in revenue, a 26% jump.

Gross bookings for Priceline during the quarter came in a $12.3 billion, a 34% year over year increase.

In contrast, Expedia Inc. notched a 24% jump in room-night growth in the first quarter of 2014, decelerating from the 28% growth it recorded a year earlier, but gross bookings rose 29% as Expedia’s Travelocity partnership bumped up air ticket sales.

Room nights for another publicly traded online travel company, Orbitz Worldwide, grew at a 12% pace in the first quarter, down from the 14% growth it posted a year earlier. Orbitz Worldwide saw its gross bookings rise just 3% to $3.2 billion in the first quarter.

Priceline beat revenue estimates with the analysts looking for 25.3% year over year increases to $1.63 billion.

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