System and method for optimizing revenue and/or bookings from collected demand data in a buyer driven commerce system

• US 7,333,941 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2001
• Issued: 02/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Priceline.com LLC (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Priceline Com Incorporated (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Choi, Sunmee
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes; John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): VETTER, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US09/944,293
• Time in Patent Office: 2,363 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705 5- 6, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Methods for optimizing hotel revenues for a predetermined sale margin, optimizing room nights for a predetermined amount of margin, optimizing margin amounts for a predetermined amount of room nights, and reports based on the same are disclosed. Demand data is collected from conditional purchase offers submitted to the buyer-driven commerce system by potential buyers. Those conditional purchase offers which preferably are rejected are analyzed in order to determine parameters, which may result in increased revenues for the system operator of the buyer-driven commerce system or for participants who sell room nights through the system. Collected demand data may include an offer price, during which the buyer would like to purchase the room nights, or a promotional bump amount. Reports of expected changes in demand based upon the simulated changes to the business parameters are generated and presented to hotel operators, who may change acceptance parameters based on the reports.

Claims

1. A method for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, each available booking including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the plurality of bookings;

storing a plurality of rejected purchase offers from the plurality of purchase offers; and

determining a number of unaccepted purchase offers which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the booking corresponds to a hotel reservation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a customer identifier, a payment identifier, a rating for a hotel, a location for a hotel, a number of room nights, an occupancy of the room, a room type and a price.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining further comprises:

determining a number of the unaccepted purchase offers from a predetermined period of time which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined time is one week.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining further comprises:

selecting the rejected purchase offers which are original purchase offers; and

determining a number of the original, rejected purchase offers which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a minimum price and a minimum margin amount.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the change comprises at least one of:

a second minimum price and a second minimum margin amount.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second minimum price is less than the minimum price.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second minimum margin is less than the minimum margin amount.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining further comprises:

receiving a plurality of inputs of simulated changes to the acceptance parameter.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining further comprises:

determining an optimum value for the acceptance parameter based on the plurality of inputs.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum revenue for a predetermined amount of margin.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum number of room nights for a predetermined margin amount.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum margin for a predetermined number of room nights.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing the acceptance parameter based on a simulated acceptance rate.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a report including the number.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

transmitting the report to the seller.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, after said transmitting:

receiving, from the seller, a change to the acceptance parameter.

20. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, each available booking including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the plurality of bookings;

storing a plurality of rejected purchase offers from the plurality of purchase offers; and

determining a number of unaccepted purchase offers which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

21. An apparatus for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, each available booking including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

means for receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the plurality of bookings;

means for storing a plurality of rejected purchase offers from the plurality of purchase offers; and

means for determining a number of unaccepted purchase offers which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

22. An apparatus for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in electronic communication with the processor, the memory encoded with processing instructions for directing the processor to;

receive a plurality of available bookings from a seller, each available booking including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receive a plurality of purchase offers for the plurality of bookings;

store a plurality of rejected purchase offers from the plurality of purchase offers; and

determine a number of unaccepted purchase offers which would be accepted based on a change of the acceptance parameter.

23. A method for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

providing a plurality of available bookings, each including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receiving an indication of a plurality of unacceptable purchase offers submitted for at least one of the available bookings; and

receiving a second indication of a number of unacceptable purchase offers which would be accepted based on a simulated change of the acceptance parameter.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the plurality of bookings each comprise a hotel reservation.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein each of the unacceptable purchase offers comprises at least one of:

a customer identifier, a payment identifier, a rating for a hotel, a location for a hotel, a number of room nights, an occupancy of the room, a room type and a price.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein said receiving the second indication further comprises:

receiving a calculation of a simulated acceptance rate based on the simulated change and the plurality of unaccepted purchase offers stored within a predetermined time.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the predetermined time is one week.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein said receiving the second indication further comprises:

receiving a calculation of a simulated acceptance rate based on the simulated change and the plurality of unaccepted purchase offers.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein said receiving the second indication further comprises:

receiving a calculation of a simulated acceptance rate based on the simulated change and the plurality of unaccepted purchase offers which are not resubmitted purchase offers.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a minimum price and a minimum margin amount.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the simulated change comprises at least one of:

a second minimum price and a second minimum margin amount.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the second minimum price is less than the minimum price.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the second minimum margin is less than the minimum margin amount.

34. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

transmitting a plurality of inputs of simulated changes to the acceptance parameter.

35. The method of claim 24, wherein said receiving a second indication further comprises:

receiving an optimum value for the acceptance parameter based on the plurality of inputs.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum revenue for a predetermined amount of margin.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum number of room nights for a predetermined margin amount.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum margin for a predetermined number of room nights.

39. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

changing the acceptance parameter based on the simulated acceptance rate.

40. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of available bookings, each including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receiving an indication of a plurality of unacceptable purchase offers submitted for at least one of the available bookings; and

receiving a second indication of a number of the unacceptable purchase offers which would be accepted based on a simulated change of the acceptance parameter.

41. An apparatus for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

means for providing a plurality of available bookings, each including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

means for receiving an indication of a plurality of unacceptable purchase offers submitted for at least one of the available bookings; and

means for receiving a second indication of a number of the unacceptable purchase offers which would be accepted based on a simulated change of the acceptance parameter.

42. An apparatus for determining an optimized acceptance rate for purchase offers submitted to a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in electronic communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to;

provide a plurality of available bookings, each including an acceptance parameter and at least one of a date of availability, a room type, and a geographic location;

receive an indication of a plurality of unacceptable purchase offers submitted for at least one of the available bookings; and

receive a second indication of a number of the unacceptable purchase offers which would be accepted based on a simulated change of the acceptance parameter.

43. A method for optimizing performance of a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, the plurality of bookings having an acceptance parameter;

receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the available bookings from at least one user;

determining which of the plurality of purchase offers are rejected;

storing demand data associated with the rejected purchase offers;

entering a simulated change of the acceptance parameter; and

determining a simulated acceptance rate based on the stored demand data and the simulated change.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein each of the bookings corresponds to a hotel reservation.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the demand data comprises at least one of:

a customer identifier, a payment identifier, a rating for a hotel, a location for a hotel, a number of room nights, an occupancy of the room, a room type and a price.

46. The method of claim 43, wherein said determining further comprises:

calculating a simulated acceptance rate based on the simulated change and the demand data stored within a predetermined time.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the predetermined time is one week.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein said determining further comprises:

calculating a simulated acceptance rate based on the simulated change and the demand data corresponding to rejected purchase offers which are not resubmitted purchase offers.

49. The method of claim 43, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a minimum price and a minimum margin amount.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the simulated change comprises at least one of:

a second minimum price and a second minimum margin amount.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the second minimum price is less than the minimum price.

52. The method of claim 50, wherein the second minimum margin is less than the minimum margin amount.

53. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of inputs of simulated changes to the acceptance parameter.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein said determining further comprises:

determining an optimum value for the acceptance parameter based on the plurality of inputs.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum revenue for a predetermined amount of margin.

56. The method of claim 54, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum number of room nights for a predetermined margin amount.

57. The method of claim 54, wherein the optimum value corresponds to a maximum margin for a predetermined number of room nights.

58. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

changing the acceptance parameter based on the simulated acceptance rate.

59. A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for optimizing performance of a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, the plurality of bookings having an acceptance parameter;

receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the available bookings from at least one user;

determining which of the plurality of purchase offers are rejected;

storing demand data associated with the rejected purchase offers;

entering a simulated change of the acceptance parameter; and

determining a simulated acceptance rate based on the stored demand data and the simulated change.

60. An apparatus for optimizing performance of a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of available bookings from a seller, the plurality of bookings having an acceptance parameter;

means for receiving a plurality of purchase offers for the available bookings from at least one user;

means for determining which of the plurality of purchase offers are rejected;

means for storing demand data associated with the rejected purchase offers;

means for entering a simulated change of the acceptance parameter; and

means for determining a simulated acceptance rate based on the stored demand data and the simulated change.

61. An apparatus for optimizing performance of a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in electronic communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to;

receive a plurality of available bookings from a seller, the plurality of bookings having an acceptance parameter;

receive a plurality of purchase offers for the available bookings from at least one user;

determine which of the plurality of purchase offers are rejected;

store demand data associated with the rejected purchase offers;

receive a simulated change of the acceptance parameter; and

determine a simulated acceptance rate based on the stored demand data and the simulated change.

62. A method for optimizing an acceptance parameter in a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

receiving a booking from a seller and an acceptance parameter corresponding to the booking;

collecting demand data for a predetermined period of time, the demand data including at least one purchase offer corresponding to the booking which is not accepted by a seller based on the acceptance parameter; and

generating a report for the seller, the report including at least one new acceptance parameter and an estimated number of bookings corresponding to the new acceptance parameter based on the demand data.

63. The method of claim 62, further comprising:

transmitting the report to the seller.

64. The method of claim 63, further comprising:

receiving a changed acceptance parameter from the seller based on the report; and

inputting the changed acceptance parameter into the buyer-driven commerce system.

65. The method of claim 62, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a minimum price for the booking and a minimum margin amount for the booking.

66. The method of claim 62, wherein the booking corresponds to a hotel reservation at a predetermined hotel property.

67. The method of claim 62, wherein the estimated number of bookings is expressed as at least one of:

an estimated change in revenue, an estimated amount of revenue, an estimated acceptance rate, an estimated change in an acceptance rate, and an estimated change in the number of bookings.

68. A computer readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for optimizing an acceptance parameter in a buyer-driven commerce system, the method comprising:

receiving a booking from a seller and an acceptance parameter corresponding to the booking;

collecting demand data for a predetermined period of time, the demand data including at least one purchase offer corresponding to the booking which is not accepted by a seller based on the acceptance parameter; and

generating a report for the seller, the report including at least one new acceptance parameter and an estimated number of bookings corresponding to the new acceptance parameter based on the demand data.

69. An apparatus for optimizing an acceptance parameter in a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

means for receiving a booking from a seller and an acceptance parameter corresponding to the booking;

means for collecting demand data for a predetermined period of time, the demand data including at least one purchase offer corresponding to the booking which is not accepted by a seller based on the acceptance parameter; and

means for generating a report for the seller, the report including at least one new acceptance parameter and an estimated number of bookings corresponding to the new acceptance parameter based on the demand data.

70. An apparatus for optimizing an acceptance parameter in a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in operative communication with the processor, the memory for storing a plurality of processing instructions for directing the processor to;

receive a booking from a seller and an acceptance parameter corresponding to the booking;

collect demand data for a predetermined period of time, the demand data including at least one purchase offer corresponding to the booking which is not accepted by a seller based on the acceptance parameter; and

generate a report for the seller, the report including at least one new acceptance parameter and an estimated number of bookings corresponding to the new acceptance parameter based on the demand data.

71. A method for optimizing bookings received through a buyer-driven commerce system, comprising:

submitting a booking and an acceptance parameter to a buyer-driven commerce system;

receiving a report including an estimated change in an acceptance of a plurality of purchase offers based on the collected demand data and a proposed acceptance parameter; and

changing the acceptance parameter after said receiving the report.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein said changing further comprises:

changing the acceptance parameter to the proposed acceptance parameter.

73. The method of claim 71, wherein said report further includes a number of actual acceptances which relates to the booking.

74. The method of claim 71, wherein the acceptance parameter comprises at least one of:

a minimum price for the booking and a minimum margin amount for the booking.