Priceline boss Jeffery Boyd says mobile is the best opportunity currently available in travel and will consider following its rival Expedia by acquiring technology to compete.
Boyd believes the rapid proliferation of smartphones over the past few years, and enthusiasm for creating tools and services in the developer community, has created an opening on the internet that is "the most exiting thing to happen since I've been dealing with it".
Expedia gave a clear sign earlier this week of its own intentions to take mobile seriously when it announced plans to buy application and platform development company Mobiata.
Boyd, however, is sketchy on whether it will follow suit but hasn't ruled out such a move just yet.
"We have not normally acquired companies for technology, but buying a company like Mobiata is a way to accelerate it, so I wouldn't exclude" it in the case of mobile, he says.
Meanwhile, Boyd believes dynamic packaging in Europe has not taken off as some might have expected given it was seen as a major opportunity for online travel agencies in the mid-2000s.
Speaking at the PhoCusWright conference in the US this week, Boyd says the reluctance of low cost carriers to work with intermediaries means that the ability to put flight and hotel packages together has not happened to the extent some had predicted.
Some 40% of the flights are taken on such low cost carriers, Boyd says, restricting the ability of agencies to create package deals.
This, in some respects, is contrary to the views of some critics of dynamic packaging who suggest consumer fear of not being protected in the case of company failure has hampered its growth.