HotelTonight is the second hotel booking app to launch in the local market in less than month, proving accommodation is the true industry leader when it comes to adapting to technology.
Launched earlier this month, HotelTonight arrives a few weeks after HotelQuickly, giving Australians a second choice when it comes to last minute hotel bookings.
Solely available via a mobile phone, the app allows travellers book hotel rooms anywhere from seven days to minutes before check-in.
Speaking to KarryOn, HotelTonight Director for Asia Pacific Stefan Cordiner said while the app is influencing the way people book accommodation, it is also meeting demand from travellers for last minute, discount stays.
Check out our interview with Stefan below for more on the evolving accommodation sector and HotelTonight:
Why is there such large demand for app booking platforms?
When you book accommodation in advance, you’re giving up flexibility – you can’t change plans without paying a fee.
But leaving it to last minute, you risk losing availability or pricing. However, with HotelsTonight we have business intelligence teams that analyse the market. We then use that intelligence to purchase rooms in advance – we always purchase above the demand rate to ensure we always have rooms available.
Additionally, because we are a private sales channel we can offer rooms at a lower rate, sometimes even up to 50 percent off.
What market is using your app most?
We have a lot of business travellers using the app. They tend to leave their accommodation to last minute because of potential flight cancellations or additional meetings. For example if you’re working from Melbourne and then need to stay another night in the city for a meeting or your flight is cancelled, they then book on the go.
On the leisure side we also last minute anniversary bookings or forgotten birthdays. Spontaneous nights are getting a lot more traction.
Users are general in the 30-45 age bracket building everything from higher hotel category to high roller penthouse suites.
When are they booking?
A bulk of travellers book in the last 48 hours. Again this tends to be business travellers.
We’ve expanded the service so we have availabilities seven days before, which comes off the back of requests from hotels.
You’re using new methods to market the app, why is this the case?
Rather than traditional marketing we need to look at unique concepts to amplify the product.
For example, we have our pop-up suites, which appeared in Sydney on the weekend. They’re not available to book, but it gave travellers a chance to get to know our product.
We will make booking available on our pop-up suites from August onwards when it arrives in Melbourne. We won’t say where they will appear, guests will just book it, a car will pick them up and surprise them.
Part of our brand is that we’re not selling hotels, it’s the moment. We’re hoping to create for people a life long memory and we’re saying you can create these moment by being spontaneous and that encapsulates everything we stand for.
