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Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

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Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#121

Post by freehunter »

goshx wrote: post #73
jonknee wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it works that way even if you book on the hotel's own website... Or Hotels.com, Booking, whatever you want.

Just because it's being done by different companies it doesn't make it right. It's a shady way to lure customers and mislead them. They manipulate these fees in order to have a lower price displayed on the search results.

If Hotel Tonight isn't a real company because of these hidden fees, then neither are the actual hotels charging the fees. If Hotel Tonight should be in prison because of these fees, then so should the hotels actually charging them.

If you hate Hotel Tonight because of the fees, you shouldn't be staying at the hotel actually charging the fees.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#122

Post by princeofwands »

crushcrashcrush wrote: post #97

Fantastic product, super concerned about AirBnB acquisition - not because of what they'll do to the product, but I guarantee their partnerships with hotels and hotel groups will evaporate when contracts expire. A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

Also scary considering that if Airbnb does not like you, for whatever valid or invalid reason, you are not welcome in either local hosting or hotels worldwide. Given that Airbnb already declined hosting people they considered attending a lawful political rally (the "hateful nazi's of Charlottesville"), their increased reach concerns me.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#123

Post by wbronitsky »

princeofwands wrote: post #122
crushcrashcrush wrote: post #97

Fantastic product, super concerned about AirBnB acquisition - not because of what they'll do to the product, but I guarantee their partnerships with hotels and hotel groups will evaporate when contracts expire. A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

Also scary considering that if Airbnb does not like you, for whatever valid or invalid reason, you are not welcome in either local hosting or hotels worldwide. Given that Airbnb already declined hosting people they considered attending a lawful political rally (the "hateful nazi's of Charlottesville"), their increased reach concerns me.

[flagged]

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#124

Post by jjeaff »

princeofwands wrote: post #122
crushcrashcrush wrote: post #97

Fantastic product, super concerned about AirBnB acquisition - not because of what they'll do to the product, but I guarantee their partnerships with hotels and hotel groups will evaporate when contracts expire. A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

Also scary considering that if Airbnb does not like you, for whatever valid or invalid reason, you are not welcome in either local hosting or hotels worldwide. Given that Airbnb already declined hosting people they considered attending a lawful political rally (the "hateful nazi's of Charlottesville"), their increased reach concerns me.

You could still stay at any hotel worldwide. Just not using hotelstonight to book. Although I doubt any bans on Airbnb would extend to hotelstonight because liability for hotel damage does not extend to booking agents.

Whereas, with Airbnb, they cover any damages that guests may do or issues that may arise from the hosts as well.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#125

Post by dang »

redunculous5 wrote: post #108
csallen wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Post I saw from GP didn't give any reasoning whatsoever. Merely said, "I loathe Airbnb." Perhaps it was edited after I saw it and before you did?

Oh, was it you that flagged my comment? I wondered why. Your comment is disengenuous (actually a straight up lie). I did not edit the comment at any point. For ref, since it's been removed it said (if I remember) "I absolutley loathe Airbnb and will not make a booking with them. Does this mean I can no longer use HotelTonight too?" or something like that. I'm fairly new to posting on HN. Maybe the comment was a littl…

csallen didn't flag it, nor did the comment contain information beyond that you "loathe Airbnb" (as anyone can see who has showdead turned on in their profile).

Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN? Especially please do not post to this site in the flamewar style.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#126

Post by jjeaff »

crushcrashcrush wrote: post #117
crushcrashcrush wrote: post #97

Fantastic product, super concerned about AirBnB acquisition - not because of what they'll do to the product, but I guarantee their partnerships with hotels and hotel groups will evaporate when contracts expire. A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

Another thought (should I have edited my original post?) - this may have been a pure Customer List & Historical Data acquisition play. They may have purchased HT fully knowing that they'll lose hotel partners at contract expiration... could be next year or in 2025.

I mean, what kind of data could they really want? Lists of people who stay in hotels when they travel? Probably cheaper ways to get marketing lists like that. Their market is essentially anyone and everyone that travels.

They probably want to put Airbnb listings as options on the hotels tonight app.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#127

Post by gradys »

louisswiss wrote: post #55
HeavenFox wrote: post #31

Those who have used HotelTonight, can you comment on your experience? For me, there have been several rare occasions when I needed a room at last minute, but HotelTonight was never actually cheaper than any other aggregators or booking directly with the hotel. All being equal I vastly prefer booking direct so I get my points and elite benefits. I guess they have a fancy interface, and that's... it? Maybe it's market…

I use it a lot (several times each month for the past ~3 years). I absolutely love it. - You can trust that the hotels are good enough. Never had a bad experience - Takes - They have their own rewards system which really starts to add up the more you use it - They may never give you the absolute cheapest option available in that city for that night, but you'll get an amazing deal on a higher-quality hotel - My experi…

Do you use it even if you plan the trip well in advance? Have you ever run into problems finding a room or being forced to take a room in a distant part of town?

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#128

Post by jimmy1 »

crushcrashcrush wrote: post #97

Fantastic product, super concerned about AirBnB acquisition - not because of what they'll do to the product, but I guarantee their partnerships with hotels and hotel groups will evaporate when contracts expire. A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

> A hotel working with Airbnb is like BlockBuster working with Netflix to share customer data. The hotels groups aren't as fucking stupid as Blockbuster was, though.

I don't feel like this analogy applies, however. You can make the argument that hotels are better than AirBnB. It depends on what you value. If you are business traveler (or heck maybe even not), you probably prefer a hotel because you know you are getting a consistent product and experience each time and there is more avenues for you to have your grievances resolved, and quickly -- i.e. "my room stinks I need a new one now" or if you even mention bed bugs the county health department will be there faster than you can post that AirBnB complaint.

If you are a vacationer trying to stay in some obscure location and need somewhere to stay, you probably value AirBnB more.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#129

Post by mylons »

HeavenFox wrote: post #31

Those who have used HotelTonight, can you comment on your experience? For me, there have been several rare occasions when I needed a room at last minute, but HotelTonight was never actually cheaper than any other aggregators or booking directly with the hotel. All being equal I vastly prefer booking direct so I get my points and elite benefits. I guess they have a fancy interface, and that's... it? Maybe it's market…

love it, often found great deals in places like Paris a week out.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#130

Post by OkGoDoIt »

HeavenFox wrote: post #31

Those who have used HotelTonight, can you comment on your experience? For me, there have been several rare occasions when I needed a room at last minute, but HotelTonight was never actually cheaper than any other aggregators or booking directly with the hotel. All being equal I vastly prefer booking direct so I get my points and elite benefits. I guess they have a fancy interface, and that's... it? Maybe it's market…

I did get one great deal on HotelTonight back in 2012, so I got in the habit of checking it regularly but after that Priceline was always cheaper, often by a significant margin.
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