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Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

press.airbnb.com

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Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#161

Post by Joe-Z »

dang wrote: post #125
redunculous5 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

So, I turned on "showdead" (thanks for the hint btw!) and the original comment I see is closer to my description of it.

I understand you calling it unsubstantive (so I guess I were right in that we're not allowed to post opinions here), but it did contain more information than that:

Obviously there's people who liked to use HotelTonight, who don't want to give money to AirBnb. These people are now in a predicament and that's the other information he was communicating.

Now, I don't want to disrespect the work you do here, but I don't see any reason why simple downvotes and a low ranking in the comments section wouldn't have sufficed for this comment.

(From your reply though I gather this isn't the first time you interacted with this individual. So, do you think it's possible you'r not judging objectively here?)

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#163

Post by throwaway-1283 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #159
throwaway-1283 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree with this analogy. Hotels have their place, and in so many ways they can be superior to a home rental. I am the furthest thing from a luddite, but I personally prefer (as I know many others) hotels to Airbnb. There's a consistency to the hotel product that you can't get with Airbnb that I place a premium on, especially for short or last minute stays. I'm also not really sure why Airbnb is consider…

I honestly question who hotels are for. I'm in the top 2% in income, and I actually prefer staying in a hotel, but they'r e just insanely expensive. Do you mostly stay in hotels for business reasons? Or are you just rolling in money?

What is considered "insanely expensive"? Hotel prices widely vary depending on the city and time of year, and within a market there's 1* to 5* hotels.

I'm looking at hotels in Manhattan for this weekend and there's 4* hotels for $150/night. Is that expensive? That is equivalent to what some people pay in rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in SF or NY.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#164

Post by stevehawk »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #159
throwaway-1283 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree with this analogy. Hotels have their place, and in so many ways they can be superior to a home rental. I am the furthest thing from a luddite, but I personally prefer (as I know many others) hotels to Airbnb. There's a consistency to the hotel product that you can't get with Airbnb that I place a premium on, especially for short or last minute stays. I'm also not really sure why Airbnb is consider…

I honestly question who hotels are for. I'm in the top 2% in income, and I actually prefer staying in a hotel, but they'r e just insanely expensive. Do you mostly stay in hotels for business reasons? Or are you just rolling in money?

As a counter to that, I don't know the last time I stayed in an AirBNB and it was cheaper than a local hotel. Rather I was forced into it by people I was traveling with.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#165

Post by avani »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #159
throwaway-1283 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree with this analogy. Hotels have their place, and in so many ways they can be superior to a home rental. I am the furthest thing from a luddite, but I personally prefer (as I know many others) hotels to Airbnb. There's a consistency to the hotel product that you can't get with Airbnb that I place a premium on, especially for short or last minute stays. I'm also not really sure why Airbnb is consider…

I honestly question who hotels are for. I'm in the top 2% in income, and I actually prefer staying in a hotel, but they'r e just insanely expensive. Do you mostly stay in hotels for business reasons? Or are you just rolling in money?

I don't know about op, but airbnb is crap for accessibility so I've learned my lesson and always choose hotels.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#166

Post by bodyfour »

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've used it a bunch in UK and Northern Europe... absolutely loved it. Most of my travel tends to be last-minute and I've always found the selection and pricing to be great. I've never had a hotel that wasn't at least "ok" and several times I've gotten ones that have been stellar. Having the whole thing integrate with Apple Pay made it so fast, too.

This news is devastating. My least favorite lodging company just bought my most favorite.

My question would be -- what other apps provide an experience close to what HT did?

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#167

Post by mrcodedude »

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…

"My experience using other booking sites for 'cheap deals' has been that you're often treated as a lower-tier customer, for example being given worse rooms (ground floor, no windows etc). The HotelTonight experience is the opposite. ~25% of the time, I receive a room upgrade without asking"

They're all OTAs. You're just as likely to get a "good" room with HotelTonight as you would with Priceline, Hotwire, etc. The quality of room you receive is mostly dependent on room availability and the check-in agent.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#168

Post by kdot »

snark42 wrote: post #156
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.

> 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. I'm not sure. It may be harder to book future dates with HT after the contracts expire, but in my experience HT is most useful when AirBnB isn't (same day booking.) I'd imagine hotels probably like the last minute bookings. Also you can book at 1 or 2am when hotwire cu…

No, this was my biggest gripe. You can't book a room at 2AM and expect to get it that same night.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#169

Post by cylinder »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #159
throwaway-1283 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree with this analogy. Hotels have their place, and in so many ways they can be superior to a home rental. I am the furthest thing from a luddite, but I personally prefer (as I know many others) hotels to Airbnb. There's a consistency to the hotel product that you can't get with Airbnb that I place a premium on, especially for short or last minute stays. I'm also not really sure why Airbnb is consider…

I honestly question who hotels are for. I'm in the top 2% in income, and I actually prefer staying in a hotel, but they'r e just insanely expensive. Do you mostly stay in hotels for business reasons? Or are you just rolling in money?

Airbnbs are incredibly overpriced for what you get. They remind me of food trucks. Everything leads you to expect lower prices than a brick and mortar restaurant yet the prices are similar due to the small scale.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#170

Post by therealx »

benatkin wrote: post #99

I have no problem getting AirBnb's at the last minute. I look for ones that say "self check-in" or "check-in anytime" and are bookable instantly. I think since AirBnb is already succeeding at that, this will just increase their success in that area. All they need to do is find those offering that service or have them come to them, whether they be people with extra rooms, or a full fledged hotel.

Usually the stock of these is very low day-of in any major city.
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