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Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

press.airbnb.com

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Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#91

Post by tspike »

jonknee wrote: post #4

> The HotelTonight app and website will continue to operate as they do today I really hope that's the case, I love Hotel Tonight but will absolutely stop using it if I end up getting someone's condo. Regardless, I'm worried that hotel selection will go way down. They keep emphasizing boutique hotels, but that's not people go to Hotel Tonight for. I could definitely see large hotel chains not wanting to do business wi…

This is boilerplate new acquisition-speak. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't immediately integrate everything.

1. Buy company

2. Draft press release saying "nothing to see here, folks"

3. Wait a year

4. Company absorbs what they like, discards the rest

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#92

Post by jfk13 »

jonknee wrote: post #30
Alex3917 wrote: post #21

Fuck hotel tonight, they're not even a real business and they're just scamming people out of money. They hide their mandatory "resort fees" underneath the Pay button so that it's not visible on screen, and those fees aren't included in any of the prices that are either shown initially or are visible on payment screen (room rate, taxes & fees, or total). You can see how this works in this video I made here: https://ww…

In prison? That's exactly how all hotel bookings work. I agree resort fees are a scam, but that's how it works and it's always charged directly by the property.

> That's exactly how all hotel bookings work.

It is? In some countries, perhaps. It shouldn't be, and it needn't be, given just a little bit of consumer-friendly regulation of how prices are advertised.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#93

Post by draw_down »

randomacct3847 wrote: post #2

pretty interesting. My hypothesis is that there’s a large cohort of people (myself included) who hesitate to use airbnb because there is still a real issue of inconsistency with back and forth with host, key hand off, etc that people who are attracted to hoteltonight (extremely last minute bookings) would hate and that airbnb is trying to figure out how to appeal to that base.

Yeah, the uncertain/inconsistent parts of Airbnb aren't great. Waiting for the host to respond if you need them, having to tell them why you're visiting, figuring out the entry details/getting the keys, whatever rules they have about cleanliness and so forth. For one or two nights all that stuff is a pain.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#94

Post by jonknee »

Alex3917 wrote: post #77
iooi wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not for HT though, that's the hotel's policy and they take 100% of that charge. The hotel is choosing to advertise a room for $100 with a "hidden" $30 resort fee -- not HT. Also, it's unfair to characterize it as a scam if it's printed clearly in the costs. It's your responsibility to read what you're paying for.

> Also, it's unfair to characterize it as a scam if it's printed clearly in the costs. It isn't, which is why I posted the video showing that. On the screen you can very clearly see: Room (1 Night): $180 Taxes & Fees: $32 Total: $221 The resort fee isn't included in any of those. They put it in fine print thats hidden below the Apple Pay button. But they designed the UI to make it so that the Payment button is flush…

Well it's because they aren't charging you the resort fee, the hotel does that. They itemize what you're actually paying for... Just like they mention, but don't charge you for parking ahead of time. That's up to the hotel.

Anyway, the UI is different now and in big type it says "Due Now" with the resort fee mentioned under that. I personally didn't find it confusing before, but it's now quite clear.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#95

Post by icebraining »

strange_quark wrote: post #78
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…

Ironically the first time I used HotelTonight was when my Airbnb turned out to be a scam leaving me with nowhere to stay well past midnight. Airbnb's customer service was horrid. It was really difficult to find a phone number -- they clearly don't want you calling them -- and once I did find a number, I was on hold for upwards of 30 minutes until I finally got a person who told me that I would have to wait over an ho…

> It was really difficult to find a phone number -- they clearly don't want you calling them

Maybe it changed in the mean time, but googling "airbnb phone number" showed it right in the search page. That info came from https://www.airbnb.com/help/contact_us, wherein clicking "It's something else" shows a "Call us" option, which has the number.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#96

Post by fady »

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…

Amazing app. I was in Bordeaux, having dinner, time slipped away, drank too much...what to do? HotelTonight. I would find something, book it, and be done. Back to dinner.

I did this 7 different times all around France. It was a perfect experience. The fact that the UI/UX makes super duper easy to view, book, set, & forget. I think its better than opening a chrome tab or any other mobile app thus far.

Don't even try to compare to other sites desktop experience. I can book everything before you would launch a chrome tab. Lastly, every time I showed up to the reserved hotel (usually later), everything was taken care of and never was my reservation, lost, not taken, or a problem with rooms. THE UI/UX is the reason this app is so amazing.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#97

Post by crushcrashcrush »

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.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#98

Post by crushcrashcrush »

zackmorris wrote: post #90

This looks like a good opportunity to discuss something I'm concerned about regarding booking apps. We used Expedia I believe to book a hotel last year and I remember that it charged a $20 fee on top of an $80 hotel room. I believe they had an agreement where the online and in-person price was the same, so the hotel basically ate that $20. So it's good for them to get the constant business (similarly to how Groupon w…

It will not. The labor is commoditized - if you want more money to go to the staff, you need to directly hand it to them in the form of cash.

Re: Airbnb to Acquire HotelTonight

#99

Post by benatkin »

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.
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