Tablet Hotels

• Members who pay $99 per year are entitled to guaranteed room upgrades which are typically valued at around $200 per stay. Aside from room upgrades, members can enjoy free perks such as free cocktail drinks and discounted services.

TripRebel

• Guests are guaranteed the best service as it automatically books a superior hotel in the neighborhood when in promotion and it matches the original booking price.

Mr & Mrs Smith

• All hotels in its collection have free room upgrades if the user is a Goldsmith member. Some smaller hotels have only one room category; room upgrades are not possible in these situations.

Nightly Travel

• This is a hotel switching company where upgrades happen automatically. They take advantage of the fact that not all nights are priced the same so they can simply switch users to cheaper yet more luxurious hotels nearby. The result is guests can enjoy room upgrades while saving money.

SnapTravel

• SnapTravel has a chat-based booking system where agents can secure free hotel upgrades and it says that 60% of its customers secure a higher floor and 30% can score a true room upgrade. They have 24/7 ninja agents that call the hotels on the day of check-in to try to win a free room upgrade.

Tingo

• Tingo is a rebooking website where it constantly monitors the room prices of the hotel where a guest made an advance booking. When a better room becomes available at the same price the guest paid, they will automatically upgrade the user and cancel the previous reservation.

Research Strategy:

TABLET HOTELS

• Tablet Hotels' primary customers are individuals who seek boutique hotels.
• Typically, this particular audience involves members of nearly every generation, including Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen X., who are curious and animated travelers.
• One of Tablet Hotel's competitive advantages is that it offers straightforward online booking at a reasonable costs and supplies live, secure customer service.

TRIPREBEL

• TripRebel's target audience includes young professionals with a dedication or devotion to traveling.
• Its target audience is chiefly young business professionals aged 24-39 and mostly prefer to stay alone while at hotels or while on trips.
• TripRebel observes the market, as well as the shifting rates. It immediately cancels an earlier booking and reserves the new offer.
• It ensures that travelers are dedicating more of their time towards preparing for their travels as opposed to going through the hassle of booking a stay for the cheapest prices.

Research Strategy:

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

• Mr & Mrs Smith offers its members up to 50% off on hotels throughout the year. They also offer "best price guarantee", matching their competitor's offers, as well as free extras to members at their hotels.

• The company generated £14.8 million ($18.2 million (converted using December 2018 rate)) at the end of its 2018 fiscal year.

• Nightly.Travel targets male and female value-seeking travelers between the ages of 25 and 34.

• The company helps travelers save up to 70% in hotel accommodation costs.

• Nightly.Travels generated an estimated annual revenue of $1.6 million.

RESEARCH STRATEGY

Overview

SnapTravel

• SnapTravel targets all consumers who want to book hotel rooms through conversational commerce, or direct communication with hotel brands.
• The company services customers from over 200 countries. The top five countries SnapTravel receives most of its traffic include the United States (73.7%), the United Kingdom (7.0%), Canada (6.0%), Australia (2.5%), and the United Arab Emirates (1.6%).
• Users access Snaptravel's services through various communication apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, Viber, and Messenger.
• SnapTravel's competitive advantage is being present where consumers "spend most of their time." Instead of having their own app, the company works through social network and messaging platforms to connect consumers directly to hotel brands. As a result, people can book their hotel rooms quickly and easily.
• Moreover, the use of social network and messaging platforms allows SnapTravel to expand their international market. For example, WhatsApp is the top messaging app in over 100 countries and has 1.5 billion users every month.
• The company's annual revenue is estimated to be $1 million. 

Tingo

• Tingo is for travelers who want to make sure they are getting the lowest price for their room.
• Since hotel rates fluctuate, a person may end up paying more for their room than if they had booked later. Tingo is a service that automatically rebooks a customer's reservation if the price drops and refunds the customer the cost difference.
• Tingo's advantage is that it is the only hotel booking company that has an automatic rebooking service, which saves the consumer money by finding cheaper rates.
• The hotel rates offered by Tingo are competitive, so even if the price never drops, customers still get a good deal.
• The company's annual revenue is estimated to be $3.2 million. 

Research Strategy