PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

Hopper Now Offering Direct Hotel Booking

Hopper has announced that more than 270,000 hotels in over 200 countries and territories across 1,600 major cities are now available to book directly through the app.

The launch comes one year after the company rolled out the first-ever price prediction feature for hotels in one beta market — New York — and has since collected millions of historic hotel prices along with real-time pricing and demand data to accurately forecast prices for hotels worldwide.

“There are now more choices than ever with the most popular destinations boasting an average of 1,000 hotels and top U.S. destinations offering more than 350 hotels,” Brianna Schneider wrote in a press release. “To help you narrow down your search, we’ve also released a number of features. The new search function allows you to enter a city, neighborhood, or even points of interest. You can also apply filters such as neighborhoods, rating, price, and amenities.”

According to Hopper, booking a hotel at the optimal time can save travelers on average $61/night off of peak prices. While most consumers miss out deals because they only check prices too close to their trip date, users can now “watch a hotel” and Hopper will forecast and track the prices of the hotels chosen.

In addition, the app will continuously monitor both public rates, as well as private rates the user might be eligible for. Hopper will send out a push notification the instant prices drop or if a private deal is secured. The hotel can then be booked directly in the app with a few swipes and a tap.

“As you engage with the hotel feature, Hopper will learn your preferences and serve you personalized recommendations about the perfect hotel for you,” added Schneider. “Do you only stay at 4 and 5 star hotels? Do you always book hotels with pools? At the very core, Hopper’s recommendation engine will learn your preferences in the context of a number of factors related to the way you and others travel, and then make recommendations just in the same way that a travel agent may have made them to you in the past (but smarter and faster). The more you engage with the hotels feature (on average, Hopper users return to the app every 3-4 days when planning a trip), the more accurate Hopper’s recommendations will be.”

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024