HotelTonight: Impulsively Book a Hotel Room, Save Up To 70%

**Waqas** · August 18, 2011

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Name: HotelTonight

Quick Pitch: Same-day hotel booking application for last-minute deals.

Genius Idea: Book hotel rooms spontaneously via iPhone or Android.

After getting hotel deals startup DealBase to profitability one year ago, serial travel-focused entrepreneur Sam Shank started thinking about how to approach hotel deals with more of a mobile focus. “What does mobile do better than a computer?,” he pondered. The answer, says Shank, is that mobile is better for “last, last minute” buys.

Shank and co-founders Jared Simon and Chris Bailey then set out to create HotelTonight, an entirely mobile way to book last-minute, same-night hotel stays.

The startup has applications for iPhone and Android. At 12 p.m. local time each day, interested bookers can fire up the application to find the three best hotel deals in a city. The app shows three, and only three, hotel options per city, per day — one option for each of three hotel categories: “hip,” “elegant” or “basic.”

“It’s a way to spontaneously book a hotel,” Shank describes. “So, the spontaneity of I’m at dinner and things are going well. I’m having a good night, and I don’t want to go home.”

To that end, HotelTonight users can book up until 2 a.m. local time for a same-day stay. Shank refers to the 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. booking window as akin to a 14-hour flash sale.

HotelTonight works directly with more than 300 hotels in 18 different cities to generate its selection of same-night hotel offers. Shank insists that rates are 20 to 40% lower than other hotel sites, and are up to 70% off regular rates. “We work hard to ensure pricing is the best pricing you’re going to find anywhere,” he says.

The application intentionally serves up just three hotel options to keep the mobile experience simple for everyone. “We provide a curated list of three hotels, which represent the best deals,” he says. “On the mobile-form factor, it makes it easier to make a booking at the last minute.”

The approach is also intended to get hotels to compete for your last-minute business. On any given night, there are 30 to 40 hotels per city competing for shelf space, he says.

So far, mobile consumers have taken an interest in the application, responding nicely to the convenience of last-minute booking options. Since January, the application has been downloaded more than 650,000 times across iPhone and Android.

Hotel Tonight has raised $3.5 million in funding. The startup takes an industry-standard cut of room sales, Shank says.

Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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