Hopper’s Price Freeze Hotel Tool Saves Deals And Covers The Difference Later

The recently launched hotel booking feature available on the Hopper app helps its customers ensure they are always getting the best possible deal when traveling. If users see a great hotel deal but aren’t ready to book their trip just yet, the Hopper Price Freeze Tool places a hold on the best available room rate with just a few taps, freezing that price for the user until they are ready to book at a more convenient time. If the rates increase during the Price Freeze period, Hopper will cover the difference up to $100. And, in order to ensure its customers enjoy the lowest rates, if the price goes down during the Freeze window, Hopper users will instead pay that new, lower price. Hopper also plans to roll out the ability for users to select which bed configurations they want, be it two doubles, Queen, or King, and offer a Price Freeze on the best rate for the chosen room setup. If travelers change their mind and decide to stay at a different hotel, Hopper allows customers to put their Price Freeze deposit toward the new booking. 

The Price Freeze for Hotels tool builds on Hopper’s pre-existing Price Freeze for Flights fintech solution, which offers a similar service to lock in flight rates for travelers over a predetermined period of time. Flexible booking capabilities are becoming more widely adopted across the travel and hospitality industry, as the sector focuses on luring travelers back following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic while acknowledging that these customers are looking for more choice and flexibility before committing to plans. Indeed, Book Now, Pay Later, and other deferred and installment payment plan offerings have consistently grown year-over-year as a percentage of eCommerce travel transactions, from 0.9% in 2020 to a projected 3% in 2023, as customers respond positively to the increased level of personalization and adaptability offered not just by Hopper but by other easily-integrated checkout solutions like Uplift’s Book Now, Pay Later tool and Partial.ly’s installment planning technology. 

Hopper is hoping to capitalize on this new zeitgeist. For a hotel stay of two-to-three nights, Hopper customers that use the Price Freeze for Hotels tool save on average $43, or $17 per night, with many customers reporting savings upwards of $70. Hotels don’t take on the booking risk, as it is underwritten by Hopper’s proprietary algorithm that factors in trip length and the likelihood of price changes in a given market. Price Freeze for Hotels is available on both iOS and Android versions of Hopper, and anywhere the app operates.

+++

For a deeper dive into this topic, check out PSFK’s latest report which describes seven trends with supporting examples of innovation, stats and quotes. In it, the PSFK team showcases how grocers are doubling down on their store experience through enhanced merchandising, sustainability and convenience.