HotelTonight, the platform that lets you make last-minute bookings at hotels, is today announcing that they’re expanding their reservation to up to 100 days out. The change doesn’t take effect immediately, but HotelTonight says that the expanded booking window will go live “in the fall.”
As it stands now, HotelTonight only lets users book hotels within seven days of booking date. In other words, the latest that I could book today is for a check-in date one week from now.
The San Francisco-based startup has been through its share of bumps along the way, cutting 20 percent of its workforce in 2015 and going through a period of cutting costs to slow down its burn rate.
But HT CEO Sam Shank told Reuters that the company has turned a new leaf and indeed begun earning a profit. But in a world where Expedia and Booking.com and Priceline are dominating the market, a profit that comes from a sliver of a pie isn’t enough.
That’s why HotelTonight is getting in the ring with the big players with this forthcoming launch of expanded booking windows. That said, it’s unclear how price will be affected by a longer booking window, as part of the reason that HotelTonight can deliver discounts is based on their ability to fill unreserved rooms.
HotelTonight has raised a total of $117 million to date, and serves more than 25,000 hotels in approximately 1,700 cities.