LODGING LEADERS
June 01, 2016

062 | Sell More Rooms for Your Hotel Tonight with Jared Simon

LODGING LEADERS

Jared is a co-founder and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of HotelTonight, the on-demand hotel booking app. Prior to HotelTonight, Jared led partner development and served on the founding executive team at online video production and distribution pioneer TurnHere.

Jared previously worked at online travel agency Orbitz, serving on the launch team for the hotel product and eventually taking over as General Manager of the company’s Lodging.com brand. He has a BA from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

In This Episode, Jared Talks About …

  • The inspiration behind HotelTonight, and how he and co-founder Sam Shank saw some of the same issues and same needs, and blended their complimentary hotel and consumer experience to solve them.
  • The two types of customers they have; hotels and travelers, and he describes their ideal customer for each.
  • The process, and what you can expect when you sign up.
  • The relationship between HotelTonight and your hotel’s reservation system, the many options hotels have to utilize their platform, and how that ultimately translates into an actual booking.
  • How HotelTonight is different from the big players (Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz, and Travelocity) … and how they’re able to compete with them.
  • HotelTonight’s unique features, like geolocation, that not only enables travelers to find hotels near them, but also allows hotels to market to a travelers based on a specific set of criteria, e.g. near the hotel or from a particular geographic region.

Booking windows are getting shorter and increasingly happening on mobile devices.

If you want to reach the ever-growing number of guests who are choosing to be more spontaneous about their decisions, I encourage you to give HotelTonight a test drive and see if this is a good option for you.

HotelTonight Created a Promotion Specifically for the Lodging Leaders Community.

If you want to see what the HotelTonight experience is like from the consumer side, they created a promo code specifically for the lodging leaders community.

First time bookers can get $25 off using the promo code with a $135 min spend.

Resources & Links

LODGING LEADERS

  • 329 | Ruff and Ready: ADA gives hotels a short leash when accommodating guests with service animals

    Many hotels these days have made room for guests with disabilities. Hotel managers and staff should also know what the Americans with Disabilities Act says about accommodating guests with pets. During the pandemic lockdowns, a lot of people added a pet to their household and now they’re bringing Fido along on vacation. Hotel employees need to know how to cater to both consumers who are pet owners as well as guests who travel with a trained service animal. Episode 329 of Lodging Leaders podcast reports on how the ADA defines a service animal and how a hotel is legally obligated to serve a guest who comes with a dog or any other animal.

  • 328 | Curb Appeal: Hotels’ refreshed images designed to attract road trippers

    Nearly 48 million Americans plan to travel over the Fourth of July weekend, predicts AAA. Most of them will drive and many of them plan to stay in hotels. What makes a travel consumer choose your hotel? Price can be a factor but so can the story the property tells through its online photos and its real-life curb appeal. First impressions of a hotel set the tone for the guest’s entire stay. Its roadside image is more important than ever as the lodging industry this summer hangs its hopes on a comeback driven by domestic travelers. Lodging Leaders podcast explores the importance of a hotel’s curb appeal as hoteliers think of ways to attract travelers seeking safety and assurance as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

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