The site, which currently has over 100 UK hotels signed up, as well as several others across Europe and the US, was created by father-of-three Wayne Snyder.
“I’m not from the hotel industry, but I have three children but I got continuously frustrated about not being able to book connecting rooms online. Obviously there are reasons why hotels can’t guarantee availability, but I decided to do something about it,” he told BigHospitality.
Direct booking
Hotels, motels and guest houses that can host a party of five guests minimum can upload information about their venue, and when they match a customer search, the system sends them an email asking them to confirm availability of their connecting rooms. Booking is then done directly between the hotel and guest.
“In essence it’s a full hotel search website except it doesn’t take a transaction or payment. Hotels themselves can’t always guarantee availability online, so we had to put the intermediary step for the hotel to confirm it. Given that, it was just easier for the hotel to take the booking straight away,” Snyder added.
Hoteliers have a choice to display specific prices by day, benchmark prices or just generic prices on the site, giving them the flexibility to adjust prices when contacting interested customers.
“It’s a service for everybody rather than a money-making venture,” he said.
User contributions
The site also allows guests to leave reviews on the venues they have stayed at, and even upload information on hotels that are not yet advertised.
“In that case there won’t be contact details for the hotel, but it is meant to allow us to build a bigger offering,” Snyder explained.
He added that before launching the site, he felt like all hotel booking platforms asked him to book two separate rooms, forcing him and his wife to sleep separately so stay with the children.
“Now I can find the perfect hotel with the correct sized connecting rooms that fit my whole family.”