Hotel trends: Demand for hourly micro-stays continues to rise
The site, which allows guests to book hotel rooms in hourly blocks, reported that between May 2014-2015 reservations made using the site increased from 750 to 2500 per month.
In the same time period the brand’s London hotel partners grew from 40 to 108 sites.
With the UK hotel sector set to see continued growth over the next two years, an increasing number of operators are utilizing the trend as a means of maximising occupancy and monetizing empty rooms during the day.
Consumers want flexibility
Former hotelier David Lebée, who established the site in 2010, credited the trend to the changing nature of hotel usage.
He said: "Dayuse was formed to meet a growing demand from travellers for increased flexibility when visiting hotels - whether they're looking for an informal meeting space, a comfortable stop-over between flights or a convenient base for a day out sight-seeing.
“With technology now playing a huge part in the way we live our lives, people now expect the services that they want, when they want - the hotel industry is no exception."
More than 80 per cent of properties listed on the site are four-star rated, including sites from Marriott, Novotel, Holiday Inn and Ibis.
Nationwide trend
The UK is one of the company’s key markets, with participating sites nationwide including Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Southampton, Newcastle and Cardiff.
"As the most visited city in Europe, London is a highly important market for us and we are incredibly excited by the recent surge in growth we've seen in the capital and the wider UK market. Within the last year, we've seen both the number of UK hotels on our books and guest bookings multiply," said Lebée.
Micro-stay operator ByHours.com has previously reported that bookings in London rose by 55 per cent between April and May this year.
The company, which took over 150,000 bookings in Spain last year, predicted that London had the potential to become ‘an even bigger market’ in future.
Founder and CEO Christian Rodriguez credited the growth to ‘a high percentage’ of customers requesting bookings in or close to airports and transport hubs
