Hotel Tonight And Capital One Rewards Pair-Up
By
Easy Tips
—
Saturday, 14 July 2018
—
Credit Tips
Hotel Tonight is a travel app for those who aren’t so planning-minded when it comes to travel. Basically, it is a last-minute deal site. Hotels have rooms they want to fill, and customers often want to wait to the last minute to pick a place. According to CEO Sam Shank, two groups of people favor the mobile travel app in particular. Discounts are a part of that model. Shank told us that, on average, users save about 17 percent, with a guarantee it is the lowest rate for those hotels.
But discounts aren’t the whole of the model, since even Shank noted that there are other ways to save when booking online. Hotel Tonight is instead looking to create a certain experience, for a certain type of enthusiastic and adventurous traveler. “This isn’t about looking for the cheapest hotel. There are a lot of places racing to win that prize.
This is the combination of great value, great price and a great experience for our customers who are staying at the place they want to stay,” Shank noted in an interview with PYMNTS. “This is for customers who want to get to the trip. And that, Shank noted, made Capital One a natural fit, as Hotel Tonight was looking to make its first big, national loyalty and rewards play for consumers.
This is a first-of-its-kind partnership for the travel startup. The sentiment was mutual, concurred Capital One Managing Vice President Manan Mahadevia, on the loyalty pair-up. “One of things about this partnership that really appealed to us was the natural fit between our customer bases. These are people who love to travel, who are spontaneous and who are, at base, curious explorers,” Mahadevia noted.
Complexity is a conversion killer in all contexts, both Mahadevia and Shank noted, since the direction of commerce and rewards in general has been towards simplicity. But in the context of this in particular, it is particularly damaging because a labor-intensive rewards program runs contrary to the value proposition of both products. “The customer experience had to be drop-dead simple,” Shank noted of the design process for the Venture rewards program for Hotel Tonight.
“What you see is what you get. Mahadevia noted that Hotel Tonight’s initial pitch to consumers has been “three taps and a swipe,” and the essential challenge to was to add as little complexity to that process as possible. Simple, Shank noted, isn’t easy. “It was something where we did a fair amount of product work to pull this off, to make sure the points go on in a way to make it seamless.
But hard work that both firms think will be worth it, because simplicity is the order of the day, both for the customer base they serve now and the base of customers they hope to serve. Which means offering rewards, like a net 27 percent discount, on average, for the bookings, is good. But making it seamless enough that customers can use it, hopefully often, without much thinking about it,
This is an excellent card for folks who want free travel without worrying about blackout dates. You can use your miles to book nearly ANY travel purchase. So if you find yourself staying at boutique hotels that don’t have a loyalty program, or if you prefer a flat earning rate without juggling bonus categories, this card is what you’ve been looking for. 95 annual fee is waived the first year and it has NO foreign transaction fees. So it’s a good card to use internationally.
We devote thousands of hours of research to help you get Big Travel with Small Money. You support us by signing-up for credit cards through partner links which earn us a commission. Here’s our full Advertising Policy. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card card has just become more valuable! 500 in travel) after meeting minimum spending requirements. And Capital One has added a new perk to the card that can save you hours at the airport!
Lots of folks like the Capital One Venture because of its straightforward and flexible rewards structure. Here’s more about the card’s newest benefit. The Capital One Venture card now reimburses you for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck! 100 Global Entry fee with the Capital One Venture, you’ll automatically get a credit for the charge.
This terrific perk is NOT linked to the cardholder. So you can pay the fee for ANYONE and still get the credit. This is great for friends of folks who already have Global Entry. I love that Capital One is continuing to add value to this card. Lots of readers already like the card, and they’ll love this handy benefit.