Skift Take

HotelTonight is taking no options off the table when it comes to its future. And last-minute booking combined with an easy-to-use app are features that can transcend even the lodging sector.

Hostels, hotel packages, and even vacation rentals could soon play a part in HotelTonight‘s core offering, as it looks to expand with its recent large funding round.

Earlier this week the same-day booking app updated its product and quietly slipped in a new ‘Crashpad’ category that include hostels and “more budget options” in Europe.

HotelTonight is currently piloting the ‘Crashpad category’ and quick look through the updated app showed only one property, Generator Hostel, in London.

HotelTonight COO Jared Simon says the new offering is live across Europe, but the app is only displaying a few, or one, hostel at a time. In other words, don’t plan your European backpacking trip around the app just yet.

As HotelTonight expanded its product into European markets, there was “substantial same-day demand for hostels or a really nice budget option,” explains Simon.

The new category is similar to ‘High-Roller Suites’ which appeals to customers on the opposite end of the spending spectrum.

When asked whether HotelTonight has ever considered introducing vacation rentals on the app, Simon responds, “We are an equal opportunity lodging promoter.”

“I don’t think we’re religious about any particular kind of lodging. Rentals are something that our customers may or may not want, but we’re not constraining ourselves to any particular kind of lodging.”

Another feature that HotelTonight is open to changing: time.

Simon says that although there is “always an option” to expand booking time beyond the same-day time frame, the company is leveraging its expertise in same-day bookings for the foreseeable future.

Its main focus, for now, is personalization and displaying relevant results for each user.

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Tags: apps, booking, hoteltonight, wehostels

Photo credit: The Generator Hostel in London is the first hostel listed on HotelTonight. PlaceIt.net

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