These Apps Change the Hotel Game

LOS ANGELES—Over the last few years, two hoteling apps—HomeAway and HotelTonight—have reinvented the way hotel users find and book a place to stay while traveling. At ALIS 2015, Jared Simon, co-founder of HotelTonight and Carl Shepherd, co-founder of HomeAway, talked about how they are disrupting the hotel industry and whether or not there is room for more improvement.

“Are there still friction points,” Simon asked in response to an audience question about future innovation. “If the answer is yes, then there is still room for improvement.” The comment encapsulated the tone of the panel, which was to discuss how this industry is evolving. Simon's HotelTonight launched four years ago, and allows hotels to market their open rooms, at discounted prices, to customers looking for a place to stay that evening. Aside from its inherent lean toward the spontaneous, the app, he said, is different than Expedia, Priceline and the like because rather than placing the focus on delivering the value to the user, he considers both the hotel and the user as his customers. On one hand, he is creating a platform for hotels to sell their unused rooms and on the other hand, he is delivering value to the customer.

HomeAway is more focused on groups or families, and like AirBnb, allows individuals to create their own revenue by renting out a home. Unlike AirBnb, those homes are typically second homes, not single rooms or lived-in homes. “Our core customer is families and large groups, not couples or single individuals,” said Shepherd in response to the comparison between his platform and AirBnb.

These two very different platforms show that consumers are thinking about hotels and travel in a very different way that past generations, namely that they are comfortable booking last minute or staying in someone's home. Simon also pointed out that using HotelTonight might be a way to drive new customers. Someone who is traveling last minute may book through HotelTonight, have a good experience and then seek out the hotel specifically in the future.

The two sat on a panel called Game Changers, which included Mark Gilbreath, founder and CEO of LiquidSpace, who talked about changes in the office leasing space.