eschewed the intra-day market. But there are signs this is changing. Hotelsbyday, for example, was launched
earlier this year for key US eastern seaboard cities by a group of young hospitality and technology entrepreneurs inspired by the success of single-app services such as Uber. Hotelsbyday thus places its main emphasis on bookings via mobile apps to appeal to Millennials (the under-35 generation), who the founders believe will be a key target market. “We want the experience to be very quick, like same-day booking,” says former tour operator Yannis Moati, one of the founders and CEO. Hotelsbyday takes a 15 per cent commission from hotels for intra-day rooms sold through its app. Although hotels obviously face extra costs when selling rooms for microstays – extra cleaning and laundry, for example – experience so far suggests that the addi- tional revenue generally outweighs the cost. But it does require hoteliers to ensure more efficient use of housekeeping resources to avoid bottlenecks in the system.
OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES For corporate travel buyers, there are also some obvious advantages regarding increased availability and access to during- the-day room bookings. Flexibility is a key potential benefit, especially as it can help reduce accommodation costs by focusing on what the room is used for and whether staying overnight is necessary. “There seems a mindset that often travel must include an overnight stay,” suggests a travel manager for a major UK retail chain. “But we’d cer- tainly welcome increased access to rooms during the day for private meetings.” Companies in certain sectors – such as oil and gas, or shipping, where executives are often travelling on complex and sometimes gruelling schedules – are more likely than most to see the benefits of microstays. Many of these companies, for example, have specially negotiated (by their travel management company) day-rates at airport hotels around the world to enable employees to get much-needed extra sleep, whatever time they arrive or depart. But the microstay trend is still in its
infancy, and corporate buyers may need to be persuaded that it is a worthwhile investment. Moreover, buyers tell BBT that potential concerns include the view that, since traditional data analysis is focused on room nights only, day-rate costs might be missed off standard reports by mistake. In addition, extra room charges – especially 24-hour wifi fees – might not be reduced when the room is only used for a few hours.
26 BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015
Flexibility is a key potential benefit, especially as it can help reduce accommodation costs by focusing on what the room is used for
It may also be that microstay room-
demand generated by the new online booking sites is more geared towards the unmanaged sector rather than larger corporates. HRG, for example, says it is not receiving “any requests at this time to incorporate intra-day booking operators into hotel programmes”.
24-HOUR ROOM STAYS But while microstays seem set to grow because of the flexibility they offer, there is another trend quietly emerging in the US: the genuine 24-hour room stay. The present hotel system for afternoon check-ins and late-morning check-outs means that travellers only effectively have the use of their room for 19 or 20 hours at a time (depending on whether it is an 11am or noon check-out, and 3pm check-in). But some American hotels – such as the new Capella Georgetown in Washington DC and Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas – now allow guests to check-in at the time of their choosing and then keep the room for a full 24 hours. So guests, for example, can check-in at 9pm and keep the room until 9pm the following evening. The luxury Peninsular Beverly Hills in
Los Angeles goes a step further: book an overnight stay and, with advance notice but no extra charge, guests can check in at any time they choose on one day and check-out when they want to the follow- ing day. So guests arriving early after an overnight flight and checking in at 8am, and not leaving until 10pm the following day, would have a 38-hour stay at the cost of just one night. Of the major hotel chains, only Star-
wood has seemingly recognised that such flexibility is an attractive benefit for many travellers. So it now allows elite members of its Preferred Guest loyalty programme (generally those staying more than 75
HOTEL
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
STARWOOD HOTELS is set to launch ‘smart mirrors’ for rooms in its Four Points by Sheraton properties in the US – mirrors that, when touched, can either provide updated weather, news and sports data, or access (via Bluetooth) to guests’ personal Twitter and email accounts.
MARRIOTT REWARDS members this summer can take advantage of a new feature on the hotel group’s mobile app to text the front desk up to 72 hours before check-in with requests, such as additional pillows or an airport transfer.
HILTON WORLDWIDE is planning to deploy mobile-enabled keyless room access next year across its 11 global brands following testing this summer in some of its US hotels. Starwood is already installing its new SPG Keyless system in all of its 150 global W, Aloft and Element hotels.
INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP is linking up with global distribution system Amadeus to develop a cloud-based reservation system by 2017 to ensure it takes advantage of the growth in mobile technology.
nights a year) to choose the check-in time that is most convenient for them and then keep the room for a full 24 hours. This ‘round-the-clock’ check-in service, called Your24, is available at all Starwood hotels and resorts and – perhaps not surprisingly – has already been hailed by some as the birth of the ‘macrostay’.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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