A new app and website has publicly launched today which solves a real travel problem.
Hotels By Day lets you book hotel day-use rooms online.
The problem:
- Day rooms are really hard to book.
- You usually can’t book them online. I’ve booked them occasionally — the Sofitel Heathrow has day space on its website, but people often get confused and book those rates either for the wrong day or in place of overnight’s which are what they really want.
- Sometimes you call the chain to book them, sometimes you have to call the hotel directly.
Hotels By Day — website, and both iPhone and Android app — brings the inventory online.
The app uses geolocation to show the day rooms closest to you for booking same-day easily. But it also lets you book them in advance.
These can be really useful off of a long overnight flight, take a shower, take a nap.
Sometimes I wind up with super long layovers, especially connecting internationally on separate tickets, and a hotel is going to be much nicer than a contract airport lounge.
They suggest it’s great for working remotely while on a business trip (a competitor to Regus offices and Starbucks?) or to enjoy a daycation.
Their initial markets, available today, are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and DC. Next month they will add day rooms at hotels in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. Following in the queue are Boston, Charlotte and San Francisco.
They estimate that 11% of rooms that are occupied two nights in a row are available for intra-day bookings due to early check-outs/late check-ins. And that’s the occupied rooms which have this inventory possibility. I love the business model, like Priceline and Uber it takes an underutilized resource and brings revenue to hotels while making a service available to travelers. And it solves a market failure, because it’s hard to book these kinds of rooms now.
And they’re giving away 5 free day rooms in the market of your choice.
- 3 nights drawn at random from comments on this post
- 2 nights selected by me from tweets that mention both @garyleff and @HotelsByDay
For avoidance of doubt, I receive no compensation for running this giveaway, I’m just passing along free day rooms to readers.
Enter to win on this blog.
- Answer the question in the comments to this post: What would you use a hotel day room for?
- Since three day rooms are being given away out of the comments, you may enter up to three times if yo have different uses for a day room.
- Contest is open until Noon eastern time on Friday, February 13.
- Winners (1 day room each) will be drawn with the help of random.org
Enter to win on Twitter.
- Follow @garyleff and @HotelsByDay
- Tweet what you would do with a day room booked through the site/app. Your tweet must mention both @garyleff and @HotelsByDay to be eligible.
- You may enter twice if you wish, because two day rooms are being given away in this fashion.
- Contest is open until Noon eastern time on Friday, February 13.
- I will select the winners (1 day room each) from tweets that (in my sole opinion) express great uses for the rooms/app.
Check out Hotels By Day and their Android and iPhone apps. I’ve download the Android app, it’s something I want handy on my phone for my travels. Readers get free day rooms. I’ll pay for mine. 🙂 Getting commenting and tweeting!
- You can join the 50,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
I would use a hotel day room on a long layover on international connecting flights. It would be SO much nicer than an airport waiting area or lounge.
A hotel day room would be a great place to rest my aching feet after touring a city like Washington, DC where walking is the best way to see the sights.
I would use a hotel day room to “wash up” in a clean place rather than use a public restroom.
i love to use the hotel pool during the day and need a room to shower before changing into my traveling clothes for a late flight.
Seems a day room might be perfect for an amorous getaway with a new found friend
It would be nice to spend a day at the nice hotel to relax and escape from the daily routine. I would drop off my kids at school, go to the hotel , watch a movie and enjoy the room service lunch…swimming at the pool or enjoy a drink at the bar….Sounds amazing!
A day room would be perfect to refresh oneself on a long layover.
day room = napping before a fun night!
I would take a bath and long nap.
I would love to use a day room for a shower, a long nap, and some peace and quiet out of the airport chaos while enroute.
Really hope this app is successful and expands to many more cities. Day rooms are awesome for r&r and getting work done when traveling.
Shower and nap
Maybe the airlines will book a da room for delayed flights they’re too cheap to otherwise buy rooms for.
Also a good substitute for the mile high club.
How much cheaper than a whole day are these rooms anyway– prices I see are $125.
For use when landing ~7 AM in NYC from a redeye flight & regular hotel won’t be available till 3 or 4 PM. (As for tassojunior’s question, I imagine he/she is not familiar with normal Manhattan hotel rates.)
Also good for long layovers, of course.
And thirdly, although I swore off mileage runs a couple of years ago, on the off chance that I do one again, it would be great to have a day room for shower, nap, relaxation, etc.
I would love to win this. I’d take a long bath and a nap and order room service
A nice place to nap after a long international flight
I’ll use it for a meeting
To nap of course 🙂
Would use to get refreshed before a business meeting.
Would use it to get the kids ready for school so they can go to school straight from a redeye.
Would use a room to do work during down time between flights.
We had an 8 hr layover in Vienna and another in London this year. A day room would’ve been ideal, especially preparing for driving a rental car later that day.
We would also enjoy using a local hotel to go swim in the pool during the day.
Would use for too early in the morning overnight flight arrival or too late in the evening departure flight.
I would use the room for long layovers.
I would use the day room for a nap during the workday!
Would also use a day room to shower and get ready after working out before work.
Would use the day room for a mid-day dance party with my friends
I would use the room for a clandestine rendezvous while traveling incognito.
For napping
For partying
For transiting
A great place to leave luggage while you explore the city or go out to eat and then have a place to come back and change and shower.
I would use the room for band practice, and also invite the groupies over.
I would use the room to take a later flight on my next vacation.
I will use it for a nice lay over rest!
just need a place to hang my hat and snooze for a bit!
Instead of having to schlep into my office for a days work
For napping.
A nice nap before moving on with my day.
A nap after a long flight in coach with a very large man edging into your personal space.
A warm shower, while wishing I had been flying in Emirates First Class.
I love day rooms to relax and consider what I have just done – flown in a metal tube for many hours, and arrived safely in another country.
A place to work for the day during a miserable 13-hour layover.
Naps!
Naps?!
…and some more naps 🙂