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!
Sounds like an interesting idea.
shower and a nap
A nice long nap
to nap!
Nap before my night flight
I would use it to shower.
Long layovers – for a nap and a shower. I hope this expands to those international destinations where overnight flights from the US are the normal schedule.
Nap and shower after transatlantic flights.
Sleep like a baby after a red eye flight!
Enjoy a good shower during a long stopover!
Definitely a shower.
Use it to shower and relax on a long layover
I would use it as a private office to get work done between flights.
Shower after a flight
A short nap before work
a change of clothing and refresh after an overnight flight
I have often used day rooms near airports to have a rest, shower, etc. Been doing it for 30 years. I’ve always negotiated a rate with the hotel at the time, but this app sound great.
A place to take a shower
A place to take a nap
A quiet place to get some work done without distractions
A day room could be good for business meetings in neutral territory.
I would use a day room for an afternoon tryst.
To catch up between meetings
To relax in a comforable environment, away from the noise and bustle of a busy airport, and be able to shower and nap before my next flight!
Sleep.
I would use a day room at LAX for a layover on my way back from Tahiti
red eye flights with a long layover.
better than sleeping in an airport lounge!
Will give me a reason to book flights with long layovers in-between them.
To use to take a break in while shopping in NYC!!!
When your hotel checkout is at 11AM & your flight out is 11PM.
Nice to relax in a nice room after a early AM flight before your main room is ready!
Would use the hotel day reservation to freshen up on a long layover on an intercontinental flight.
Would probably get a day room in a hotel that has a pool and go for a swim during a long layover
Shower for sure, and nap
Sounded good, except way overpriced.
LGA Marriott, $140 for 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, versus $156 for 24 hours standard rate. I’ll bet you can walk in and get 1/2 that price for a 1/2 day.
Take a shower!
Use the wifi to get work done!
Take a nap!
Shower after a red eye from lax to nyc
WiFi and a shower when changing planes.
As a base point for a spa day with my friends at a hotel with a great spa.
We’re flying from TPA to LHR on May 12, and we have a 7+ hour layover at LAX. A day room near LAX would really come in handy!
I will take short nap afternoon morning call and charge my phone. Then, bath tub
I will use coffee pot to make instant noodle
I would use it to take a nap!!!
I would also use it to read a newspaper.
Get a day room for some quiet during a Skype or Facetime conference call.
Long layover relief
side step check-in time