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!
We rent hotel rooms sometimes to go swimming in the winter. I could see that here.
Would like to use it for a staycation.
I could use it for our Europe trip to get a room to freshen up on a long layover at Paris (8 hrs)
Would use it to “work from home” for a day
Refresh from a red-eye
Day rooms are great both for long connections and transferring luggage on the day you leave
Break from walking all day
Just hanging out!
Nap time
Change and shower before long flight
Buy mini bar items
these would come in SUPER handy and helpful on a layover or layovers… fingers crossed!
these would be perfect for a straight up mental health day from work!
a way to relax and rejuvenate from the big city, just pop in from your normal day and suddenly you’re on vacation!
Clean up, have a safe place to relax, nap – just a good thing if you need to bridge the time gaps on a trip.
A nap and shower in between flights
Would be great for long connection
23-hour layover sight-seeing of course!
Shower and nap after late night out
Nice escape from normal routine
Use for a long layover.
Sleep and check email.
Basecamp for a long layover
With the continued devaluation of award points I have to be creative in how to travel international long-haul economically and still arrive at my destination feeling halfway human.
The best method I have come up with is:
1) fly economy comfort / premium economy
2) bring a set of pajamas or comfortable lounge wear
AND–
3) design an itinerary with a longer layover. If I already have a 4, 5, or 7 hour layover, try to schedule flights so I have a minimum of 10 hours. This would allow me to utilize a HOTEL BY DAY room where I could sleep, shower, and return to feeling normal before I continue onwards with my journey.
If, for example, I am flying from a place like Fort Myers or Rapid City, my long-haul journey to Cape Town or Singapore is going to be a long one, regardless. Really, what is the difference between a total travel time of 32 hours (with an awkward layover of 5 hours) and a travel time of 37 hours, which would give a sufficient 10-hour break midway through the trip?
I would love to see every major city have a HOTEL BY DAY program.
In order to discourage drug- and prostitution- traffic, the hotels could ask to see a same-day airline ticket, or set a minimum time + rate.
these would be a perfect home base for a day in the city!
A Starbucks alternative is a good idea. And then take a nap when the work is done.
For a secret rendezvous with the missus.
A long nap between flights.
To escape the airport madness.
A day room could also be a good alternative to tailgating or pre-party with a group of friends.
A quick nap after a red-eye flight to feel refreshed before attempting to drive a rental car.
6am type arrivals
Late evening departures
Ill be more willing to book with long layovers
Not original, but a hot shower and nap.
less than 24 hour layovers where i want to nap between flights
early morning arrivals!
a quiet, private place to work while relaxing on a bed
Nap and shower after a long trip
Nap and shower after a long trip.
Nappety Nap Nap
What a great concept!
This would come in handy for longer layovers
I would take my nieces and nephews to enjoy the pool in the middle of winter.
It would be great to have a room available for changing, etc. for a day meeting in a somewhat remote city.
It could be useful for a place to work before an afternoon flight as well in place of a lounge.
A nice shower. and I’m on the board!
A change of venue always helps…I’d use it to work and write in peace. Or when I arrive into a city WAY before check-in time.
I’d use it for a day in PHL in May when I’m going to have something like a 12hr layover on my way to LHR.
Thanks!
I could use it for a trip I have coming up this year to get some work done instead of sitting in a lounge for 8+hrs.