The new tool will be welcome news to AutoSlash users.
The discount car rental booking site AutoSlash has launched a new subscription service for hotel bookers. Known as HotelSlash, the membership-based platform will track hotel bookings and alert travelers when their rates have dropped.
HotelSlash will offer hotel bookings via a dedicated website, offering discounted rates at hotel properties worldwide. Bookings on the site will already include rate tracking, and travelers will receive an e-mail when the rate for their dates and room type has dropped. HotelSlash will also send e-mails when the system finds higher room categories or better amenities (like free breakfast) at similar or lower rates.
Travelers booking refundable or pay-at-property reservations through other websites will also be able to forward their confirmations to HotelSlash to have their reservations tracked for rate drops.
“We’re excited to take the wraps off HotelSlash and officially introduce it publicly,” said Jonathan Weinberg, co-founder and CEO. “HotelSlash provides exclusive, members-only access to exceptionally discounted rates, which are currently unavailable to the general public, for over one million properties worldwide. It’s like price protection for your hotel reservation.”
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The subscription service is $29.95 per year, and HotelSlash will strive to save members enough on their first bookings to “pay back” their membership fee. They’re also providing a refund guarantee for members who are not satisfied with the service.
Immediately following the launch, the site is offering trial memberships without a credit card, so I signed up and requested a quote for a hotel I have booked for a three-night stay in Seattle this summer. HotelSlash takes the stay dates and then e-mails a link to a listing of the non-public rates they’ve contracted with area hotels. The selection included most of the hotel properties in Seattle, but the rates weren’t competitive with what I already had booked.
I took the second option offered by the site and forwarded my confirmation. Within a few moments, I had an e-mail back confirming the details of the stay I had booked, including the dates, rate, and room type, along with a promise that I’d receive an e-mail if HotelSlash found a better rate on the internet before my rate becomes nonrefundable a few days prior to arrival.
It’ll be nice to not have to check back constantly to see if the rate has gone down. I booked a publicly available rate that hasn’t changed since I confirmed a few months ago, but as a pay-at-property rate that doesn’t have any cancellation penalties until just a few days prior to arrival, it will be easy to rebook if a lower rate becomes available.
Weinberg confirmed that HotelSlash offers “prepaid (both refundable and non-refundable) rates as well as pay-at-property rates.” He further noted that rate types are dependent on the property and their specific contract, but they “have many sources of inventory and are adding more all the time. Ideally, there would be at least one opportunity [per booking] to re-book through us for a lower rate.”
Savvy travelers can appreciate a subscription service that will track hotel rates for them. Hotels, particularly pay-at-property rates that can be canceled until a day or so prior to arrival, have long been opportunities for travelers to find savings with pricing fluctuations, but that has often been compromised by how time-consuming it is to continually monitor hotel rates for a stay that’s already been confirmed.
HotelSlash offers to take some of that tedious checking and re-checking out of the equation. It’s worth noting that HotelSlash scans its own rates to compare with bookings that are originally made directly with the hotel or with other third-party providers, but the promise of a lower rate by booking through their portal will likely be enough to entice bargain-seeking travel buyers to pony up for the annual subscription.