Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Now you can book boutique hotels on Twitter

Hotel booking services are sometimes able to negotiate better prices for mobile consumers. Now online hotel bidding company Stayful is featuring those prices with a new Twitter-based booking process.

The company launched a service Tuesday called "TweetStay" that matches mobile users with independent boutique hotels via Twitter.

Twitter users can start a request by tweeting at @Stayful with the hashtag #tweetstay and their destination city, the hotel level they want (budget, mid-priced or premium), and their travel dates.

After the user tweets their request, Stayful negotiates prices for the stay with boutique hotels and tweets back a link with an offer at a better rate that what is usually available online, according to Stayful.



The trip must be within 30 days.

“Hotels want to make sure they book all their rooms, and travelers want a great deal,” said Cheryl Rosner, Stayful's co-founder and CEO. “Since we negotiate prices behind the scenes in real time, we can offer TweetStay customers a better price than they can find online."

Prices on hotels available through Stayful vary depending on the city, however the general range is $100 and under for a "budget" hotel (depending on the location), up to $150 for mid-priced, and higher for premium.

This isn't the first time a company has had the idea of Twitter hotel booking. Loews Hotels ran a program last year that allowed users to arrange stays via Twitter at a Loews property.

Retailers are still figuring out how to sell to consumers on social media, although many travel companies like airlines and hotels have quickly become adept at responding to consumer complaints on the platforms.

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