BYHOURS, THE UNIQUE PAY-PER-USE HOTEL BOOKING PLATFORM URGES UK HOTELIERS TO COPY SPANISH COUNTERPARTS AND CAPITALISE ON REAL CUSTOMER DEMAND.
As we approach 2017, ByHours, the unique, pay-per-use hotel booking platform is urging UK hoteliers to offer customers hotel room stays as short as 3 hours in the year ahead, to capitalise on a very real demand for ‘micro-stays.’ The award-winning start up whose largest market is Spain, has seen Spanish hoteliers offering micro room stays (of 3,6 or 12 hours) using the ByHours platform increase their annual revenues by an average of 100,000 euros and RevPAR between 2 and 4 euros.
Guillermo Gaspart, ByHours’ founder and Chairman believes responding to how modern consumers behave, and hotels not limiting themselves to the traditional per night booking model, is key for the future health of the industry when ‘every day a new Airbnb user is born.’
Far from a PR gimmick, micro hotel room stays are answering a very real gap in the market, largely driven by how technology has changed the way we work and raised consumer expectations to live seemlessly. Visit any Starbucks in the worlds’ biggest cities on a weekday and the hoardes of businesspeople on laptops demonstrates the Wifi-enabled need for comfortable places to work in city centres. Amongst consumers ‘an app for that’ mentality has created a demand for GPS-located services which will make their lives ever easier.
Whether that’s locating the nearest hotel room for a few hours sleep while visiting relatives in hospital or using a room to get ready for a night out after a day of shopping, consumers are more open than ever to smart services which are convenient and will allow them to make better use of their time. With hotel rooms offering upgraded home-from-home comforts and privacy, at the same time as being in city centre or strategic locations (ie: airports), there is a massive opportunity to make more use of rooms within a 24 hour booking window- evidenced by some of the most well located hotels in Barcelona increasing revenues by over 150,000 euros a year.
Guillermo Gaspart of ByHours said:
“There is an exciting gap in the hotelier market for short term room use which we are seeing work hard and drive impressive revenue returns in Spain. Consumers are increasingly demanding clever solutions which will make their lives more comfortable and efficient – qualities epitomised in beautiful hotel rooms with convenient services, located in key city and transportation hubs. The demand is there and UK hoteliers have a massive opportunity to boost their occupancy when thinking more widely than just the traditional booking model.
It is crucial that hoteliers do things differently to suit the needs of the modern consumer. It is no use resting on your laurels and breathing a sigh of relief for the Airbnb 90 day limit, there will be new Airbnb propositions and other smart services, to survive hotels must be creative and resourceful with what they have – useful and comfortable rooms in great locations.”
It costs nothing for hoteliers to try the returns offered by the ByHours hotel booking platform for themselves. The platform allows hoteliers to increase their occupancy several times a day by reselling rooms when they are empty, in flexible 3, 6 and 12 hour booking slots (without having to increase their prices or reduce their commission.) With no setup or maintenance costs, the platform is fully managed by hoteliers allowing them to set their own prices, allocate micro-slots as rooms become available and design convenient check-in times.
The platform operates seemlessly with hoteliers’ own PMS Channels, allowing properties to use ByHours when it is most profitable for them. ByHours works with both large hotel chains and smaller, individual boutique brands and is open to partnerships with accomodation in the UK’s smaller towns as well as its largest cities. Since launching in 2012, ByHours has attracted over 150,000 regular hotel customers and over 4 million euros worth of investment funding.
To sign up, and for further information, hoteliers should visit the trade section of the ByHours website: Are you a hotel manager? or call ByHours on 00 34 934 124 622.