Started in 2011, HotelTonight is a app that allows users to reserve in seconds hotel rooms at the last minute. They differentiate themselves from other last minute reservation services such as Last Minute and Late Rooms as well as direct competitors such as VeryLastRoom by their high-quality hotel and low price guarantees. As a pioneer of quick reservations on mobile, they now have more than 5 million users of which 30% are outside of the US. Their service has a strong social element as well as users are encouraged to photograph their hotel rooms and share them as well as their comments/feedback with their friends.
After taking the first international step setting up in London in June last year, France was identified as a high priority market and launched end 2012 along with Mexico and Belgium. Now they’re rapidly picking up their expansion moving into new markets such as Spain, Italy as well as new cities in France, Mexico, US and UK. In France, specifically, they are expanding beyond Paris and Nice into 4 new cities including Lille, Lyon, Marseille, and (end June) Bordeaux.
For HotelTonight, France is a high priority market given that it’s the second biggest market for them after the UK, is growing massively with a growth rate of 88%, and remains the top tourist destination in the world.