Stayful.com, a hotel bidding and booking site, officially launches today. Providing discounted rates to some the U.S. top boutique hotel like the Standard and the Lodge at Torrey Pines,Stayful.com allows guests to choose not only where they want to stay, but how much they want to pay. Founded by the Cheryl Rosner of Expedia Corporate Travel and Sharqi Minhas of Jigsaw and Hotwire, the concept was brought to life by a team with years of travel and hospitality under their belt.
How does it work? Consumers directly offer hotel’s bids recommended by Stayful, which are lower than best online rates, or reasonable rates they are willing to pay. From there, offers are sent to the hotel, which they can either accept or decline. And from the stats off the beta site,Stayful.com costumers were able to save anywhere from 27% to 42% off the lowest online rates.
“Finding the right hotel AND the best price can be a frustrating process, and travelers are currently researching 21 sites on average to try and book their trips,” said Stayful co-founder and CEO Cheryl Rosner. “Stayful puts travelers in control of the whole process, providing more exciting options from an array of independent and boutique hotels like The Standard, The Lodge at Torrey Pines and Public. We help travelers choose not only a great price but also the perfect hotel. Stayful is a fun, easy experience: we take the guesswork out of it for travelers, and hotels get great new guests. Everybody wins.”
Currently taking bids for stays in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and San Diego, and soon in Seattle, New Orleans, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., there’s no reason why you should be overpaying for your next hotel stay. I know we can’t wait to see if they expand overseas. Either way, we’ll be trying this site out during red carpet season. LA, here we come!