New figures from short term hotels booking platform ByHours.com reveal a 55% increase in micro-bookings in the last month alone despite launching just two months ago in the capital.The figures also reveal that 67% of these short term bookings are made with a maximum of 1 days notice. The other third of bookings for 3, 6 and 12 hour stays were booked up to two weeks in advance.
With millions of business travellers in and out of London every week by train and by rail, it comes as no surprise that 68% of bookings are made for business related reasons such as showering after a long flight, getting some sleep and catching up on work.
Research also revealed 4 star hotel bookings are most popular, with 80% choosing 4 or 5* for a short stay.
Business travellers
The new data comes from ByHours.com, the world’s first booking platform and mobile app offering micro-stays and pay-per-use bookings. The mobile app offer users a complete booking solution for hotels, in sets of 3,6 and 12 hour periods, and also provides users with the convenience of being able to select their own check in and check out times. Many of the hotels are situated near to airports, train stations and city centres making them perfect for business travellers in need of down time.
Leisure travellers
Whilst the market is more than two thirds business travellers, short stays are becoming ever more popular with leisure travellers too. With a range of 4 & 5* hotels, people are booking short term hotel stays for use of the facilities such as spa and swimming pool. Families visiting the city with small children and needing some downtime are also an interesting use case.
Hospital visits are another key reason for booking through the app, with relatives wanting to get some rest and catch up on sleep before returning to the hospital.
Excess hotel inventory
Christian Rodriguez, CEO and founder of ByHours.com stated, “The popularity of micro-stays in London is great to see after already testing our model in Spain. Travellers in and out of London are taking advantage of the excess inventory hotels have and putting it to good use, either catching up on work or using the 5* facilities in some cases.
“People who are used to travelling for business know that it can be complicated to work efficiently without proper internet connections and with the steady stream of noise and potential interruptions there can be in public places. However every business traveller also knows that every hour counts, it’s a matter of productivity, so it’s no wonder business travellers utilise time between meetings or before/after flights to grab somewhere quiet for a power nap or to take advantage of the hotel internet and catch up on emails.”
Hotels losing overnight custom
“Furthermore, people are getting used to catching an early morning flight and returning the same day, so hotels are losing out on the usual overnight custom they would have from these business travellers. By allowing these business travellers to book for three hours to work and rest prior to a flight is an opportunity for them to acquire new customers, and promote the mornings, middays or afternoons- times their rooms would otherwise be empty.”
Micro-stays to increase in popularity
“Going forward, we expect that micro-stays will only increase in popularity both among business travellers and leisure travellers. In Spain last year we had more than 150,000 bookings and we fully expect London will be an even bigger market for us in years to come. In London there are many more stopovers, and in these first two months in the capital we can see that a high percentage of our reservations and requests belong to customers that need a hotels inside or next airports.”
About ByHours.com
ByHours.com offer users a uniquely different way of booking hotel rooms across the world, using a pay-per-use approach never before seen in the hotel industry. The company has been awarded a range of Spanish accolades such as Best Mobile Application, Best Start-up and Best e-Commerce company. The company is now in the process of expansion, and has as an objective to operate within the main cities of Europe during 2015, focusing first on London, Milan, Paris and Berlin.
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