Travel booking app Hopper announced today that it’s launching a number of new flexibility products that are designed to help customers save money on hotel, flight and car bookings. Hopper says that almost 60% of app customers purchase at least one fintech product when making a booking. The company says these new fintech products will give customers flexibility not just before a trip, but during it as well.
The company is launching a “Leave for Any Reason” product that lets customers leave their hotel for any reason at or after check-in and book a new hotel of the same star category with 100% of the rebooking costs covered by Hopper. For example, Hopper notes that if your room isn’t as clean as you were expecting, you can rebook your stay via the Hopper app at another hotel nearby at no cost to you. The pricing for the new Leave For Any Reason option is averaging about $30 per hotel reservation, Hopper says.
Hopper is also expanding its “Cancel for Any Reason” option to give customers the ability instantly cancel their stay for any reason up until check-in and receive 100% of their room cost back. If a customer uses this plan, Hopper will pay any fees due to the hotel. The Cancel for Any Reason option is currently available for flights and will be rolling out for hotel bookings as part of the expansion. Like the pricing for the new Leave For Any Reason option, the Cancel for Any Reason feature is averaging about $30 per hotel reservation.
The company is also expanding its “Price Freeze” option, which is currently available for fight and hotel bookings, to cover car bookings. Price Freeze enables customers to freeze prices for up to 21 days, allowing them to take more time to finalize their plans before booking. If the cost for the booking goes up, Hopper will pay the difference up to $100. If the cost goes down, the customer will pay the lower price. The average price per Price Freeze policy is $30.
Lastly, Hopper is rolling out “Standalone Trip Protection,” which will allow non-Hopper bookers to add the company’s Flight Disruption Guarantee to their booking that they made elsewhere. Hopper’s Flight Disruption Guarantee feature helps ensure that customers get to their destinations on time. With the Standalone Trip Protection offering, users can reschedule a delayed flight and Hopper will cover any fees. Standalone trip protection is about $25 per passenger.
The company says it’s on track to sell over $4.5 billion of travel and travel fintech services this year. Hopper’s travel fintech features, such as Price Freeze and Flight Disruption Guarantee, now represent 50% of its total revenue. Hopper says a user who has previously bought one of its fintech options is between 2.5x and 7x more likely to purchase that product again when it’s presented on their return visit.
Today’s announcement comes as TechCrunch confirmed that Hopper has raised $35 million in a secondary share sale that values the company at $5 billion earlier this year. The startup was valued at a little over $3.5 billion in August 2021, when it raised $175 million in a Series G round of funding. There is no date as of yet for when it might go public, which is one reason for running a secondary sale to give liquidity now. But Hopper has confirmed that this is the plan.
Travel booking app Hopper upgrades its valuation to $5B on secondary sale
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