DreamCheaper Takes Hassle Out of Deal Hunting, Continually Scans & Re-Books Hotel Reservations
Jackie Reddy May 11, 2015
Berlin-based DreamCheaper continuously scans and automatically re-books hotel reservations to find travelers the best possible deals.
What goes up must come down — except, of course, when it comes to hotel rates. Because it seems that no logic can account for the wild, constant fluctuation in room price, the folks at DreamCheaper are trying to help travelers bag booking bargains.
Travelers can take advantage of the rates offered by the site upon booking their stay via any booking platform. They then forward their initial confirmation to DreamCheaper. The site automatically scans the Internet for the best price on the identical reservation, comparing each deal against the confirmation. If a better deal is found, DreamCheaper rebooks the exact same room at the better rate and cancels the original booking.
DreamCheaper takes advantage of the flexible booking options offered by many hotels and it continues searching for bargains up to the day prior to check-in. All deals considered, the Berlin-based startup believes that it cuts rates by an average of 15 percent, but, as its FAQs caution, savings can vary from a whopping 60 percent to as little as 3 percent.
In contrast to conventional booking aggregator sites, which rely on affiliate revenue and have a vested interest in driving room rates up, DreamCheaper generates revenue by taking 20 percent of any money saved. This means that the site has an incentive to find travelers the absolute cheapest deal.
[Photo: DreamCheaper]
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Hi Sdsearch, my name is Leif and I am on of the founders of DreamCheaper. First of all thanks a lot for your feedback, these are valuable insights for us to improve our services. That is why we just recently implemented a new process where you have the control of accepting or rejecting a new booking. That way you can take the decision yourself. Thus, you are able to evaluate for yourself whether or not the new saving would be worth giving up loyalty points (in case this applies). As for Best Rate Guarantees, they generally only exist for a certain period of time. The Look No Further claim from Marriott, which we are experimenting with, is only valid for 24 hours. DreamCheaper however does take the entire period of free cancellation into account, where prices may drop significantly more - even more than the additional 25%. Our services are designed to fit the needs of both first-time travellers and well-versed hotel veterans alike. We are working closely together with some of the most experienced industry experts in order to continuously improve our offering and the user experience. I’ll be happy to answer any further questions you may have. Best regards, Leif
It says in the FAQ: "F: Does the rebooking by DreamCheaper change my ability to accumulate nights or points with hotel award schemesas offered by Marriott or Starwood? A: That depends. Some hotels link their perks to a certain way of booking. We know of these details and only change your booking if the saving is large enough to compensate these “perks at risk”. Example: your booking includes free wifi, worth 9.99 USD / day. In the case that we can cut your rate by 30 EUR / day we will do so as your saving by far exceeds the value of the wifi. We believe that real immediate cash-savings are better value than any virtual points you may or may not use at some time in the future." So they make the decision and not me? No thanks! They can't possibly understand how I value points or elite nights in a particular program. And what about Best Rate Guarantees? If I have a stay booked at a Marriott property, if they or I find a lower rate, I want file a Look No Further claim, which will match the third-party rate and then get an extra 25% discount off of that, I don't want them to book the third-party rate (without that 25% discount, that only Marriott can provide with a Look No Further claim that's approved). So this doesn't seem to be well-designed for those who are well versed in hotel programs. It seems designed only for those who know as little about hotel programs as the people who run this service seem to.
"Hassle" not "Hassel"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassel