Room Steals

Stop guessing! Know you've found the cheapest rate for your hotel.

4 followers

Stop guessing! Know you've found the cheapest rate for your hotel.

4 followers

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Stop searching every site for the best price on amazing hotels. Use our Chrome extension and we'll show you the best room rates available for the hotel you're already looking at.

Launch tags:Chrome Extensions•Travel•Tech

Launch Team

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Room Steals

Maker

👋Hi everyone! Nate and Ryan here! First, thanks so much to @mijustin for supporting us here. We really appreciate all the fantastic folks like you who've given so much to make this product a reality (hat tip @chrismessina and so many more), and who use it every day already. And if you are in Canada 🇨🇦or the UK 🇬🇧, you can thank @mijustin for suggesting support for those countries variations prior to this PH launch as well! Here we go! We created Room Steals to help more people travel by saving them more money, starting with hotels. The reason is, most people don’t realize there are 2 rates for many rooms available through online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com, Expedia, or Hotels.com. 1. A *wholesale* rate, agreed upon between the hotel and the OTA. 😲 2. The *retail* rate you pay after the OTAs mark up the wholesale price. Why should you pay retail prices when you don't have to!? Install the Room Steals Chrome extension and, as you search for hotels on supported sites (Google Hotels, Expedia, Booking.com, and Hotels.com as of today) we will let you know when there’s a cheaper, wholesale rate available. Just click and book the wholesale rate through Room Steals (we don't add commissions or margin - in fact we make $0 on every reservation made at Room Steals). We believe you, like us, won't want to pay margins and commissions on hotel rates when you don’t have to. So, we've build this to increase price transparency, and that means you get to see the wholesale rate, not just the retail rate. How do we survive when you get to keep all that money for yourself? Downloading, using the extension, and seeing wholesale rates is free (just requires a login). So, when you find a rate you like, we simply charge an annual subscription membership. Now, before you rage click out at the mere mention of paying a membership, just know most of our current members have saved more than the cost of the membership in their first booking alone. The rest of the year is gravy. Mmmmm... gravy. Like poutine 🇨🇦, am I right @mijustin ?) Room Steals exists to help people travel more by saving more. Hopefully this helps you along that path. We’ll be here and would love to hear your feedback and answer any questions. Happy travels! 🏨

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7yr ago

Raycast

@nateritter congrats on the launch! Hoping to take advantage of this in 2020...! What is the source of your data, or is that confidential? How do you think of another service like HotelTonight (which is different, but serves a similar pain point)?

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6yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@chrismessina Thanks so much Chris. It's been a ride so far, that's for sure. We actually have about 10+ different sources of inventory ranging from some of the bigger sites themselves (just the wholesale prices they don't show the public) as well as a bunch of smaller wholesalers who fly under the radar. Not necessarily confidential, but likely nobody would know who the smaller ones are. I, personally, think HotelTonight is a fantastic service as well. I haven't had the opportunity to compare prices with them, but it's on our list to do so. Allegorically some members of our team have found some prices they have are pretty great. We'll have to look into what exactly the difference is but there.

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6yr ago

Hi @nateritter! Someone on LinkedIn posted about Room Steals and it lead me here. I'd love to hear a bit about your thoughts on Amoma and their decision to close shop after Marriott announced their partnership with Expedia. Are you concerned about potentially losing access to unbundled inventory or do you think the wholesalers you're working with are adhering to their contracts with the suppliers? I think the Chrome extension is super clever and a great way to help consumers find the best rate. Thank you for your time.

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6yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@theoholloway Very insightful question you have here. But no, we're not concerned about the issues Amoma (and others) have had primarily because we are very protective of the rate parity agreements and are conservative with our partnerships. We absolutely are not publishing our rates publicly and will cut off anyone else we see doing anything like that with our rates. Of course, that covers us on the demand side, and the supply side could be a concern if we weren't sufficiently diversified there. Even if some of the wholesalers mentioned, or their agreements, in the articles surrounding Amoma (and others) went away, which is highly unlikely, we'd still be able to operate and give a great service to our customers which will continue to be well worth the cost of the subscription. Thank you for such a great question! And thanks for the kudos on the extension launch. We are working every day at making it better thanks to feedback and thoughtful questions like yours. Cheers.

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6yr ago

Do the prices include taxes? Is the price I see is what I'll actually pay? Just wondering if is there any extra hidden cost before I subscribe.

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7yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@chang_huang1 Currently the prices are tax-exclusive and per-night (the US-centric version of hotel rates). That's a great point though! In v1.0.11 we're going to add the ability to switch to a tax-inclusive, per-stay rate so you get to see it all if you'd like. If you need to know something specific about a rate in the meantime, hit me up directly (DM me on twitter at @nateritter). I'll be happy to give you all the details if you find something you like.

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7yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@chang_huang1 FYI, the most recent version now supports tax-inclusive, full-stay rates and an exchange rate to some of the major currencies. Again, no hidden fees. Don't pay us anything until you find a deal that covers the subscription. Then you'll know it'll be worth it. Cheers!

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6yr ago

Interesting concept, I would definitely be interested in this when looking for hotels for my trips. However, are you worried about competitors like Skippedlagged and Hopper that offer the same service in addition to finding cheap flights for their users?

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7yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@ok_this_is_sam Great question Sammuel. Skiplagged and Hopper can be great resources for finding both hotel and cheap flight deals. However, their inventory is usually pretty thin, and their rates are generally still higher than ours. Similarly, there are extensions that notify you when the direct rate from the hotel is better than the OTAs. This can result in a better rate sometimes, but those rates are still retail rates. Room Steals will always show the wholesale rate when it is available.

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7yr ago

Great product. Any plans to make the prices tax inclusive on the website version as well as the Chrome extension? Feel this would definitely help transparency

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6yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@sam_luscombe sorry for the late reply. We've included a full stay option, which shows total price, including taxes.

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6yr ago

Transistor

Hunter

I met Nate at Laracon US last year. A few weeks ago he shared his new project with me: this Chrome extension finds you the best hotel deals on sites like Expedia, Booking.com, or Hotels.com.

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7yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@mijustin thanks again sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar. :)

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7yr ago

This sounds interesting! I wonder if you'd have luck syncing up with hotel brands themselves to drive direct business as those are (meant to be) the best rate "guaranteed." Triptease offers something similar to this. Anything that supports direct bookings will be welcomed by hotel managers/owners, particularly during such a challenging time for the industry.

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6yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@jennzajac I'd love to do that. That's a great idea!

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5yr ago

Swipe Files

This is seriously the best. I've been using Room Steals for a few months now to save hundreds of dollars. But I always had to compare from the big hotel sites. Now I can find the rooms I love and find an even better deal every time. 🤯

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7yr ago

Room Steals

Maker

@corey_haines Thanks so much! You were one of the first people who helped spur this whole adventure on. Thank you for supporting us along the way! We're so glad it's been so useful to you!

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7yr ago

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