Hotel business travel booking platform Hotel Engine has
added offerings including a subscription for flexible bookings and new group
travel booking features, the company announced.
Hotel Engine, which provides members access to content
including from global distribution systems, wholesalers and online travel
agencies, had already been offering a "Flex" option on individual
bookings to add flexibility on reservation cancellations or modifications. Since its launch last year, it has helped to
save more than 55,000 in unused room nights, according to the company.
Now, Hotel Engine is offering it as a $200 month subscription,
FlexPro, making all bookings able to be cancelled or modified up to noon on the
day of check-in.
"This allows them to convert all their reservations,
regardless of their volume, into flexible reservations," Hotel Engine founder
and CEO Elia Wallen said.
The company added the service with the idea that it would be
"a bit of a loss leader," and users will get the same inventory
options in terms of flexibility as those not using the FlexPro option, he said.
"We're not going to filter or suppress rooms because it's not advantageous
to us," Wallen said.
Hotel Engine also has updated its Groups booking platform to
make it "much more of a self-service, integrated platform model for
clients," Wallen said. Users can request trips, view curated options and
accept hotels through a personalized dashboard.
Wallen said group travel will be "a big part of our
focus" in Hotel Engine's future roadmap. Among the enhancements down the
road, the company plans to add the ability to book adjacent meeting spaces when
booking a hotel for a group event, in addition to current capabilities of
booking space within the hotel, he said.
Hotel Engine was founded in 2015 and currently counts about
40,000 member companies as clients, having
raised $65 million in funding in 2021. It largely targets companies with
unmanaged programs, those that "would not be a typical TMC target,"
Wallen said.