New hotel booking site promises hotel refunds if room rate drops
Think you've been overpaying for the price of your hotel room? You might be right. That's where the new hotel booking site, Tingo, comes into play.
Smarter Travel Media launched Tingo(TM), the first hotel booking site that automatically rebooks hotel rooms at a lower price if the rate drops. To sweeten the deal, the site will then automatically refund you the difference to your booking credit card.
According to a news release from the site, Tingo "provides travelers with a simple proposition: Book a "Money Back" room and Tingo watches that room's rate to see if it changes." If the price drops, the site will rebook that same room at the lower rate at no additional cost to you. Sound too good to be true?
Tingo claims Americans could have saved nearly $314 million on hotel bookings in 2011. "And just to put it in perspective, $314 million would book the $2,000 per night Penthouse at The London NYC, straight through for the next 350 years," said Smarter Travel Media General Manager David Krauter.
I took the site for a quick test run this morning and here's how it works:
Just like any typical hotel booking site, you'll enter your dates of travel, city and how many rooms you way. Tingo then searches their database for the available hotel rooms. I searched for rooms in New York City for two nights in April and Tingo generated over 300 offers. After choosing the hotel I'm interested in, Tingo brought me to a hotel profile page that included different rates per room type and TripAdvisor reviews and photos. From there, you choose the rate and room you want, fill out the profile (or link it to your Facebook account for easier log-in), enter your billing info and then wait and see.
A few things to note:
Tingo charges your credit card when you book the hotel room and makes no promises that it will find a lower rate for you. It's best to book a room with the understanding that the price you'll pay is what you see that day, and consider yourself lucky if it drops.
Readers: What do you think about this new site?
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About the author
Melanie Nayer is a travel writer who spent many years in the newsroom before jetting off to see the world. Her goal is to bring readers the best insider information More »Recent blog posts
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