Bill Hanifin
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A new social media site aimed at travelers, Hotelied offers discounts at participating hotels to members based on a blend of social media standing (followers) and the amount of accumulated travel loyalty points in preferred hotel and airline programs.
Leading with the tagline “it pays to be you”, Hotelied operates in a manner similar to an online dating site in which users get connected first by creating a profile. As users add more information to his or her profile, additional discounts become available.
Hotelied recognizes that there are different paths to customer value. “If you’re a New York hotel, someone who comes to New York 10 times a year is much more valuable than someone who comes to New York once a decade,” said Hotelied co-founder Zeev Sharon. “Or someone who is a tastemaker who’s very influential and can tell people about your hotel is more valuable to you”.
Hotelied has a proprietary dashboard for use by hotel partners. Individual hotels can create promotions to target their priority traveler segment and are able to decide what rewards to offer and to whom. Hotelied doesn’t let frequent travelers with a lot of reward points go unnoticed. The rates offered are exclusive to members and tailored for each user.
And, here’s a counterculture move in the middle of the Big Data frenzy: Hotelied doesn’t share member information directly with hotels. Instead all matchmaking is done via the Hotelied software.
