HotelQuickly, a last-minute hotel booking smartphone app, has reached a milestone by recording more than 1,000,000 (1 million) downloads since its launch two years ago.
The HotelQuickly app provides a curated selection of top hotels in 200+ destinations across Asia Pacific. To date, more than 6,000 three to five star hotels have teamed up with the start-up, making the app the largest provider of last-minute rooms and also in terms of bookable hotel inventory, it claims.
HotelQuickly said the 1,000,000 downloads milestone will be celebrated with double reward value of a friend-redeemed voucher. The top 50 inviters will all win a free night in HotelQuickly’s partner hotels. The grand prize includes a spontaneous weekend trip for two, with flight and lodging.
“Over the past few years we’ve witnessed a drastic shift from online to mobile, the vast majority of smartphone users wouldn’t go out of home leaving their devices behind, which was one of the key reasons why we’ve decided to focus on mobile. We strive to make travelling easier, more convenient and life more spontaneous,” said Tomas Laboutka, HotelQuickly’s Singapore based Co-Founder and CEO. “We are in a massive ramp-up mode. We have recently launched an app for Apple Watch and we are working on a number of exciting new product features, which we will be able to announce soon,” he continued.
In Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur remains the most booked last-minute destination. The average last-minute room rate in Malaysia booked by HotelQuickly members was on average more than 30% lower than what these travelers would have paid online for the exact same room. “37% of our users prefer 3 star hotels followed by 4 star and 5 star hotels. More than 80% users in Malaysia are domestic travellers and most of the bookings are done on a Friday.” said Tan Wen Dee, HotelQuickly Malaysia’s Marketing and Public Relations Manager.
HotelQuickly raised more than US$ 5.65m in two rounds, which was used to expand to 15 countries including Australia, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Laos, Myanmar, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its most notable backers include GREE, Inc, a Japanese mobile gaming giant, William E. Heinecke, the Chairman & CEO of Thai-based Minor International, as well as the former Chairman of Singtel and Chairman of Singapore Airlines, Boon Kwee Koh.
The HotelQuickly app is available for free on iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry 10 devices.
