Recharge: The app that lets you book hotel rooms by the minute
A new app looks set to become the Uber of hotel rooms, letting guests book by the minute
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Your support makes all the difference.The instant book by the minute app enables users to stay in a hotel room for between 66 cents and $3 a minute.
Optimising hotel vacancies, Recharge looks to be a hit with business people wanting to work remotely, take quick showers or relax before readying themselves for their next meeting.
Launched in 2015, the company offers premium and luxury tiers for four and five star San Francisco hotel rooms and expanded to the New York market on Tuesday.
But unlike successful competitors such as Airbnb, Recharge partners with the hotel to target the inefficiency of unoccupied rooms.
Depending on the size of the hotel, revenue could increase by between $250,000 (£194,719) and $1m (£778,876) a year in incremental income, Recharge CEO Manny Bamfo told The Independent.
The average stay lasts for two hours and, depending on the hotel, sets guests back between $80 (£62) and $360 (£280), according to the company.
“There’s a significant part of the day where the rooms are empty. Most business travellers leave early in the morning, and a lot of them don’t come until late at night, so that time in between is really where Recharge became an interesting thing to consider”, says David Lewin, Hyatt Hotel’s senior vice president of the Americas sales and marketing division.
The app has partnered with Google, Deloitte and Orrick, targeting corporate travellers needing to work and rest while on the go. But the company says it has also seen a rising demand in bookings by nursing mothers, eager to find a place less busy than the average coffee shop.
Unlike traditional overnight booking, the app has no set check-in or checkout times. Primarily created for hoteliers to instantly fill their empty rooms, guests are not able to book in advance through the on-demand service.
When guests want to book and leave the room they simply tap the app, eliminating the need to even check in or out with reception.
Like Uber, the guest’s credit card details are stored in the app with charges such as room service added within the dashboard.
“A hotel can be at 100 per cent occupancy and still have a 35 per cent room vacancy prior to overnight guests checking in. Many of our hotels which regularly run at 95 per cent occupancy and over are making an additional six-figure profit using Recharge”, Mr Bamfo told The Independent.
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