Hotel deals website Hotwire is launching a US television campaign today as part of the brand's strategy to return to growth.
The Expedia-owned service wants to get across how people feel about getting a deal as well as how deep its discounts are because of their opaque nature.
Hotwire has faced stiff competition from all quarters in the past year with Expedia chief Dara Khosrowshahi saying in group's Q1 results that it expected the fortunes of the deals service to improveme in Q3/Q4 of this year.
"Near term results continue to be challenging but we're investing heavily in growing our mobile channels and improving our supply and analytical capabilities and we're confident the team is executing the right plan that will get the business back to growth."
The TV advertising is supported by online and mobile marketing while new iOS and Android applications are also being released to target the very last-minute booking trend. Hotwire group president Henrik Kjellberg says:
"New entrants are coming into the space and I think consumer behaviour is moving towards even more last minute. We have very high transactions for same-day bookings.
He adds that transactions via mobile are increasing 'incredibly quickly' and more than a third are already coming via the channel.
Commenting on whether Hotwire has allowed new entrants to get ahead, Kjellberg says:
"By not emphasizing last-minute before now we may not have been focussed enough early on. It's something we do extremely well. We were thinking of us as anonymous first and then last-minute.
"Market dynamics have been shifting as well as new players so there needs to be a second lever there. Should we have done it better, earlier? Possibly but the advent of mobile has been driving this."
The company is not disclosing the campaign investment but Kjellberg adds that Hotwire will invest similar amounts in media this year as the $40 million it reportedly spent last year.
The 'Hotels. Deals. Happiness.' campaign will run on an ongoing basis over the next few months