Do you know who is sleeping in your hotel room? Social travel platforms are changing the hotel distribution landscape forever but a few might be taking the peer-to-peer travel concept a bit far.
Risky Business
The latest travel platform that has come across our desks is Easynest. The idea is that once you have booked your hotel room, you add it to your profile on this website. Other travelers can request to share the room with you, splitting the cost.
From a consumer's perspective I am not sure how many people would be willing to share their room with a random stranger. Worse still, image if two double beds were on request and, upon arrival the hotel has none available. You would end up snuggling up with a snoring companion you have only just met in the lobby.
I presume the niche market it is targeting is very small or specific. Yes, maybe youngsters would be willing to do this while backpacking around the globe. But, you would still want to meet your roomie in person first.
Eventhough I admire the originality of the Easynest model, I am not really convinced it has a real future. It is definitely not meant for the mainstream market, instead it will have to find its niche rapidly and position itself clearly.
But it also brings other potential problems along. Surely the majority of its users will be normal people with the best of intentions, sharing the cost of a hotel room. But what about the possibility of people abusing Easynest with less noble intentions?
What if something happened to a guest sharing a room with a ‘perfect’ stranger? What if the hotel room is damaged or something is stolen, and the roomie is not registered - who is liable? The hotel?
It only takes a few accidents for the creepiness of this whole idea to spread over the internet, and create a huge backlash. Funny enough, on its website Easynest actually mentions it isn’t ‘creepy’ at all. Hmmm ….
Action Steps
Of course it will be hard to police such new peer-to-peer travel initiatives, but you should be aware and prepared. So how should hotels brace themselves for the potential security and liability problems surrounding Easynest style situations.
Hotels should ensure their terms and conditions cover these kind of situations. In the booking conditions of your website, as well as on the check-in form, it should state clearly that reservations are non-transferable, and neither is the responsibility.
Moreover all guests must be registered at check-in providing official identification.
Actually, your hotel should already be prepared for this.
As we all know, a good amount of solo travelers seek companionship (casual or professional) while traveling. And not all of them have the best intentions either. Therefore, the hotel must clearly outline it is not responsible or liable for any ‘strangers’ a guest lets into their room.
Generous and Attractive Travelers
This brings me to another interesting travel website that has been in existence for quite a while now, Miss Travel - online dating meets online travel ....
As it says on its home page: ‘Date Abroad’, ‘Attractive Girls Travel Free’ and ‘Generous: Find a Travel Companion’. The options it offers are;
- Come to Me
- Show Me Your town
- Travel With Me
Need I say more? Yes, your thoughts are the same as mine. Looks like sugar daddy travel dating with gold diggers, and perhaps with a great potential for prostitution.
Mind you commercially I think this might actually work. There are enough burning the midnight oil career guys or just well-off types, with plenty of budget who would go for this. They don't have enough time (or skills) to get a ‘regular’ companion to travel with. Then, maybe consider joining ASW (‘a small world’).
The question remains whether these sites will be able to carve out a niche and find their sweet spot?
NB: See no evil... image via Shutterstock