PointsHound, a hotel booking service enabling guests to collect points from the airline loyalty scheme of their choice, has received seed funding of $425,000.
A number of industry luminaries participated in the round including former Expedia boss Erik Blachford, Zillow chief executive and co-founder of Hotwire Spencer Rascoff, former president of Travelocity global partner marketing Paul Nelson and Simmons Hotel Guides Cal Simmons.
Travellers can book hotel stays at the 100,000 hotels available via PointsHound and earn airline miles from a number of global frequent flyer programs.
Hotel inventory on the service comes from providers including Expedia and the startup has also selected boutique hotels for travellers to earn points against their stays.
Once a stay is completed, miles are awarded to PointsHound members in the airline currency of their choice while a combination of miles and hotel points can also be earned.
Pete Van Dorn and Chris Boyd, who were early members of the Hotwire and Travelocity teams as well as involved in Switchfly are behind PointsHound. Today’s loyalty rewards landscape is filled with a dizzying array of frequent traveler currencies and programs. In this environment, busy frequent travelers need to be vigilant to ensure they are maximizing their earning potential. PointsHound is the ideal solution.