We've written about pay-what-you-want restaurants and magazine subscriptions, but we hadn't yet heard of a similarly priced hotel. Sure enough, though, the new Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen hotel just last week launched a promotion that lets guests choose the rate they want to pay.
Rooms at the 538-room economy hotel, which opens this week in the heart of Singapore, are typically priced starting at SGD138 per room including free wifi. Through March 15, however, the pay-what-you-want competition runs during a designated portion of each day, as announced on the hotel's site. Interested consumers need only sign up as members and make a bid for the price they'd like to pay during one of the announced promotion times. If they're one of the first to bid, they can win a night at the hotel at exactly the price they offered. Bids have gone as high as SGD100, and the first promotional rooms sold out within minutes of the contest's launch last Wednesday, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Through a separate competition, meanwhile, members at the Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen—which is owned by French Accor Hotels—can also compete to become the best "Virtual General Manager" at the hotel by trying to fill an empty virtual hotel with as many friends as possible. Prizes in that competition include a free night at the hotel, while the grand prize winner receives four nights at the hotel along with round-trip airfare to Singapore for two.
Ever since Radiohead's decision to let consumers choose their price for its In Rainbows album, pay-as-you-want schemes have become a trendy way for brands to be generous and attract a whole lot of goodwill and attention. One to try out in your next promotion....?
Website: www.paywhatyouwant.com.sg
Contact: H6657@accor.com
I run a guest-house in Rio de Janiero, Brazil and we offer a similar Pay What You Want promotion on a weekly basis. See www.casa579.com (or http://casa579.com/paywhatyouwant.aspx)