Startup cancels and rebooks hotel rooms to get users the best deal

Service helps customers to make the best of hotels' fluctuating room prices by cancelling and rebooking their room to secure the best deal.

We have seen numerous ventures — such as #Tweetstay — promising to secure holidaymakers a better deal on hotels by bartering on the customer’s behalf. Now DreamCheaper has automated the process. The German startup helps customers to make the best of hotels’ fluctuating room prices, by canceling and rebooking their room anytime it spots it at a better price.

To begin, customers make a hotel booking as normal — choosing the commonly available ‘flexible booking’ option. They then create an account on DreamCheaper and forward their confirmation email to the start-up, which begins a process of price-comparison that continues right up until the day before check-in. Most hotels offer widely changing room prices depending on supply and demand and deals from booking aggregators, so the startup’s automated system monitors the hotel’s changing prices and cancels and rebooks the customer’s room at a cheaper price.

DreamCheaper can boast saving customers an average of EUR 65 — or 15 percent — per booking. It takes a 20 percent cut of any money saved so it is always incentivized to get the best price. Could a similar service be offered in other industries where prices often fluctuate?