The new partnership is going to follow Groupon’s current business model. Customers will receive emails, with a daily deal and have a finite amount of time to purchase said deal. The deals do not have to be used right away, so a user could purchase a deal and subsequently plan the trip for a future date.
My question to you, as hoteliers and individuals involved in the hospitality industry is does this new partnership matter to you? Are you going to use this method to reach an audience who may or may not have tried your offering in the past?
Initially this seems like a great way to unload inventory in your less busy times of the year. While your ADR would be a lower it could have a dramatic impact on your RevPar. However, I do question a person’s willingness to impulse buy hotel room nights (with or without the packaging of an airline component). Typically these decisions take some thought and foresight. Will this new business model change the status quo regarding the decision making process a person typically undertakes when planning/booking a vacation? It may be too early to tell, but with Groupon Getaways with Expedia set to launch in June 2011, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
