Skift Take
HotelTonight blazed a trail in the U.S. as a first-mover in same-day, mobile hotel bookings. Although it has strong financial backing, achieving the same rate of success abroad may be a lot more problematic.
How well does HotelTonight translate into European expansion?
Launched in late 2010, the mobile-only and same-day hotel booking app now offers rooms in 12 countries, including nine in Europe, with a modest portfolio there of 27 cities.
With 15 of its approximately 100 employees working out of a London office, HotelTonight's "expansion is unbounded in terms of our aspirations," says Sam Shank, CEO and co-founder. "We are interested in being everywhere."
Success in the U.S., though, doesn't necessarily equate to a slam-dunk abroad. Consider that Kayak, which struggled for years to gain a foothold in Europe, and had to acquire swoodoo in Germany and Checkfelix in Austria to begin to dig in. Travelocity bought UK-based lastminute.com, and Expedia purchased Italy-headquartered Venere in their drives for European relevancy.
San Francisco-based HotelTonight has spawned mobile-only imitators in Europe, including Hot Hotels and Blink Hotels, both based in Spain, as well as JustBook in Germany.
Hot stuff in Spain
Conor O'Connor, the founder and CEO of Hot, says the app, which debuted in March 2012, "is clearly heavily inspired by HotelTonight," but he doesn't think HotelTonight will be able to replicate its U.S. success in Europe.
"They have a lot of money and they've done unbelievably well in the states, but I don't think their model exports into Europe in the same way," O'Connor argues.
Travelers looking for a last-second hotel booking may not notice a huge difference between Hot and HotelTonight, but the two businesses operate behind the scenes very differently.
HotelTonight attracted more than $35 million in funding, with participation in the latest Series C round from Battery Ventures, Accel Partners, U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital.
Hot, meanwhile, has just eight employees and is self-funded, although Connor says the company hopes to raise fundin
