4 simple steps to cheaper hotel rates, with TravelPony

ByPaul Johnson on Oct 23, 2013 inAccommodation,Europe,France,Hotels,Nevada,North America,Regions,Spain,Special Offers & Packages,Travel Miscellany,United Kingdom,USA,Websites,Western Europe   - Read 941815 times

There’s a new social hotel booking site on the scene that’s well worth a look.  TravelPony was launched just a few months ago and offers a new way to search for hotel deals.  Competitive pricing is the order of the day here and rates can be anything between 10%-70% below those of the major travel sites.  Have a look for yourself and see if you can find a bargain.

The concept is quite simple, but effective at the same time. Users of TravelPony access the site via their Facebook login and the deals with over 2,000 top hotel partners are competitive thanks to users’ willingness to share a post on their Facebook or Twitter social media channels.

The process of booking is equally straightforward but here it is in 4 easy-to-follow steps (if you prefer to watch, rather than read, skip to the video below):

Step 1

Go towww.travelpony.com and search for your destination city.

Step 2

Login to the site in order to view the prices. The simplest way to do this is via your Facebook ID.

Step 3

Look at the hotels that interest you. There’s detailed information on each hotel and you can even see the saving that you’ll make by booking via TravelPony versus using another site.

Step 4

Book and share.  Once you’ve booked your hotel, the honourable thing to do – in order to keep in the spirit of the site and to help it work – is to share the deal you’ve just taken advantage of via Facebook and/or Twitter.  Although this is not a requirement, it does help drive the site.  If you prefer, you can just taken the ‘Pony Promise’ to share your find offline instead.

The focus of the site so far is currently on the United States, with all the major cities covered. There is also a limited representation in Europe, covering a handful of cities (Barcelona, London, Madrid and Paris).

At the time of writing, a quick search conducted by me unearths the five star Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for as little as $109 a night next week – a TravelPony saving of some 27%.

So, whilst the big sites are busy spending big bucks on marketing, sites like this one can grow more naturally, instead relying on word of mouth via social media.  Saving on their marketing budget should, in turn, allow them to pass on savings in their hotel rates, thus hopefully helping to generate even more social sharing.

Give it a try and let us know in the comments if you find any great deals… if it lives up to the billing and continues to offer excellent prices, I’m sure it has every chance of success.