Have you ever come across a low flight price and thought, ‘I wish I could lock this in until pay day?’ Well, now you can thanks to a partnership between travel booking site Kayak and Hopper.
As Skift reports, this service is available to customers in the Kayak app. You will then be directed to a co-branded Kayak-Hopper site where you can freeze airfares for up to 14 days for a fee.
Here’s how it works:
If there is a $350 fare listed that you want to lock in, and it rises to $440 within the two-week period, then you could still buy the ticket for $350. But, the other great benefit is that when the fare drops, you are able to pay the lower fare instead of the higher price that you froze.
Hopper will cover the fare difference.
The company is willing to take the risk, but claims to be able to predict airfare trends correctly 95% of the time based on historical data and its algorithms.
Led by Frederic Lalonde, CEO and co-founder, Hopper is a mobile-first travel marketplace that leverages data and machine learning to develop FinTech solutions for customers to travel and save money. Through its B2B initiative, Hopper Cloud, the company is syndicating its solutions, infrastructure, and agency content.
Its tools include cancel for any reason, which offers trip protection, and rebooking guarantee, which gives travelers the ability to change their plans at a moment’s notice. Hopper’s fintech segment already represents 50% of the company’s revenue.
Hopper claims to make more money on these types of fees for an assortment of kindred services than on the flight bookings themselves. Recently, Hopper secures $175 Million Growth Investment Led By GPI Capital in order to increase its activities within the travel industry.
TN fam, do you think paying a fee to lock in flight prices is worth it? Let us know in the comments
