Inoqo – Weird Name, Great Hotel Deals
There seems to be a market for empty, high-end hotel rooms out there. At least three startups have crossed our inbox mentioning themselves in the past week or so, all of them focused on this travel niche. Inoqo.com has a unique name and an interesting method for matching people with available hotel rooms.
What makes Inoqo different from most of the other similar sites we’ve seen is its use of Twitter as a communications medium. While some sites like Jetsetter allow for a small window of opportunity to grab the room, but give a fairly wide booking date – so that you must act quickly to get the deal, but you can then schedule the room for just about anytime, Inoqo is purely spontaneous.
Which is where Twitter comes in.
The deals available are tweeted via Inoqo’s Twitter streams, which are listed by city. So if you’re going to Chicago and are hoping for a good deal on a five-star room, all you have to do is follow the @2ChicagoHotels stream and watch for a deal coming your way. When it shows, you grab it.
Obviously there are some risks involved here, but Inoqo tweets deals that are within 48 hours of closing, so if you haven’t gotten your room by the time you’re a day away, you can always book last minute or keep your previous reservation rather than canceling for the better deal.
Most of the hotels listed are resorts or luxury, leisure-style venues, so this site may not appeal to business travelers whose bosses will look down on anything that doesn’t say “Holiday Inn Express” on it.
Inoqo is in beta and accepting free registrations from travelers, travel agents, and hotel managers.
