Hotels.com adds interactive rate calendar

October 23, 2007 | Online Travel

The rate calendar, which appears on the "Rooms & Rates" tab for each property on the hotels.com site, is color-coded to give users a quick, at-a-glance view of pricing levels for each day.

Hotels.com unveiled a new room rate calendar feature that helps travelers quickly identify the best room rates available at the property of their choice. This tool is available for the full hotels.com selection of lodging options, including hotels, resorts, vacation rentals, and bed and breakfasts.

The rate calendar, which appears on the “Rooms & Rates” tab for each property on the hotels.com site, is color-coded to give users a quick, at-a-glance view of pricing levels for each day. Green indicates the lowest room rates, beige indicates moderate prices, and orange indicates the highest prices. In addition, the calendar displays the actual price for most properties, so that users can compare specific cost differences among different dates. hotels.com provides calendar data for six months into the future.

“For travelers who are flexible in their plans and mindful of costs, the rate calendar is an invaluable tool,” said Scott Booker, chief hotel expert for hotels.com. “This site feature is designed to help customers make a more informed decision; we will continue to focus on providing resources to help make the property research, selection and booking process as simple as possible.”

hotels.com Room Rate Calendar Features

- Look in advance: Access pricing information for the current date to six months into the future.

- Consider all options: Review multiple rate calendars from a single property to compare the price of different room types on different dates.

- Click and book: To change stay dates on the calendar page, simply click on new check-in and check out dates, then proceed directly to booking.

How to use the new hotels.com rate calendar

- Enter the desired destination and preferred travel dates in the search form on the home page.

- Select a property from the list of search results.

- Click on the “Rooms & Rates” tab, where a link to the rate calendar for each guest room type will be displayed.

- Open the rate calendar to view pricing levels and data for the selected room type.

- Change stay dates as needed by clicking on different dates on the calendar.

- Proceed to booking.

In addition to the new rate calendar, hotels.com continues to offer popular side-by-side comparisons, photos, virtual tours, user reviews, detailed property descriptions, and mapping capabilities to help travelers find and book the right hotel for each trip. The company’s Flexible Booking program enables customers to change or cancel bookings without any fees from hotels.com.