Travel is getting disrupted again, first it was Booking.com/Agoda then it was AirBnb, now it is the VIP PASS. This has the hotels adapting again as this new disruption takes booking and travel to a new element. We are used to booking our hotel stays on platforms like Booking.com or Agoda as the process is so easy and seamless, we get to compare all the hotels and get the best rates online on one portal. Then the market became even more competitive with portals like Google and Trivago where you can take the comparison to one level higher where you can compare the same hotel rates that are listed on Agoda, Booking.com and the hotel direct webpage. But now comes a new disruption for the smart traveler, the traveler that plans and is flexible to the best deals. They will use the VIP Pass. The VIP Pass is an Exclusive member only portal that gives its members FREE hotel nights that they can redeem for over a span over 24 months. The members don’t pay for the hotel room nights but just pay for a member pass that gives them Free 6 Room Night vouchers. The VIP Passes are limited to locations per pass. The VIP pass is available in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and many more locations. The member will then be able to book and redeem free nights stays at the selected hotels in that area, most areas have more than 100+ hotels that the members can redeem their hotel stays at. The VIP Pass sources these hotels deals via partnerships and exclusive offline corporate portals. These rooms are the unsold rooms in the hotels, even the best of hotels are full only 36% of the year. For the remainder of the year, they are only at 50-80% occupancy. The hotel can’t just drop their prices drastically to fill up the balance, this would affect their reputation and upset other full paying customers. So these rooms are taken up by The VIP Pass. This works out for the hotels as they get to offload the rooms at low rates that cover their operation cost and VIP Pass can send happy travelers to their hotels who will spend in the restaurants and other outlets. “The VIP Pass has been an interesting partner to have, as although it started out slow but now the number of bookings we get at some of our hotels are higher than what we normally get from Traveloka or Expedia.” Nabisa – General Manager at Alia Hotels.
This latest disruption is again pushing the traditional institutions to adapt to new technology and booking patterns of consumers. The VIP Pass empowers the traveler who plans for their birthday, anniversaries, or family trips to find the unsold room in amazing locations and save even more on their trips as they spend less on rooms. The VIP Pass for Malaysia is listed for only RM 600. For this deal, members are able to stay in amazing hotels, service apartments and resorts across the country. This proves to be a win-win for both the hoteliers and the travelers.