Recharge App Lets You Rent Hotel Rooms By The Minute
Luxury by the minute.
Only in town for 8 hrs? Want to take a quick power nap in a hotel room? Need to catch up on some work? Now there’s an app that will let you do that. A Bay Area company is hoping to solve those problems by renting unused hotel rooms by the minute.
Through an app called Recharge, some 50 hotels in San Francisco and New York offer rooms by the minute — at 40 cents to $2 per minute, depending on demand and time of day. That means the opportunity to take an hour nap in a comfortable bed for $24 to $120 before the usual taxes and other fees collected by hotels.
Is this a good deal? It’s not exactly a bargain. For instance, two of the participating hotels recently were offering full-night stays for $269, before taxes. When you calculate everything, it works out to about $12 per hour, assuming a regular check-in and check-out time.
This service isn’t for everyone.
Recharge says its app has drawn interest from travelers needing a nap after an overnight flight and from nursing mothers looking for some privacy and comfort.
Recharge plans to expand to Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington this year.
What is Recharge?
Recharge is a mobile application, available for iPhone and Android. It is used by corporate travelers and influential locals to book upscale hotel rooms by the minute, anytime they need to freshen up after a red-eye, find a quiet place to work, squeeze in a workout, or have a home-base between meetings.
Wait! Guests can check in and check out whenever they want? How does this help my business?
We believe in optimizing vacancy. Rooms often sit vacant for over twelve hours a day prior to an overnight guest checking in. Recharge gives our clientele access to those rooms, in between overnight stays, increasing incremental income.
