Disruptive booking service closes $425,000 seed funding round to allow members to earn points and airline miles – In the rewards currencies of their choice.
SAN FRANCISCO – Today’s frequent travelers are members of multiple hotel and airline loyalty programs, each with its own currency, rules and unique value. PointsHound, a new online hotel booking service from early Hotwire and Travelocity team members and former Switchfly executives Pete Van Dorn and Chris Boyd, gives frequent travelers a simple, streamlined way to earn rewards with every hotel stay.
Using PointsHound, travelers booking hotel stays earn airline miles from a growing roster of leading frequent flyer programs around the world. Members of PointsHound can select from more than 100,000 hotel properties globally, all backed by a Low Price Guarantee. The company works with a number of leading inventory partners such as Expedia (EXPE), and has also a hand-picked portfolio of boutique hotels, ensuring that PointsHound members receive not only the lowest rates available but also airline mileage rewards not found anywhere else.
Each time a stay is completed, PointsHound awards thousands of miles to its members in the airline currency of their choice, with an earning potential of up to ten miles per dollar spent on over 100,000 hotel properties around the world. PointsHound also recently launched an exclusive portfolio of 5-10 hand-picked hotels in top destinations where members can earn miles at rates ranging from 10 to 20 miles per dollar spent. For example, a member recently earned 10,000 miles for a 3-night stay at a boutique hotel in Chicago. Savvy travelers can also take advantage of “double dip” opportunities – earning airline miles and hotel points through multiple combination offers.
As traveler demand for reward points efficacy grows, PointsHound recently closed on a seed round of $425,000 from a group of former travel executives including Erik Blachford, former CEO of Expedia, Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow (Z) and co-founder of Hotwire.com, Paul Nelson, former president of Travelocity Global Partner Marketing and Cal Simmons, Founder of Five Star Alliance.
“PointsHound’s unique rewards model was built entirely with the frequent traveler in mind,” said Erik Blachford, former CEO at Expedia. “This is the best hotel booking option for all the mileage hounds out there who want to get as many airline miles as possible when they are buying both personal and business travel. Our team did extensive beta testing, got a ton of great feedback from this valuable customer segment, and has built the PointsHound platform and value proposition specifically to fulfill the wants and needs of the global frequent traveler community.”
Today’s loyalty rewards landscape is filled with a dizzying array of frequent traveler currencies and programs. In this environment, busy frequent travelers need to be vigilant to ensure they are maximizing their earning potential. PointsHound is the ideal solution.
“After years of designing and building ecommerce solutions for leading loyalty rewards programs, we created PointsHound to simplify the process of points and mileage accrual, enabling members to earn rewards currencies they already value,“ said co-founder Peter Van Dorn. “Our members have the flexibility to choose what rewards they earn, where they earn them and how they earn.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
