Room 77 Website Review

[FractionalTraveler]

Wanted to see how the Room77.com startup was progressing after 1 year with their mission to deliver on more reliable room maps/views and picture information.

I was searching for most of our Marriott Timeshare properties to see if they could help us in getting better room views, locations, room numbers, etc.

The only property I was able to find with some "real" room view pictures was Grand Chateau in Las Vegas. See this link for an example (click on Floor Map & Views):

https://www.room77.com/search.html?...Vegas, NV, USA&hid=#hid=233405&aaa=0&senior=0

Other properties that don't yet offer these types of views have what they call "Insider tips on the Best Rooms at this Hotel". I found some of this information useful.

I noticed that many of the Marriott properties has stock developer pictures which I found to be not very useful since these types of pictures are already loaded into Marriott.com. Some do appear to be high quality though.

Room 77.com also has some pretty nice Google maps of the properties as well. I really don't care for their booking engine or reviews of the properties but some may find the extra information helpful.

Overall, I found this site does offer some small extra pieces of information that may be helpful to us Marriott timeshare folks during vacation planning.

I didn't look at their IPhone or Android mobile apps but they sound interesting.

Thought I would share this site with everyone as an additional tool for trip planning. Has anyone else been successful at finding other good Marriott timeshare information from this site?

 

[BocaBoy]

I tried this link and the views are not accurate. I clicked on the high floor 3BR units at the end of each tower and the views shown were not the wonderful views you actually get. Also, the map claimed these were 1396 sq. ft. 2BR units. Just thought I would point this out.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

I tried this link and the views are not accurate. I clicked on the high floor 3BR units at the end of each tower and the views shown were not the wonderful views you actually get. Also, the map claimed these were 1396 sq. ft. 2BR units. Just thought I would point this out.

Good find. I'm not sure where they are aggregating their data from but it’s good to validate this information as it’s their business is highly leveraged on the so called "Transparency" of hotel reservations.

I think they started out with some very lofty goals and aggressive marketing to get visibility in this crowded travel & leisure space.

They have some very interesting ideas relating to crowd sourcing, collaboration, and the use of Google technology as it relates to the marketplace.

I guess they see themselves more as data brokers rather than a traditional travel and leisure business.

It’s a tech company trying to carve out a niche space for themselves.

I have my doubts if they survive another year on venture capital. I could also see someone purchasing their data aggregation technology.

 

[SueDonJ]

Just in case you're thinking of booking Marriott rooms through this website, remember that in most cases you do not get Elite credits for nights booked through a third-party vendor. I'd guess that this room77.com would fall into that category.

Other than that, if it gets enough traffic and participation then it could be a good resource for resort and room layouts. Not quite there yet, IMO.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Just in case you're thinking of booking Marriott rooms through this website, remember that in most cases you do not get Elite credits for nights booked through a third-party vendor. I'd guess that this room77.com would fall into that category.

Other than that, if it gets enough traffic and participation then it could be a good resource for resort and room layouts. Not quite there yet, IMO.

I agree. I was initially interested in this website because of their claim to provide a deeper level of business intelligence when it comes to room locations, views, and building/floor layouts.

That is one of those things Marriott can improve on as well. Many times I am shopping for a room say in a place like NY City (where space is at a premium) and I am comparing 4-5 potential properties based upon location, cost, amenities, parking, etc.

I don't like the fact that I am not able to compare on actual Square Footage as one of those filter criteria. Marriott has not implemented this very well across its entire database so some hotels say the actual size but many don't even mention it.

I have learned also over the years that a 1-BR is not always a 1-BR and a Suite is not always as Suite at least to me anyways. Many of these room types are created with a slight marketing spin that leaves you thinking "What is this anyways"?

A great example of this is when I see something called a "Jr. Suite". In my brain, I immediately think this is larger than a standard guest room. Not always so, sometimes when you dig into the details of the room configuration and actual size (if you can get this info at all) it turns out to be smaller.

Same applies for view categories. You have to be very careful when they are listed is Ocean Front, Ocean View, Ocean Side, Water Front, Water View, Harbor View, etc. The nightly cost can vary dramatically based upon these slight wording variations.

In the end, what the customer really wants to know “Is it really worth the cost for that particular view”?

Great comment on the MR points as well.

 

[RogerR77]

Hi, Roger here from Room 77. Thanks for the feedback on the site, we definitely will look into the issues around the data accuracy that BocaBoy pointed out.

A year ago, we launched with our differentiated floor plans and room views and a lot of travelers found it helpful in avoiding really bad rooms at hotels. Fast forward to a early March, we did a major release to focus our product on a complete end-to-end hotel booking experience that we thought was better and leveraged all of the room data we acquired automatically. In a nutshell, when you book a 4 or 5 star property on our site, we automatically include Room Concierge service so after you book, you tell us what type of room you want (great views, quiet, accessible, etc.) and we have a team of folks who work with the hotels directly to get you into a room. We've done this for hundreds of bookings in the last month and have a 90%+ satisfaction rating post stay.

As a booking engine, we're also a bit different. For properties that we book directly into the hotel's reservation systems, we are no different than a travel agent, so you your booking should be points eligible. Normally, when properties say points are not earned on 3rd parties, it means bookings made on sites that contract to have their own inventory. Not all bookings made through us are points eligible since we search many inventory systems to try and find lower prices but when the lowest price is a direct booking that is points eligible, it will say on the search results page. And we also now search for Senior and AAA member rates across an entire city.

Love the suggestions regarding the square footage, we'll keep that in mind. We're always working on improving the product and please let me know what you would like to see in a world class hotel search engine. What's the one thing we could do to convince you to start your hotel search on our site?

 

[windje2000]

Hi, Roger here from Room 77. Thanks for the feedback on the site, we definitely will look into the issues around the data accuracy that BocaBoy pointed out.

A year ago, we launched with our differentiated floor plans and room views and a lot of travelers found it helpful in avoiding really bad rooms at hotels. Fast forward to a early March, we did a major release to focus our product on a complete end-to-end hotel booking experience that we thought was better and leveraged all of the room data we acquired automatically. In a nutshell, when you book a 4 or 5 star property on our site, we automatically include Room Concierge service so after you book, you tell us what type of room you want (great views, quiet, accessible, etc.) and we have a team of folks who work with the hotels directly to get you into a room. We've done this for hundreds of bookings in the last month and have a 90%+ satisfaction rating post stay.

As a booking engine, we're also a bit different. For properties that we book directly into the hotel's reservation systems, we are no different than a travel agent, so you your booking should be points eligible. Normally, when properties say points are not earned on 3rd parties, it means bookings made on sites that contract to have their own inventory. Not all bookings made through us are points eligible since we search many inventory systems to try and find lower prices but when the lowest price is a direct booking that is points eligible, it will say on the search results page. And we also now search for Senior and AAA member rates across an entire city.

Love the suggestions regarding the square footage, we'll keep that in mind. We're always working on improving the product and please let me know what you would like to see in a world class hotel search engine. What's the one thing we could do to convince you to start your hotel search on our site?

Thank you for posting.

Welcome to TUG.

 

[FractionalTraveler]

Hi, Roger here from Room 77. Thanks for the feedback on the site, we definitely will look into the issues around the data accuracy that BocaBoy pointed out.

A year ago, we launched with our differentiated floor plans and room views and a lot of travelers found it helpful in avoiding really bad rooms at hotels. Fast forward to a early March, we did a major release to focus our product on a complete end-to-end hotel booking experience that we thought was better and leveraged all of the room data we acquired automatically. In a nutshell, when you book a 4 or 5 star property on our site, we automatically include Room Concierge service so after you book, you tell us what type of room you want (great views, quiet, accessible, etc.) and we have a team of folks who work with the hotels directly to get you into a room. We've done this for hundreds of bookings in the last month and have a 90%+ satisfaction rating post stay.

As a booking engine, we're also a bit different. For properties that we book directly into the hotel's reservation systems, we are no different than a travel agent, so you your booking should be points eligible. Normally, when properties say points are not earned on 3rd parties, it means bookings made on sites that contract to have their own inventory. Not all bookings made through us are points eligible since we search many inventory systems to try and find lower prices but when the lowest price is a direct booking that is points eligible, it will say on the search results page. And we also now search for Senior and AAA member rates across an entire city.

Love the suggestions regarding the square footage, we'll keep that in mind. We're always working on improving the product and please let me know what you would like to see in a world class hotel search engine. What's the one thing we could do to convince you to start your hotel search on our site?

Roger, Thanks for your feedback!

Can you comment on the availability of your "differentiated floor plan and room view" feature for all other Marriott Timeshare properties? After 1 year, I was expecting more properties to have this feature. I was only able to find 1 property out of 45 that I checked with this feature.

I know this is the one thing that we are always concerned about during our travel planning and leads to a much better vacation experience if the customer knows what to expect at check-in.

Your site does have some really innovative features but I think it may be difficult for you to differentiate your business from the pack if “Feature Adoption” is not addressed across your entire database of properties. Also, I would be concerned with the source of your data not being correct or validated as it has been pointed out here by BocaBoy.

Regarding your “Room Concierge service” that sounds interesting but I don’t think it will add much value as I can just call the hotel and ask for the same room your intermediaries are doing. Besides, it’s sounds very labor intensive and costly from a business point of view. It seems much easier to attempt on aggregate this data and presenting it to the customer for selection automatically via the software.

Marriott already gives us the ability to make reservation requests automatically via electronic correspondence, so what I really need and value is not another middle man but good data on the property to make the most intelligent request possible.

If you are not able to deliver this additional bit of business intelligence for properties, then I don’t see the business case for using your website versus any other of the hundreds available.

Thanks again.