CuddlyNest unveils platform upgrade plans for 2019

Chicago: Online accommodation rental website CuddlyNest has unveiled plans to upgrade its platform for a more enhanced user experience in early 2019.

The marketplace, which claims to have the lowest aggregate fees and price in the market, has been rapidly growing since 2016 as an industry disrupter. Having already integrated with a number of recognisable channel managers and been listed as “one to watch” by Rentals United, CuddlyNest is aiming to reveal its latest product upgrade releases this summer.

As part of CuddlyNest’s announcement, it revealed it had finalised an integration with NextPax, which itself recently integrated with Google to provide a vacation rental inventory for its hotel shopping experience.

NextPax CEO and founder, Erik Engel, said: “By integrating to NextPax, CuddlyNest now has access to a potential additional inventory of 600,000 vacation rentals and more than 10,000 hotels. NextPax provides direct technical integration of any inventory type onto the channel for property managers that are connected to our platform.”

As such, the distribution channel is integrated in a two-way flow with NextPax, thereby allowing for real-time booking retrieval, synchronisation of user content such as images and facilities, property availability updates and price updates. CuddlyNest manages payments and has a fully-integrated content distribution in order to facilitate on-boarding for property managers.

The CuddlyNest platform currently lists more than a million properties in around 100 countries worldwide. It includes a selection of accommodation types, ranging from long-term serviced apartment rentals to hostels and shared rooms among others.

As of summer 2019, it has been revealed that CuddlyNest will offer tour and activity bookings to cater for any type of traveller-based guest preferences. The upgrade and strategic additions are set to heighten the user experience of travel planning in a one-stop portal.

Meanwhile in the autumn, CuddlyNest is set to release an app which will aim to simplify the booking process for travellers on the go by driving instant bookings and adapting to their ever-evolving needs when clients book at the last minute on the go.

CuddlyNest partner and COO, Ritesh Raj, said: “We wanted to solve the problem so many travellers face nowadays. Travel accommodation booking has become increasingly expensive, with online travel agencies charging vast commission fees.

“We are building a platform to democratise the market and bring power back to travellers, charging the lowest aggregate commission fee in the market, and therefore the lowest price in the market,” he added.

The online travel booking startup said it was making travel easier, and the future release of the app is a response of 72 per cent of customers booking travels last minute.

The Chicago based start-up was founded back in 2016, starting off with offices in Berlin and Croatia. Since then, it has grown to achieve over one million property bookings worldwide.

CuddlyNest innovative booking fee sharing model has been the key to the company’s success.

The company also counts CiiRUS and Escapia as major channel managers with which it is integrated, while it is also the preferred partner of Avantio.