Dive Brief:

• Last-minute travel deal app HotelTonight, which was acquired by Airbnb this year, debuted a campaign that pushes its low price deals. The "A Hard Deal to Deal With" campaign plays up missed opportunities for the app's Daily Drop feature with taglines such as "Don't be disgusted by how much you paid."
• The campaign was developed by the internal HotelTonight creative team along with the agency Mekanism. The content plays up the time-limited offers available with Daily Drop, which offers users an extra-low price if they book the hotel within 15 minutes. Every day, the app will offer a user the price drop.
• The cross-channel campaign includes TV ads and digital spots on YouTube, Hulu and Amazon, among others. HotelTonight is also using shareable GIFs, running banner ads and paid social spots on Instagram and Facebook, as well as streaming audio ads on Spotify and Pandora. The campaign launched this week and will run through October.

Dive Insight:

HotelTonight's latest campaign arrives several months after Airbnb agreed to purchase the last-minute deal app, pointing to how the home-sharing juggernaut is expanding its reach into more traditional hotel stays but with an on-demand tech twist that's baked into HotelTonight's use case. At the same time, Airbnb is expanding the reach of its original home-sharing offering by beefing up capabilities for business travelers looking for a place to stay.

These moves come as new rules in some locations are putting pressure on Airbnb's business model and as big hotel chains increasingly invade its turf.

HotelTonight targets affluent travelers ages 25–39 years old, according to Skift, and this audience is likely to take advantage of the demand economy and book hotels in real time when they need them. The "Hard to Deal With" campaign hits the mark for this audience with its focus on "fear of missing out" (FOMO). Some 69% of millennials have reported feeling FOMO and it has influenced their purchasing decisions, Adweek reported. The use of humor and shareable social content could also help the brand engage millennials.

By playing up its Daily Drop feature, the brand shines a light on its unique features for consumers who may think HotelTonight is just another discount travel site as it looks to grow its audience. Running the ad on broadcast TV and across major social networks will likely help promote the brand's differentiating factors to a wider audience of potential customers.

HotelTonight has a history of creating marketing that targets affluent millennials. The spots tap into FOMO by featuring people disappointed for missing out on the lowest deal. The brand has promoted last-minute booking during the holidays with a message for those that want a break from family overload. They have advertised getting a room to New Yorkers that stay out late on work nights to avoid having to make the commute just to get up and head back to work. The app even pushed hotels as great places for three day weekends, with a play on threesomes.