Similar to the “pay-what-you-want” magazine scheme, the new Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen hotel now allows guests to choose the rate they want to pay.
The 538-room economy hotel, which opens this week in the middle of Singapore, offers rooms starting at $S138 a room, which includes features such as free wi-fi. But a new promotion until 15 March allows guests to bid on the hotel’s website for a price they want to pay during specified promotional periods.
If the guests are among the first to bid, they can stay in their room for the price they offered – some have sold for just $S100. The hotel is also promoting a “virtual general manager” competition, which urges users to fill a virtual hotel with as many “friends” as possible in order to win a free room.
The promotion is the latest in a string of “pay-what-you-want” campaigns, after rock band Radiohead recently sold their latest album online for whatever price the customer chose.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
