Hopper

Hopper made its name answering the one question every traveler asks: is this a good price, or should I wait? The app is built around price prediction. It watches the market and tells you whether to book a hotel now or hold out for a cheaper rate, which turns booking from a guessing game into a decision you can actually reason about.

The company has been at this longer than most. Two former Expedia executives, Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk, founded Hopper in 2007, and the machine-learning models behind the predictions have been in development since 2010. Hopper started with flights and added hotels in 2017, so the same forecasting engine that made it famous for airfare now works on where you sleep. The company is based in Montreal with a large office in Boston, and by 2024 it was bringing in around 850 million dollars in revenue, so this is a serious operation rather than a fly-by-night deals app.

For hotels, the pitch is simple. You search a destination, and Hopper shows you rates alongside guidance on whether prices are likely to rise or fall. If you find a rate you like but aren't ready to commit, Price Freeze lets you lock it in and hold it while you decide, which protects you from the volatility that makes hotel pricing so frustrating. Bookings come with flexibility to cancel or change, so a shift in plans doesn't cost you the whole stay. On the phone the flow is quick, and the app is designed mobile-first instead of as a shrunken website.

Hopper also runs its own in-app credit, Carrot Cash, which you can earn and put toward future bookings. It's a nudge to keep booking through the app, but it does translate into real savings on later trips if you travel often. Stack that with well-timed price prediction and a Hopper booking can come in noticeably under what you'd pay booking blind on a big-name site.

The technology is credible for a reason beyond marketing. Hopper's forecasting and travel-fintech tools are good enough that other companies license them. Through its HTS division, launched in 2021, Hopper powers travel features for partners including Capital One, Uber, Air Canada, and Tripadvisor. When a bank and an airline pay to use your prediction engine, the predictions are probably worth listening to.

There are trade-offs worth knowing. Some of Hopper's most useful protections, like Price Freeze and certain flexible-cancellation options, are paid add-ons rather than free perks, so the headline rate isn't always the final number once you opt into them. That's a fair deal when the flexibility matches your trip, but it means you should read what you're buying at checkout rather than assume everything is included. The core price prediction and hotel search, though, cost nothing to use.

Who's Hopper best for? Travelers who plan a little ahead and want the app to do the watching for them. If you know roughly where and when you're going but aren't sure when to pull the trigger, Hopper's whole reason for existing is to make that call for you. Set a watch, let the prediction tell you when to book, freeze a rate if you're on the fence, and you'll usually land a better price than you would by booking on instinct. It earns its spot near the top of any list of hotel apps worth keeping on your phone.