DealBase.com, an online database devoted to aggregating hotel deals and packages, has secured $1 million in Series A funding from angel investors including Russ Siegelman, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Bob Zipp, managing director of Amicus Capital; and Josh Hannah, general partner at Matrix Partners and former CEO of eHow.com.
Launched in November 2008, DealBase crawls the web to create a database of hotel deals, special offers and packages, which currently number more than 22,000 deals, from over 3,500 sources, adding up to $4,660,093 in total savings on the site. The online travel industry is a competitive market chock full of sites that find consumer deals for travel, which makes the popularity contest incredibly tough. Expedia, Kayak, Travelzoo and others all offer packages and deals through their platforms and have a dedicated user base.
What makes DealBase’s site slightly more unique is its “Deal Analyzer” functionality that compares deal prices to regular prices, and then rates the deal for travelers so they can determine if they’re getting a good deal or not. Sam Shank, founder of DealBase, says that 15 percent of deals on the site have negative savings. But Microsoft-owned Farecast, a travel site focused in finding deals for hotels and air travel, also has a feature that measures how well-priced the hotel is compared to its original pricing and other hotels. The main difference is that Farecast doesn’t limit its search to just deals and packages while DealBase only lists deals and special promotions for hotels.
Shank also maintains that since DealBase lets any hotels post advertisements for free, with no advertising deals, the process is transparent and hotels have more of an incentive in the current economy to post a deal for free. Currently, DealBase features over 500 deals for New York City Hotels while Travelzoo lists only 7 deals. Expedia also features nearly 500 deals for hotels in New York. If DealBase’s database has the same reach and information of more established sites like Expedia, that could be a good sign.
Shank’s previous startup, TravelPost, was one of the larger hotel review sites in the US and was acquired by SideStep, a comprehensive travel deal search engine. SideStep was then acquired by competitor Kayak in December 2007 for $180 million.
Well done, Sam! Congratulations and best of luck.
Really amazing ! Because Wego,Kayak,Travelzoo lists few only.
User can get more options now.
Great news Sam. Really excited to watch you build another great travel company. Definitely a great service that is especially relevant now. Good luck!
Congrats to DealBase, they’re doing a lot of interesting stuff on their site.
This is a poor analysis – Expedia’s 484 hotel search results aren’t the same thing as a DealBase deal. You can’t compare the two and infer anything.
Their deal analyzer is great – I love how clearly it states how much you’re saving. However, I’m wondering how accurate their “regular price” is – it says they take an average from hotels.com over the next 30 days – is that really accurate?
Thanks for the comment Jon. The Hotels.com 30-Day average is something we calculate independently, using rates we harvest nightly from Hotels.com. We’ll be presenting the specific rates that make up these averages on the site in a near-term release.
Congrats Sam, you know how much we love the travel deals space and the model. Deal Analyzer is a great idea!
Rising tides lift all boats. Great job!
Lots of Vegas deals – I wish I knew about this site before CTIA a month ago.
In the US the only the hotel worth its money is the Hampton Inns… decent breakfast, soft beds, and free internet for a decent price. They are 10 times better than the Hilton or Marriot which charge you for everything… lol… but cool site…:)
Techcrunch has a knack for writing about new companies within hours of my descovery of the same. Just booked a weekend away and found dealbase.com as the first result via google search. Liked what I saw and booked a discount that did not seem to exist on any other site. More travel choices are always welcome IMO. Good luck to them in a very competitive space. Not sure why they need VC funds but hopefully that means more good deals for me.
I used the site to book a trip to Mendocino and got a great deal. I love the site.
Have you try http://www.four...aveldeals.com/?
Quite opposite to DealBese — One day, only four travel deals.
I did a few searches to check it out, looking wonderful. Great work Sam
This is sweet! We’re doing the same for vacation rental specials.. We’ll not crawling, but an on-line marketplace for last minute deals of vacation rentals. http://www.next...ekvacations.com
We should do a deal!
“NOTICE: Site is live! Current listings are real!” — LOL
booked a hotel for my last dive trip to Cozumel. found a screaming deal that wasn’t available anywhere else at the time. definitely worth your time to check it out!
dealbase.com is a great site and really has the best deals for any price range. Have used it a couple of times already and so far it has earned five stars in my book! Congratulations guys!
Fantastic! I’m for anything that makes it easier / more affordable to go on vacation!
Congrats Sam! I enjoy seeing new features constantly rolling out. Can’t wait to get some time off so I can use the site for my next vacation.
Cheers!