Ostrovok.ru launched non bank cards hotel booking service

Most of our compatriots prefer post factum hotel payments and less than half of them are card holders. According to the data by the end of 2011, only 43% of Russians are card holders and more than half of them are Muscovites and St. Petersburgers.

While bank cards are not cross functional payment tools, Ostrovok.ru booking system made a non-card hotel booking available for its guests for 70000 hotels across 200 countries, represented by the booking system.

Normally, when booking through an on-line system, the user should confirm his intentions with pre-payment. Ostrovok.ru users now can give a “book” command instead of leaving their card data – and the booking will be accepted. Money can be contributed at any moment but no later than 24 hours before the check-in, if there are no changes in traveller’s plans, of course. Booking can be paid with a bank card or through a QIWI terminal.

During the two weeks availability of the service it was embraced by more than a thousand clients. “We’re working on providing our users with maximum simple and useful way of hotel booking, - comments Ostrovok.ru’s co-founder and President Kirill Makharinskiy. – A non-card booking makes the process easier and is popular among travelers”.

It will be recalled, that earlier Russian on-line hotel booking service Ostrovok.ru arranged with its partners about providing five and more per cent lower prices than those, provided on the hotels’ websites and other booking systems.

More than 100 thousand unique guests visit the website every week; the revenue growth makes more than 60% monthly.