Before making a booking, the customer can see limited information about the hotel. Travelocity says “In order to preserve the secrecy of our Top Secret Hotels, we may have changed the descriptions for some of our hotels. You may be pleasantly surprised.”. typically, you will know the general location, star and basic information about the amenities.

Why it works for Travelocity:

Targets the price sensitive buyer:
You want best price, you get best price. The customer gets discounts of 40-55%. However, the Top Secret Hotel bookings are non-refundable and non-changeable.

Reduces shop hopping:
Chances of customers using Travelocity to check pricing, and doing the booking on a competing website drop as you dont know the hotel name until the booking is complete.

Travelocity Top Secret Hotels is a good example of showing how you can monetize your knowledge, especially in businesses where you are paid for your knowledge. Once you provide the information to the customer, there is no guarantee whether the customer will buy from you. Travelocity‘s Top Secret Hotels is one way to enure this knowledge is not passed on for free – a great tool in the knowledge economy.