Overview
Hopper recently announced a partnership with Turo to allow their customers to book Turo vehicles through the Hopper app. This surprised everyone but me. 😀
Here’s why this announcement didn’t surprise me and what I predict will happen next, read on!
Background of the Hopper / Turo / Capital One Relationships
History helps us to understand the present, right?
But first, who are the players?
HOPPER : A travel planning and travel deal finding phone app
CAPITAL ONE: A major credit card company that launched into the premium travel space two years ago (November 2021) with a new premium travel credit card, the Venture X. They also launched a brand new “travel portal” or travel booking site for their members.
TURO : A site that allows vehicle owners to rent their cars to strangers (hopefully you’ve heard of it before)
Here’s a brief history of their intertwined pasts:
- March 24 2021: Capital One invests $170 million in Hopper. Capital One also announces Hopper will be powering their new travel portal
- May 17 2022: Capital One adds more travel cards to the Hopper-powered travel portal and announces Turo as a new travel partner with a 10% credit card bonus category
- November 2022: Capital One invests another $96 million in Hopper, and announces a long-term strategic partnership with Hopper continuing to power their travel portal
- September 2023: Hopper announces Turo vehicles will now be bookable in the Hopper app
So, to recap:
Capital One basically owns Hopper…
Capital One’s online travel portal is powered by Hopper…
Hopper is the only Online Travel Agency (OTA) that can book Turo vehicles…
Capital One offered a 10% bonus category for Turo bookings that recently expired in May 2023…
You see where I’m going with this.
Connecting the Dots
So, it seems like there might be more going on here than meets the eye.
As a Turo host and avid traveler there are a few predictions I’d like to make:
1. In the near future Turo vehicles will be bookable through the Capital One travel portal because of the Hopper partnership
a. Any rental vehicle booked through the portal already receives 10% back, so this would restore the 10% bonus category that expired in May 202
b. Hopper is a phone app, their only web presence is the Capital One travel portal, so it makes sense that they would make this happen as they already power the backend of the portal
2. The Capital One Venture X card currently offers primary rental insurance for vehicles booked with traditional rental car companies, but also for all vehicles booked through the travel portal. With the addition of Turo to the portal the Venture X will be the ONLY credit card to offer primary rental insurance to Turo guests
3. Turo will soon launch a loyalty program and a co-branded credit card with Capital One as the issuing bank, and Capital One will manage the program (similar to how AMEX manages Delta Skymiles). The loyalty program might even earn Capital One miles to keep it simple.
What do you think?
I’ll bet you a free rental day that one of those predictions actually happens. I’ll update here as soon as I’m proven right. 😉
