IP Library Patent Application 11846507
Patent Application
App. No. 11/846,507

HOTEL RATE ANALYTIC SYSTEM

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US None
App. No.
11/846,507
Abstract

A hotel deal system provides an observation store with observations that identify a hotel, a stay, a room type, a room rate, and observation date. The hotel deal system receives a request for rate information for a desired hotel for a desired stay. The hotel deal system retrieves current room rate information for the desired hotel for the desired stay. The hotel deal system then analyzes the observations of the observation store to identify a deal rating for the desired hotel for the desired stay at the current room rate.

Claims (39)

1 . A method in a computing device for presenting hotel deals, the method comprising:

providing on observation store with observations, each observation identifying a hotel, a stay, a rate, and an observation date;

receiving a request for rate information for a desired hotel for a desired stay;

retrieving a current rate for the desired hotel for the desired stay;

analyzing the observations of the observation store to identify a deal rating for the desired hotel for the desired stay at the current rate; and

outputting an indication of the identified deal rating for the desired hotel for the desired stay at the current rate.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes calculating a historical average of rates for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the desired stay.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes calculating a long-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the observations including calculating a short-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes calculating a historical average of rates for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the desired stay, calculating a long-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay, and calculating a short-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

6 . The method of claim 5 including generating a rate score that is based on ratios of the calculated averages to the current rate.

7 . The method of claim 6 including identifying the deal rating that is based on the generated rate score.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the outputting includes creating a display page that includes an indication of the identified deal rating and a graph indicating the rate of similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

9 . The method of claim 8 including when a similar stay is selected, displaying rate information for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the selected similar stay.

10 . The method of claim 1 including generating a comparison of the current rate for the desired hotel for the desired stay to past rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

11 . The method of claim 1 including generating a comparison of the current rate for the desired stay at the desired hotel the current rate for similar stays at the desired hotel.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes calculating a historical average of rates for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the desired stay, calculating a long-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay, and calculating a short-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay; generating a rate score that is based on ratios of the calculated averages to the current rate and identifying the deal rating that is based on the generated rate score; and creating a display page that includes an indication of the identified deal rating and a graph indicating rate of similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

13 . A computer-readable medium embedded with instructions for controlling a computing device to identify a deal rating of a current rate for a desired hotel for a desired stay, by a method comprising:

providing on observation store with observations, each observation identifying a hotel, a stay, a rate, and an observation date;

analyzing the observations of the observation store to identify the deal rating for the desired hotel for the desired stay at the current rate, the deal rating based on a historical average of rates for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the desired stay, a long-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay, and a short-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay; and

outputting an indication of the identified type of deal for the desired hotel for the desired stay at the current rate.

14 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes generating a rate score that is based on ratios of the averages to the current rate.

15 . The computer-readable medium of claim 14 wherein the analyzing of the observations includes identifying the deal rating based on the generated rate score.

16 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the outputting includes creating a display page that includes an indication of the identified deal rating and a graph indicating the rate of similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 including when a similar stay is selected, displaying rate information for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the selected similar stay.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 including generating a comparison of the current rate for the desired hotel for the desired stay to past rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

19 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 including generating a comparison of the current rate for the desired stay at the desired hotel to the current rate for similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 13 wherein an observation includes a room attribute.

21 . A system for presenting deal ratings for hotel stays, comprising:

a component that receives from a user a request for rate information for a desired hotel for a desired stay;

a component that sends to a server an indication of the desired hotel and a desired stay wherein the server retrieves a current rate for the desired hotel and the desired stay, identifies a deal rating for the current rate for the desired hotel and the desired stay based on an analysis of observations identifying a hotel, a stay, a rate, and an observation date, and provides a display page indicating the identified deal rating; and

a component that receives from the server a display page indicating the identified deal rating and displays the received display page to the user.

22 . The system of claim 21 wherein the server analyzes the observations by calculating a historical average of rates for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the desired stay.

23 . The system of claim 21 wherein the server analyzes the observations by calculating a long-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

24 . The system of claim 21 wherein the server analyzes the observations by calculating a short-term historical average of rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

25 . The system of claim 21 wherein the display page includes a graph indicating the rate of similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

26 . The system of claim 25 including a component that displays rate information for similar hotels to the desired hotel for the selected similar stay.

27 . The system of claim 21 wherein the display page includes a comparison of the current rate for the desired hotel for the desired stay to past rates for the desired hotel for the desired stay.

28 . The system of claim 21 wherein the display page includes a comparison of the current rate for the desired stay at the desired hotel to the current rate for similar stays to the desired stay at the desired hotel.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2014
From: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 034542/0001 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE APPLICATION NUMBER 11864507 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 029716 FRAME 0757. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE APPLICATION NUMBER 11846507. Recorded Apr 24, 2013
From: FARECAST, INC.
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 030301/0422 →
MERGER Recorded Jan 29, 2013
From: FARECAST, INC.
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 029716/0757 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 12, 2007
From: BARTOT, JAY; CREAN, HUGH; FRIDGEN, MICHAEL; GRUS, JOEL
To: FARECAST, INC.
Reel/Frame 020231/0336 →