Hopper was once the darling of travel tech. It launched as a mobile-first OTA aimed at younger travelers, blending slick design with gamified booking and “fintech” tools like price freeze and cancel-for-any-reason. They expanded into B2B with private-label travel portals and loyalty partnerships, powering companies like Capital One and Uber, while also selling their fintech tools to airlines and others.
But now, according to Skift, Capital One is acquiring the very software Hopper built to run its travel portal, and quietly hiring away Hopper’s hotel and engineering teams. For a company whose consumer app now accounts for just 10% of revenue, this seems more like an exit than a pivot.
Hopper’s app is still live, with 100 million+ downloads and millions of active users. But its future looks increasingly murky: no breakout growth in recent years, and now its biggest partner is pulling the tech (at least some of it) in-house. Capital One, like Chase (which bought cxLoyalty in 2020) and Amex, is moving past white-label deals and into owning the stack.
I’m no champion of OTAs, but it was nice to think there might be a viable foil to the Expedia/Booking duopoly. Hopper had a shot, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be the ones. Maybe Airbnb’s slow-played OTA ambitions will land better. Or will it all be replaced by Agentic AI? (See below)
Skift: Capital One Plans to Buy Hopper’s Travel Software and Hire Teams
