Hopper Review: Is It Legit to Use?

What is the Hopper app? Is it an ideal travel planning app? This Hopper review offers everything you need to know about the app. Travel easy.

Traveling is fun – planning for it is not always as much fun. There are a million things to do and keep track of. For instance, you must find the best destinations and book flights, hotels, and rental cars.

And that’s not all. You almost always want to find the cheapest or most convenient way to fly to your destination. And browsing the internet looking for great deals and discounts isn’t always easy.

Luckily, numerous apps and websites have made all these things more manageable. The only problem now is finding the best app for the job, as their numbers keep increasing daily. But not to worry!

As always, we are here to try and review one of the popular travel deals sites to help you determine if it’s a good one. And, as we have done with apps and websites like Skyscanner, Momondo, or Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) today, we are here for another app – Hopper. So, is Hopper an ideal app for you? Is it legit? And what are the best deals on this app? Let’s find out!

What is Hopper?

As we have mentioned earlier, Hopper is a travel deals app. The app is designed to help you plan and book your trips easily and score great deals on flights and hotels. In fact, according to the platform, they desire to help you travel better for cheaper.

The app claims to predict the future prices of flights with up to 95% accuracy, up to 6 months in advance. A lofty claim and no mistake! This way, you can find out when flight prices might rise or drop and make your booking at the perfect time.

The app also allows you to track flights and prices of a particular route over time so that you can book when the price is at its lowest point. You can also set up fare alerts for specific routes to get notified whenever price drops occur.

The app, formally launched in 2015, is available on both iOS and Android devices and has a desktop version too. Hopper has offices in Boston and Montreal, and since its launch, more than 20 million people have used the app.

According to statistics, the app can help you save around $50 for every domestic flight you take. On the other hand, you can save an average of $120 for each international flight. Now, this is huge – something that has seen the app rank number one in over 37 countries

But is this enough to make it your ideal travel app? Let’s find out more before you decide.

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Hopper App Review: How Does it Work?

The app is designed to be very user-friendly. After downloading it on your device, you can search for flights using the available search engine.

Just enter your travel details, like your departure point and destination, the dates you want to travel, and the number of travelers in your party. After this, you only need to wait a few seconds, and the app will show you all the available flight options.

You can book your flights directly on the app or website, after which you will get a confirmation email with your itinerary and other details. The whole process is pretty straightforward.

But exactly how does Hopper get its data? Well, according to its website, Hopper uses a four-step approach to bring you the best flight cost predictions. These involve Predicting, Watching, Buying, and Flying.

Having collected trillions of flight prices, it is easy to analyze the data to provide their users with an accurate prediction. They claim that Hopper flights have a consistent accuracy of around 95%. Now, that seems like a good number! But what differentiates the Hopper app from other travel sites and apps?

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Is Hopper Legit?

Whether an app is legit or not is the first thing that should hit anyone’s mind when dealing with a new app. And with Hopper, things aren’t any different. New Hopper users always have questions such as:

• Are Hopper flights legit?
• Are Hopper’s hotels and car rental deals legit?
• Will the app help me save, or is it just another scam and waste of time?

These questions are rampant, especially where a platform offers too many promises that seem too good to be true. Hopper promises a lot, but can it deliver?

From what we could gather from user Hopper reviews and personal experience, the app seems to be doing a pretty good job at keeping its promises. Many travelers say they’ve saved a lot of money thanks to the platform.

So, if you’re looking for an app to help you save on your travel expenses, Hopper might be the right one for you. But, some travelers still prefer doing things a bit differently. For instance, some say that while Hopper is best for checking flights and hotel prices, booking flights and hotels directly from respective hotels and airlines might be best.

This way, if, for any reason, you wish to contact customer service, it could be easier. Several user reviews indicate that it isn’t easy to contact Hopper customer service. Some even say Hopper has terrible customer service.

Don’t worry; we’ll dig deeper into Hopper and let you know what we think. Let’s take a look at some key features Hopper offers.

Top Hopper App Features

What differentiates the Hopper app from other travel sites and apps? Take a look at these features:

1. Price Prediction

The Hopper app collects around 15 billion airfare price quotes daily. As such, it has built a massive historical archive, with several trillion prices compiled over the years.

Hopper uses historical data and machine learning algorithms to predict future flight prices with 95% accuracy. You can get price predictions up to six months in advance.

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2. Price Alerts

The Hopper app removes the hassle of having to keep comparing flight prices online. The app monitors the price changes daily, 24/7, then notifies you every time there is a drop.

It alerts you on the best time to buy flight tickets, as well as when prices might go up. This way, you are always in the know and can always score those cheap flights.

3. Price Freeze Feature

This is perhaps one of the most crucial features and one that sets Hopper apart from the competition. With Price Freeze, you can lock in a flight price with a deposit. This means that even if prices increase during that period, you still get to pay the original price.

This feature works in three simple steps:

• First: Find your favorite flight price and lock it with a deposit. The feature gives you more time to find the remainder of the ticket’s money and pay.
• Second: Come with the money before your “price freeze” expires and complete your booking. Here, you still pay the initial price even if the flight price went up during that period.
• Third: The app will cover up to a $300 price increase for the booked flight or hotel. Anything above that, you’ll have to top up.

You should also note that if you decide to cancel your booking, the price freeze deposit is not refundable. Therefore, always ensure you are ready before tapping that price freeze button.

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4. Instant Cancellation

Except for the price freeze deposit, you can cancel any other booking, at any time, for any reason, and get a full refund. Here is how the instant cancellation feature works:

First, pick the trip you wish to book. After that, add the option of “flexibility to cancel any time.” And finally, if you cancel the booking, do it right from your app, where you can also track your refund. The feature can help you save up to $214 for a single user.

5. Change your Booking for any Reason

With the Hopper app, you can change your booking at any time without extra charges. And it’s pretty simple. First, select your booking. Then, add “flexibility to change any time.”

From here, you can change your flight or hotel bookings anytime. The feature can help you save up to $252 per user when you decide to change.

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6. Carrot Cash Rewards

What’s a good travel app without amazing rewards? With the Hopper app, you get rewarded for booking through the app. The rewards are in (the delightfully named) Carrot Cash, a virtual currency you can use to book future trips at a discount.

To collect Carrot Cash, you must book your flights, car rentals, or hotels through the Hopper app. The app rewards you every time you book a service by crediting your Hopper Wallet with Carrot Cash.

You can then redeem this price and use it on your next travel. Each nugget of Carrot Cash equals $1 and will reflect in your wallet within 48 hours.

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7. Flash Deals

The Flash Deal feature on the Hopper app brings you some of the best hotel and flight deals from around the world. These deals are mostly unadvertised and, therefore, can be difficult to find elsewhere.

To access these deals, open the app and scroll down to the “Flash Deals” section at the bottom of the main screen. Here, you’ll see all the latest unadvertised hotel and flight deals in one place. The deals are usually valid for a limited time, so booking is advisable as soon as you see something that interests you.

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Hopper App Pros and Cons

Like any other travel app, the Hopper app has upside and downsides. And looking at each of them helps us make a better choice. Let’s start with the upsides:

Hopper App Pros

• Ease of Use: The app is user-friendly and easy to navigate, even for first-time users. As such, you won’t have to spend much time figuring out how the app works.
• Data Accuracy: Hopper promises the best discounts on flights, hotel bookings, and rental cars. And with a 95% accuracy rate (according to the site) on flights, we can say that the app data is pretty accurate.
• User Reviews and Ratings: The app boasts 4.8 stars on the App Store and Google Play Store. This is a good indication that most users are satisfied with the app.
• Push Notifications: The app sends notifications whenever there’s a change in flight prices, making it easy for you to know when to buy your tickets.
• Carrot Cash Rewards: This is an incentive to keep using the app as it rewards you with cash (equal to $1 for every point) that you can use on your next travel bookings.
• Multi-Platform Support: Hopper supports Android and iOS devices, making it accessible to a wider audience.
• Availability: Hopper is available globally. It has partnered with over 150 airlines that traverse the globe, offering you services almost anywhere on the globe.

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Hopper App Cons

Now let’s look at some of the downsides.

• Booking Fees: Although Hopper doesn’t charge any booking fees, some of the services listed on the app might have hidden fees. Therefore, always check the fine print before finalizing your bookings.
• Notifications: While push notifications can be helpful, too many can be annoying, especially if you are not getting a good price change. Luckily, you can disable them from the settings menu.
• Poor/Non-responsive Customer Service: A quick look at the app’s customer service reviews shows that some users are not happy with the response they get from Hopper. So, as we said earlier, you might want to book directly with the airlines or hotels after you get the best prices if this concerns you.
• Their lowest prices aren’t always the best: Although Hopper promises the best discounts on flights, car rentals, and hotels, this might not always be true. Several reviewers recommend cross-checking the prices with Google Flights and other travel sites before settling on a price.

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How to Get Started With Hopper App

Now, this is easy, especially since you can use the Hooper app on your Android or iOS device.

Therefore, the first step would be to download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store and install it on your device. Hopper doesn’t have a browser extension, so you can’t use your computer.

Once the installation is complete, open the app and create an account using your email address, name, and phone number. Usually, you can search and compare Hopper prices, but you cannot book any trip without an account.

To create the account, go to the app, and at the bottom of the screen, tap on the “Trips” icon to reveal the Sign-Up or Login tab. Fill in the details mentioned above to register.

How to Use the Hopper App

Once you have registered with Hopper, you can use the app to find the best deals on flights, rental cars, and hotels.

Hopper Flights

The first step is to choose your destination and travel dates. You can either type in the name of the city or airport or browse through the list of available options. After that, select your travel dates by tapping on the calendar icon.

The color-coded travel calendar will show you the best time to travel to your destination of choice. It does this by displaying when they expect the fare prices to be lowest and when they would be most expensive. This way, you can make an informed choice.

In addition, you can choose between a one-way trip or a round trip. You can also choose a trip with stops or one without. Still, from this page, you can see the overall price range of your chosen destination, helping to understand what prices are considered low, medium, or high.

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How to Book Hopper Flights

Once ready to book a flight or view the options, tap the “View Flights” tab at the bottom of your screen. From here, you can choose the flights starting with the outbound and then the return. This helps create your travel schedule.

With Hooper, you can choose the airline you wish to travel with. For instance, the choice is yours if you want Delta flights for your outbound trip and American Airlines for your return flight. It allows you to get the cheapest and most convenient combination.

From here, you can make your fare refundable (of course, after reading the terms) and then choose the number of travelers in your party. The next step will be to click on payment, which allows you to enter your credit card details.

So, whether you are using your Chase Saphire Reserve, your Capital One Venture Rewards Card, or anything else in between, input the credit card details, and you’re ready to pay.

Hopper Hotels

After nailing that super cheap flight, it’s time to find a good place to stay. The good news is that booking a hotel through Hopper is no different from booking a flight.

First, select “Hotels” on the search bar and enter a destination. From here, enter travel dates (arrival and departure), and the app will display all the available options.

You can then browse through the list of hotels and compare prices, amenities, reviews, and more. Once you’ve found the perfect hotel, tap the “Book” button to make your reservation. You’ll also need to indicate the primary guest to occupy the room – the reservation will be under this name.

Lastly, choose the payment method. This allows you to see the fare breakdowns, and you can now enter your credit card details.

Whether you are traveling from San Francisco to Amsterdam or New York to Alaska, Hopper App gives you the best chance to get incredible hotel deals. But always ensure that you compare with other online travel agencies. Someone, somewhere, might be offering lower prices.

Is Hopper Worth It?

The answer is a resounding yes! Hopper is an excellent app that can save you time and money. It’s easy to use, and the color-coded calendar makes finding the best time to travel effortless. You can also book flights, rental cars, and hotels all in one place.

Who doesn’t want all the hassles of sifting through different websites to book their travel taken care of in one go? Plus, who wouldn’t want to get a glimpse of how their travel plans would cost in a few months to come?

The app helps you to plan and eliminates the stress of last minutes rush. And although their prices might sometimes be higher than on other platforms, the app makes up for it in other ways. For example, Hopper will notify you when flight prices are about to increase so you can book before they do.

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