Hopper
Hopper is a mobile travel booking app that uses predictive analytics to forecast flight and hotel prices. Founded in 2007, the platform offers price predictions, price freeze options, and travel booking services for flights, hotels, and rental cars.
Score generated by AI agents based on publicly cited evidence and reviewed by the project maintainer. Not independently validated. Last assessed 2026-10-01. Score revised 2026-10-01: 50 → 45.
Score History
Timeline events are AI-curated from public reporting. Score trajectory is derived from documented events.
Former Expedia executives Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk founded Hopper in Montreal and spent years in stealth building a travel price database, raising a $12 million Series B led by OMERS Ventures in 2012. With no consumer product yet, there was nothing to degrade.
Hopper launched its mobile-only flight prediction app in early 2015, telling users whether to buy now or wait. By late 2016 it sold $1 million of flights a day, said 90% of sales came from push notifications whose wording it tuned for conversion, and charged a flat $5 booking fee. The product served users and its monetization was simple and visible.
A $100 million Series D led by OMERS Ventures funded international expansion and AI development. Hopper said it sent an average of 42 push notifications before a sale, and Skift later reported that it turned its booking fee into an optional 'tip' that year. Price Freeze, launched in November 2019, was its first paid fintech add-on.
COVID-19 wiped out bookings: Hopper laid off about 40% of staff, shut its phone line and received more than 980,000 support requests by December, with some refunds arriving only after media intervention. It raised about $70 million and recast itself around fintech add-ons. From 2020, the FTC later alleged, its checkout showed a 'total' that left out pre-selected Tip and VIP Support fees hidden below the booking button.
A $170 million Series F led by Capital One launched Hopper Cloud, followed by acquisitions (Journy, PlacePass, SMOOSS), Hopper Homes and a $5 billion valuation. Fintech add-ons spread to every vertical, reaching 40% of app revenue by late 2022, and the FTC says Hopper collected about $85.6 million in hidden, pre-selected Tip and VIP Support fees from 2021 to 2023 that its own tests showed most users would decline. A Price Freeze class action filed in 2022 survived dismissal in April 2023.
Expedia cut off hotel supply, saying Hopper's features 'exploit consumer anxiety'; Hopper dropped Booking.com, cut 30% of staff in October 2023 and 10% more in November 2024, and its app downloads fell from 2.8 million a month to 664,000. Hopper says it ended the hidden fee display in mid-2023, though the fees stayed pre-selected. B2B grew to most of revenue, Expedia resumed supply in November 2024, and Hopper floated an IPO before Capital One moved to take its portal in-house.
Capital One confirmed it was paying to take in-house the technology and about 150 Hopper staff behind Capital One Travel, Hopper's largest client; Hopper, now about 90% B2B and EBITDA-positive, won RBC's exclusive rewards portal. In July 2026 Hopper agreed to pay $35 million to settle FTC charges over hidden pre-selected fees and misrepresented VIP Support and Price Freeze benefits, under an order requiring clear fee disclosure, and a Quebec class action followed.
Alternatives
Free price-comparison tools with price-tracking alerts and no fintech add-on upsells or 'price freeze' products with a capped payout like the one that drew class actions against Hopper. Shows fares across airlines and OTAs. Easy switch: search your trip, set a price alert, then book directly on the airline or hotel site to avoid middleman service fees entirely.
Flight and hotel price comparison with price alerts and a 'Price Forecast' feature similar to Hopper's predictions, while booking happens on the airline or OTA site rather than through Hopper's in-app add-on flow. Easy switch. Owned by Booking Holdings, so read their data practices; the core search tool is straightforward and free.
Dimensional Breakdown
Summaries below were written by AI agents based on the cited evidence. They are editorial interpretations, not independent research findings.
Dimension History
Timeline (49 events)
Hopper Founded by Ex-Expedia Executives in Montreal
Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk, both former Expedia executives and engineers, founded Hopper in Montreal in 2007. Lalonde had previously co-founded Newtrade, a hotel-reservation connectivity company that Expedia bought in 2002. Hopper spent its first years in stealth building a travel information database.
Hopper Raises $12M Series B Funding
Hopper closed a $12 million Series B led by OMERS Ventures, with Brightspark Ventures and Atlas Venture participating, bringing its total raised to $22 million. The company had been in stealth development for nearly five years with an executive team of former Expedia engineers.
Hopper Launches Mobile-Only Flight Prediction App
After investing six years and over $10 million in its prediction algorithms, Hopper launched its mobile-only app in early 2015, focused on flight price prediction and monitoring and on telling users whether to buy a flight now or wait. TechCrunch reported that Apple named it one of the best apps of 2015.
Hopper Raises $16M Growth Round to Improve Airfare Predictions
Hopper raised $16 million in a growth round led by BDC Capital IT Venture Fund, with existing investors OMERS Ventures, Accomplice and Brightspark Ventures participating, bringing its total to $38 million. CEO Lalonde told TechCrunch that 90 percent of what Hopper sold came from a push notification, the notification-driven model that would later draw criticism.
Hopper Closes $82M CAD Series C, Sells $1M in Flights Daily
Hopper closed an $82 million CAD ($61.2M USD) Series C round led by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), one of North America's largest pension fund managers. The company announced it was selling $1 million in flights per day and had surpassed 10 million downloads.
Business Insider: Hopper Gets 90% of Revenue from Push Notifications
Business Insider reported that Hopper was selling $1 million in flights per day and getting 90% of its revenue from push notifications. CEO Lalonde described tuning notification wording for conversion: adding the word 'Whoa' to one alert doubled conversion. Hopper charged a $5 flat fee per booking.
Hopper Launches Hotel Booking with Price Predictions
Hopper expanded beyond flights into hotel booking, initially launching hotel price predictions and room bookings in New York City. This marked the beginning of Hopper's evolution from a focused flight prediction tool into a multi-vertical travel platform.
Hopper Raises $100M Series D Led by OMERS Ventures
Hopper secured $100 million in Series D financing led by OMERS Ventures, with CDPQ, Accomplice, Brightspark, Investissement Quebec, BDC and new investor Citi Ventures participating. The funding was earmarked for international expansion and AI development. Total funding reached $184 million. Hopper said it had over 30 million installs, was on track to surpass $1 billion in sales, and that 25% of its bookings came from AI-suggested trips users had not searched for.
Hopper Expands Hotel Price Monitoring Worldwide
Hopper launched hotel price monitoring globally with private rates and price tracking capabilities, extending the algorithmic prediction model that drove its flight business into hotels. The expansion increased the scope of Hopper's proprietary black-box pricing recommendations.
Hopper Acquires GDX Travel for Latin America Expansion
Hopper acquired GDX Travel, a Bogota-based company specializing in airline connectivity. The acquisition gave Hopper an API connecting to over 25 regional and low-cost carriers in Latin America not available in the GDS, supported NDC connections, and established Hopper's Latin American headquarters; Latin America was already Hopper's second-largest market outside the United States.
Hopper Launches Price Freeze for Flights
Hopper launched its Price Freeze feature, letting users pay a deposit (about $12 to $20 at launch) to hold a flight price for one to seven days, reimbursed when they booked. Hopper said about 30,000 customers froze flights during testing that began in late August. Later versions extended the hold period and charged fees, and the feature became the subject of class actions over its $100 service cap.
Hopper Lays Off 40% of Staff Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
Hopper laid off approximately 145 of its 362 employees (40%) as the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the travel industry. After initially seeing its biggest-ever day of flight sales in March 2020 due to plummeting fares, nearly all bookings were subsequently canceled as borders closed. Flight sales dropped to 10% of typical levels by April.
Hopper Raises $70M During Pandemic
Despite the pandemic's impact on travel, Hopper closed a roughly $70 million round led by WestCap, with Inovia, BDC, OMERS, Investissement Quebec and CDPQ participating, according to The Logic as reported by Skift. Over the following year Hopper recast itself as a fintech company built around add-on products such as Price Freeze and flexible cancellation.
NBC DFW Investigates Hopper Customer Service Confusion
NBC 5 Responds reported on multiple travelers unable to get refunds from Hopper, highlighting the difficulty of contacting customer service with no listed phone number or email. One Fort Worth consumer received a $721.51 refund only after the news station intervened. Hopper provided NBC with refund instructions that were not easily discoverable by users.
TechCrunch Reports Pandemic-Fueled Customer Service Nightmare
TechCrunch reported that Hopper was facing a customer service crisis over pandemic cancellations. Hopper said it was receiving over 100,000 support requests a month and had received more than 980,000 since April; it had shut down its phone line, and users left hundreds of one-star app reviews saying they could not reach anyone or get refunds. CEO Lalonde admitted, 'We failed our customers.'
Hopper Raises $170M Series F, Launches B2B Platform with Capital One
Hopper raised $170 million (C$213 million) in Series F funding led by Capital One, with GS Growth, Inovia Capital, WestCap and Citi Ventures participating. Capital One became the first partner of Hopper Cloud, Hopper's new B2B platform, and Capital One Travel, powered by Hopper, launched later in 2021. The Globe and Mail reported the round valued Hopper at close to $2 billion, roughly double its 2020 valuation.
Hopper Acquires Journy Trip Planning Service
Hopper acquired Journy, a personalized trip-planning service that pairs travelers with personal trip designers for customized itineraries. The acquisition was part of Hopper's rapid expansion into a multi-service travel platform during 2021.
Hopper Raises $175M Series G at $3.5B Valuation
Hopper secured $175 million in Series G financing led by GPI Capital with participation from Goldman Sachs Growth. The company was pacing toward 330% revenue growth and had surpassed its pre-pandemic revenue peak by over 100%. Total funding reached approximately $583 million with a $3.5 billion valuation.
Capital One Travel Portal Launches Powered by Hopper
Capital One unveiled its revamped Capital One Travel booking portal powered by Hopper's technology, available to Venture X, Venture, and other cardholders. The portal included Hopper's price prediction, free price drop protection, and the ability to freeze flight prices for up to 14 days, embedding Hopper's fintech products in Capital One's customer base.
MakeMyTrip Partners with Hopper for Indian Market
MakeMyTrip announced a partnership with Hopper to integrate its AI-powered price prediction and fintech products into the Indian travel market. The deal expanded Hopper Cloud's international reach and further embedded its fintech layer across global travel infrastructure.
Hopper Acquires PlacePass, Powers Marriott Bonvoy Experiences
Hopper acquired PlacePass, one of the world's largest activity aggregators with over 300,000 experiences in 800+ global destinations. As part of the deal, Hopper began powering Marriott Bonvoy's Tours and Activities platform via Hopper Cloud, significantly expanding its B2B footprint.
Hopper Launches Vacation Rentals to Compete with Airbnb
Hopper debuted Hopper Homes with more than 2 million professionally managed rental properties. Hopper said it was the most-downloaded travel app in North America in 2021 (ahead of Airbnb, Expedia and Booking.com) and used its user base to enter the short-term rental market, furthering its 'travel super app' ambitions.
Hopper Valuation Reaches $5B in Secondary Share Sale
Hopper raised $35 million in a secondary share sale valuing the company at $5 billion, up from $3.5 billion just five months earlier. The rapid valuation increase reflected investor enthusiasm for its fintech-driven revenue model, but also increased the pressure for eventual IPO returns.
Hopper Acquires SMOOSS, Inherits Air France-KLM Partnership
Hopper acquired Paris-based airline technology startup SMOOSS, gaining direct partnerships with Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Corsair, and Transavia. The acquisition enabled Hopper Cloud to sell fintech products directly to airlines, a key expansion of its B2B intermediation strategy.
Hopper Expands Fintech Product Suite Across All Verticals
Hopper launched Cancel for Any Reason for hotels, Leave for Any Reason, Price Freeze for cars (with holds of up to 21 days and a $100 cap on covered increases), and standalone Flight Disruption Guarantee coverage for trips booked elsewhere. Hopper said almost 60% of app customers bought at least one fintech product when booking, that fintech products made up 50% of total revenue, and that it was on track to sell over $4.5 billion of travel and fintech services that year.
Class Action Filed Over Price Freeze Hidden $100 Cap
A proposed class action (Acosta v. Hopper (USA), Inc., No. 1:22-cv-03974) was filed in the Northern District of Illinois alleging that Hopper's Price Freeze feature misleads consumers. The complaint alleged the $100-per-traveler service cap was disclosed only behind a small 'i' icon or 'More Information' link and in a post-purchase confirmation email, not during the flight selection process.
Ed White Law Calls Hopper 'Most Hated Travel App on the Internet'
Consumer law firm Ed White Law published a blog post asking whether Hopper is 'the most hated travel app on the internet,' saying it was investigating complaints. It cited customers unable to reach a person, the $100 limit on Price Freeze coverage, Cancel for Any Reason claims that were hard to collect, and refunds left unpaid for months or years, and said Hopper's business relied on false advertising and forced arbitration.
CEO Lalonde Co-Founds Carbon Capture Startup Deep Sky
Frederic Lalonde launched Deep Sky, a carbon capture startup, in September 2022 with Hopper co-founder Joost Ouwerkerk (who stepped back from Hopper in November 2022) and former Airbnb CFO Laurence Tosi. By May 2023 it had raised $10 million from Brightspark Ventures and the Quebec government, both Hopper investors; Lalonde personally invested $1 million while staying on as Hopper's CEO, and Hopper president Dakota Smith sat on Deep Sky's board.
CEO Lalonde Tells Skift Forum 'I Love Anxiety'
Asked at Skift Global Forum in September 2022 whether he was a fan of airline cancellations as a way to sell Hopper's fintech products, CEO Fred Lalonde said he loved anxiety and wanted people to worry that trip logistics might go wrong, so Hopper could sell the antidote. Skift resurfaced the remark in July 2023 when Expedia cut ties with Hopper.
Capital One Invests $96M, Valuation Exceeds $5 Billion
Capital One invested an additional $96 million in Hopper at a valuation above $5 billion, extending its strategic partnership and funding Hopper Cloud, social commerce and international expansion. Hopper said its fintech products accounted for 40% of its total app revenue and 70% of its air booking revenue, and that Hopper Cloud was on track to earn more in 2022 than Hopper's entire business did in 2021.
Second Price Freeze Class Action Filed in California, Dropped Weeks Later
A proposed class action filed in the Central District of California (No. 8:23-cv-00058) claimed Hopper falsely advertised that Price Freeze protected travelers from price increases without adequately disclosing the cap on that protection. The plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the case with prejudice on March 15, 2023, giving no reason.
ABC7 Reports Hopper Auto-Adds a 'Tip' That Goes to Hopper
ABC7's 7 On Your Side showed that Hopper's checkout added a tip automatically unless the user toggled it off, and Hopper confirmed the tip goes to the company. Consumer Watchdog called it a surcharge masquerading as a tip. Skift reported two days later that Hopper had turned its booking fee into an optional tip in 2018 and that about a quarter of customers paid it.
Expedia Terminates Partnership, Says Hopper 'Exploits Consumer Anxiety'
Expedia Group terminated its hotel supply relationship with Hopper, with a spokesperson stating that Hopper's features 'exploit consumer anxiety and confuse customers, leading them to purchase services they neither need nor fully understand.' Skift's sources said Expedia's concerns included junk fees, allegedly misleading marketing, high-pressure sales tactics, and 'guarantees' not backed by licensed insurance companies.
Price Freeze Class Action Survives Dismissal Motion, Then Dismissed by Stipulation
On April 25, 2023, Judge Sara L. Ellis denied Hopper's motion to dismiss Acosta v. Hopper, finding the complaint adequately alleged a deceptive act under the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act. Hopper answered the complaint in June; the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal on August 23, and the court dismissed the case with prejudice on September 12, 2023. No terms were made public.
Hopper Preemptively Terminates Booking.com Partnership
Hopper disconnected Booking.com's hotel supply on September 29, 2023, fearing reputational damage if a second major OTA publicly severed ties after Expedia's July termination, according to Skift's sources. Days earlier it had expanded supply deals with wholesalers Hotelbeds and WebBeds, and it shifted toward direct hotel relationships.
Hopper Moves Pre-Selected Fees Above the Fold
According to the FTC's later complaint, in late 2023 Hopper moved its Tip and VIP Support fees 'above the fold' in checkout but kept them pre-selected, and in 2023 moved the Tip to a post-purchase screen with pre-populated options of $1, $5 and $9, no $0 option and only a small 'X' to decline. Hopper says the hidden display practices ended in mid-2023.
Hopper Cuts 30% of Workforce in Profitability Push
Hopper laid off 250 employees, approximately 30% of its full-time staff, as CEO Lalonde pushed for profitability. The cuts were attributed to organizational changes needed after losing hotel inventory from Expedia and the shift toward prioritizing B2B revenue through Hopper Cloud over the consumer app.
Appfigures Reports Hopper 'Goes from Leader to Loser' in Downloads
Appfigures estimated that Hopper's app downloads fell from a peak of 2.8 million in February 2023 to 664,000 in October 2023, after the drop starting in July gave Expedia its first month of more downloads that year. The decline began the month Expedia ended its partnership.
CEO Lalonde's Side Startup Deep Sky Raises $57.5M
Deep Sky, the carbon capture startup founded by Hopper CEO Lalonde, raised $57.5 million, co-led by Brightspark Ventures and Whitecap Venture Partners with $25 million from Investissement Quebec, weeks after Hopper cut 30% of its staff. Several Hopper investors also backed Deep Sky.
Hopper Conducts Second Layoff Round, Cuts 10% of Staff
Hopper restructured for the second time in 13 months, laying off 60-65 employees (approximately 10% of its workforce). The hotel team bore the brunt of cuts, with about 20 employees impacted. The layoffs followed the renewed Expedia partnership, which made the direct hotel team partially redundant.
Expedia Resumes Hotel Supply Partnership Under New CEO
Expedia Group resumed supplying hotel inventory to Hopper, approximately 17 months after terminating the relationship. The reversal came under new CEO Ariane Gorin, who prioritized B2B revenue growth. The original termination by CEO Peter Kern had cited Hopper's exploitation of consumer anxiety through its fintech products.
Hopper Eyes $10 Billion Valuation in Long-Term IPO Plan
Bloomberg reported that CEO Lalonde plans to conduct a dual listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, targeting a valuation between $5 billion and $10 billion. Conditions include exceeding $1 billion in trailing revenue and achieving profitability. The IPO ambitions create additional pressure to maximize revenue from fintech products.
Hopper Launches HTS Assist AI Customer Service Agent
Hopper launched HTS Assist, an AI customer service agent for its own app and its corporate travel clients. CEO Lalonde said it was trained on 14 million customer interactions, resolves issues four times faster than human agents, scored 88% on customer satisfaction in tests (matching call-centre staff), and cuts Hopper's cost per call by 92% to $1.12. The system can also upsell services during calls.
Capital One Moves to Acquire Hopper Travel Software and Staff
Skift reported that Capital One plans to acquire the travel software powering Capital One Travel from Hopper and hire key hotel and engineering staff. Members of Hopper's teams in Europe and Canada received job offers from Capital One, signaling a potential unwinding of Hopper's largest B2B partnership into a direct acquisition of its core technology.
Capital One Confirms Payout to Take Hopper's Portal Tech and 150 Staff In-House
Capital One said it was making a payout to acquire the technology, licenses, servicing contracts, supplier relationships and about 150 Hopper employees behind Capital One Travel, which Hopper had built and run since 2021. Hopper keeps supplying fintech products such as Price Freeze through its APIs. The deal closed in April 2026. Hopper's president told BetaKit that B2B is now 90% of revenue and that the company had been EBITDA-positive for six months.
Hopper Wins RBC's Exclusive Rewards Travel Portal From Expedia
Hopper Technology Solutions signed to power the Avion Rewards travel portal of RBC, Canada's largest bank, replacing Expedia after about a dozen years. Expedia said RBC had sought an exclusive contract that would bar its partner from powering other Canadian banks, and walked away.
Hopper Pays $35M to Settle FTC Hidden-Fee Charges
Hopper Inc. and Hopper (USA) agreed to pay $35 million for consumer redress to settle FTC allegations that, despite 'no hidden fees' promises, they charged pre-selected Tip and VIP Support fees hidden below the Swipe to Book button, misrepresented VIP Support response times and failed to disclose Price Freeze limits. The complaint cites internal tests showing most users would decline the fees if disclosed and unselected, and employees writing that 'we're tricking users'; the FTC says Hopper collected about $18 million in Tip and $67.6 million in VIP Support fees from 2021 to 2023. Hopper settled without admitting the allegations and called them outdated.
Quebec Class Action Targets Hopper's Fees, Price Freeze and Currency Switching
A proposed class action filed in the Superior Court of Quebec alleges Hopper charged Canadians pre-selected Tip and VIP Support fees without informed consent, advertised round-trip fares that applied to only one leg, showed prices in Canadian dollars but charged in US dollars or other currencies, and did not credit Price Freeze fees as promised. Hopper said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Court Enters FTC Order Requiring Hopper to Disclose All Fees
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered the stipulated order in FTC v. Hopper (USA) (No. 1:26-cv-13058), making the $35 million judgment and its fee-disclosure requirements binding: Hopper may not misrepresent fees and must clearly disclose all fees, the total price and the final amount charged.
Evidence (56 citations)
D1: User Value Erosion
D2: Business Customer Exploitation
D3: Shareholder Extraction
D4: Lock-in & Switching Costs
D5: Twiddling & Algorithmic Opacity
D6: Dark Patterns
D7: Advertising & Monetization Pressure
D8: Competitive Conduct
D9: Labor & Governance
D10: Regulatory & Legal Posture
Scoring Log (6 entries)
Checked 94 items + prose. 46 verified, 34 corrected (17 date-only), 11 re-sourced, 3 removed (2 junk sources, 1 dead duplicate). Invented/contradicted: Acosta case 'voluntarily dismissed March 2023' (docket: MTD denied Apr 2023, stipulated dismissal Sep 2023); 'standard users cannot reach live support without VIP' (Hopper VIP page: paid priority queue); Trustpilot 3.7 (live 1.3); Hopper Cloud '>40% of business' (BetaKit: fintech = 40% of app revenue); 2019 revenue $45M (Globe: US$17M); CFAR '>50% gross margin' (content farm only). Also fixed many dates (BI 2016 not 2019, NBC DFW 2020 not 2023, Ed White 2022 not 2024, AI agent Oct 2025), Lufthansa wrongly in Series D, $311/$932 example misattributed to Ed White Law.
50->45. D1 6->5 (correction: 'support paywalled behind VIP' contradicted; App Store 4.8/1.2M ratings balances Trustpilot 1.3), D2 5->3 (recalibration: no documented take-rate rises or partner complaints; Expedia's break was over consumer treatment and it resumed supply), D3 5->4 (recalibration: private, no buybacks/dividends, IPO apparently abandoned, EBITDA-positive), D4 3->2 (recalibration: no network effects, many alternatives; Carrot Cash only soft friction), D8 3->2 (recalibration: small tech/supply acquisitions, competitive market), D10 4->5 (event: July 2026 FTC $35M settlement, order entered Aug 2026; Quebec class action). D5 6, D6 7, D7 6, D9 5 unchanged. Eras: 2018-10-01->2018-10-03 (Series D), 2021-03-01->2021-03-24 (Series F), 2023-07-01->2023-07-12 (Expedia termination) re-dated, the last relabeled 'Expedia Fallout & B2B Pivot'; final era re-dated from assessment date 2026-02-11 to 2026-03-17 (Capital One payout) and relabeled 'B2B Retrenchment, FTC Settlement'; 3 kept; all re-scored (FTC findings raise 2020-2023 D6 to 6-8). Since Feb 2026: Capital One took its Hopper-built portal and ~150 staff in-house (Mar-Apr), RBC exclusive deal (Apr), FTC $35M hidden-fee settlement (Jul 2) and court order (Aug 20), Quebec class action (Jul 7); Hopper says B2B ~90% of revenue and EBITDA-positive. Second Price Freeze suit (C.D. Cal.) found voluntarily dismissed Mar 2023. Category 'Travel' fine.
Added 2 missing dimension narratives