HotelTonight Interview Questions
& Process

A recruiter reached out about a week after I applied. First, there was an HR phone screen to discuss the role and my background. Then, I had a code share interview with a Data Engineer focusing on SQL query writing for business problems, which seemed straightforward if you know joins and aggregations. After that, I spoke with the hiring manager about career paths and current projects. Next, I had a 30-minute behavioral chat with the Head of Data and Strategy, followed by another code share interview, this time for Python skills, testing basic data structures with one-line functions. Despite the positive interactions with everyone throughout the process, I was eventually told they were moving forward with another candidate, though I received helpful feedback from HR, which I appreciated. The overall process was decent, apart from the Python coding test.

I applied via their online application form, which was super straight forward. Three interviews: 1. 30 minute phone interview with HT recruiter, who stayed my point of contact throughout the process. Situational questions as well as questions on why I applied to the role and why HotelTonight. 2. 30-45 minute Zoom interview with country hiring manager. More situational questions, some questions on my past experience. 3. 2.5h at the office: three 30 minute individual, in-person interview with team members, as well as a 15 minute sales pitch in front of four team members. The interviews focused more on past professional experience than the other interviews with some additional situational questions. The whole process took two weeks only. All my questions were answered promptly and with plenty of detail. Thanks to the team, I always felt prepared for the next step. I received feedback for each interview within 36h. I was sent the offer over the weekend via Docusign. Overall a seamless and enjoyable procedure!

The interview process was really long, honestly, if I'd known beforehand I wouldn't have bothered, it took up energy and time I could have used elsewhere. There were 7 rounds in total (!), and only at the very end was I told the person I'd report to most of the time wouldn't even be interviewing me. It started with a recruiter call, then a day-long SQL assignment. After that, I had several interviews with future teammates. We always had to use a video link that never worked (!), no face-to-face interviews at all. It was tough interviewing from my friend's place. The recruiter kept sending broken links, and by the time the interviewers fixed them, they were already annoyed. Once, I was cut short on a case study because of the setup delays. It also felt like a waste of my time being interviewed by junior colleagues with maybe 3 years of experience who wouldn't even make eye contact, which was weird :-) Some data scientists didn't know basic industry terms like 'allotment'. The job description was also misleading; it really required a deep understanding of advertising and marketing in the industry, not just SQL and travel market knowledge. I ended up accepting an offer elsewhere, but going through such a long process without knowing the salary was painful and completely unnecessary in my view. I'd have preferred other opportunities.

The interview process started with a recruiter chat, followed by a call with the hiring manager who seemed uninterested. Despite this, I was invited to a take-home coding challenge. The assignment involved a Ruby on Rails repo where I had to pull public data, store it, and create query endpoints, including writing tests. There were initial delays and issues with the repo setup, and a lack of response to a question, making me feel not taken seriously. I used the interactor gem, which I suspect might have been a factor. A team member reviewed my pull request, offering feedback and asking a question, but then stopped responding. Later, I learned there were "concerns" about the coding exercise. A new recruiter informed me of a subsequent video interview with an engineer to discuss the code. During this interview, which I wasn't fully prepared for, I had to code live in Ruby via video chat. Although it seemed to go okay, there was radio silence afterward. Finally, I had a scheduled call with a recruiter to be told I didn't get the job due to the hiring manager's persistent "concerns" about the coding exercise, specifically the interactor gem usage. This whole process took over three weeks and multiple interactions, ending with a vague rejection.