Skift Take
Priceline was one of the first booking sites a couple of years ago to point to the new booking pattern: mobile users booking hotels while in-destination. Express Deals are a logical extension to its mobile platforms.
Priceline has upped the competition for discounted hotel deals booked via mobile phone. Both its Express Deals and Tonight-Only features are now available on Android, iPhone and iPad, it announced today.
Express Deals let travelers book a hotel inexpensively, without revealing the name of the hotel until after the booking. Tonight-Only, which is available only on mobile platforms, shows hotel names and is only for stays that start the same day and which are no longer than four nights.
Other booking agents are also rushing into the mobile hotel booking craze, including Expedia, which just altered its mobile app Expedia Hotels to have prices lower than what travelers can book on its regular site.
This week Travelocity also announced a mobile last-minute hotel booking app for iPhone. Called Hotel Deals by Lastminute.com, it features a choice of opaque (you don’t know the hotel name before you book) and regular booking. It allows travelers to book up to seven nights within a three-day window, getting discounts of up to 55%.
These sites compete with popular mobile travel apps Hotel Tonight.
The reason for this rush of competition: many travelers who book hotels at the last minute use their phones to do so.
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(c)2012 the Detroit Free Press
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