Priceline updates iPad app with emphasis on hotel deals tonight

Unlike Priceline's iPhone app, which features flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises, Priceline's updated iPad app is hotel only.

With the update, Priceline clears up previous confusion about its four types of hotel services, and makes it easier to navigate around among them.

You simply need to tap Browse All Hotels for regular published rates that you'll also find all around the Web; select Name Your Own Price to bid for discounts of up to 60%; or tap Express Deals (you know the section of the city and the price up-front, but not the hotel name) for discounts up to 45%.

And, Priceline's Tonight-Only Deals are sprinkled in, as well. With Tonight-Only Deals on 3- and 4-star hotels, you can get a discount up to 35% off published rates, and you can only book a stay for that night.

The emphasis on last-minute bookings is apparent in the app because the app detects your current location and the hotel search defaults to that day's date.

In another twist in Priceline's iPad app, you can now book your hotel with PayPal at hotels that require prepayment, says Leslie Cafferty, a Priceline spokesperson.

Adding car rentals to the Priceline iPad app is in the works.

You can view some screenshots from Priceline's updated iPad app in the slideshow above.