Facebook Launches City Guides With Booking for Hotels and Restaurants


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The Facebook app now enables users to tap a Book Now button and has easy to use tap to call or messaging features with the venues. This is an important step by a company with a mammoth user base.
Facebook quietly launched a City Guides feature in the Facebook app that enables users to book some hotels and restaurants, and message or tap to call other hotels, restaurants, and tours and attractions. Most of the venues that appear in Facebook's destination-oriented guides had messaging and calling features when you viewed them but for some, such as the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and the Eliot Hotel in Boston, users could tap a Book Now button in the Facebook app and make reservations directly with the hotel. There were also Book Now buttons for some restaurants, such as ROKA Charlotte Street restaurant in London, where dining reservations could be made through the Priceline Group's OpenTable. “We're testing a redesigned surface on city Pages that showcases information about your city," a Facebook spokesperson said March 9. "Th