When the post-Christmas blizzard halted travel into and out of the city, many people stranded far from home were forced to scramble to find a last-minute hotel room.
Should wild weather or extra work change your travel plans, it could be very accommodating to have Hotel Tonight installed on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.
The free app lets you book a same-day hotel room at an exclusive, discount rate in Manhattan, Hollywood or San Francisco. (More cities frequented by business travelers will be available by the end of January.)
From noon to 2 a.m., the app offers users deals on rooms for that night in their choice of a hip, elegant or basic hotel in each of those three cities. If one of the hotels sells out, another becomes available.
Hotel Tonight’s staff personally vets all of the featured hotels and the app tells users the types of rooms available in each hotel.
Many of the hotels feature business-friendly amenities like complimentary wireless Internet access and a car service. In addition, the discounted rates, at least for one recently featured group of New York hotels, are $10-$20 cheaper than those offered on Expedia or Travelocity.
Hotel Tonight also claims its mobile booking takes one-quarter of the time needed to reserve a room through an online travel site. You also don’t have to enter your name or reservation dates, and you can select a room with far fewer taps than you’d have to make with a rival booking app.
Although Hotel Tonight’s app is currently only available on Apple’s mobile devices, versions for other smartphones, including Android-based ones, are in the works.