by Sometime you’ve leave the house knowing you plan on spending the night in a hotel, and other times you discover while you’re out and about that you could really use a hotel…tonight. Aimed at the last-minute hotel shopper, mobile app Hotel Tonight provides customers bargains on hotels ranging from luxurious rooms you can be pampered in to basic rooms when you just need a bed to sleep in. And now you can use the mobile-only service in Canada. HotelTonight launched its first markets outside of the United States Thursday: Toronto and Vancouver. Now you can score a last-minute deal on a room in both areas, as well as pay for that room using Canadian dollars. HotelTonight has also added support for Euros and British Pounds for non-U.S. travelers who want to use the service and pay in their native currency. HotelTonight currently offers discounted hotel rooms in 37 markets. The Read More

Apps are, at the end of the day, very personal pieces of software. And your favorite mobile app isn’t mine. So we decided to poll the staff here at GigaOM to see what apps changed our lives in 2011. It could be apps that just launched this year, or it could be programs that really came of age or matured greatly through updates. Or it could just be an app we missed before. Some are very familiar but others may be new to you, but all have played a big part in our lives this year. Take a look and then tell us your favorite app in the comments. Android typically takes a backseat to iOS when it comes to getting slick apps. That’s why it’s so refreshing that Hipmunk, the travel search engine, put real time and effort into making its Android app just as awesome as its web and Read More

Planning a vacation? Need to get away for a night? Are you a frequent international traveler? With iPhone and iPad apps, you can research hotels, find great deals, and reserve in just minutes. We reviewed 11 free iOS apps for you to consider. Most of these booing apps are the streamlined app version of well-known and respected travel websites. Let us know what you think and if you have any others that you use regularly. Price: Free TripAdvisor’s app for iPhone and iPad is a handy research tool filled with honest reviews of hotels, restaurants, and attractions. You search via city, zip code, or location, and in seconds, your list appears. The TripAdvisor iPhone app interface is loaded with options, but organized neatly and intuitively. With a touch, you can check out reviews of hotels, restaurants, and attractions that are quickly and easily sorted by distance, rating, and price. To book Read More

HotelTonight, the mobile app/service that provides iPhone and Android users with deeply discounted same-day hotel deals, raised $9 million in Series B round of financing. The new money comes on the heels of the Series A round, when the company managed to raise $3.25. Battery Ventures led the round while existing investors, Accel Partners and First Round Capital, also participated. Accel Partners will assume a seat on the board and Dave Morin will join as an advisor. HotelTonight launched in January of this year and has been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times. Its service is available in 28 cities and will be in 35 markets by the end of the year, including Orange County, Portland, Salt Lake City and Santa Barbara. Unlike traditional online travel agencies, HotelTonight can offer deep discounts of up to 70% on same-day bookings by working with a select group of over 600 leading hotels. In less Read More

...@HotelTonight: Check out our same-day hotel deals on #TravelTuesday. Discounts in NYC, DC + 20 other areas. http://t.co/84sZwJT or http://t.co/TD0PF... Read More

It’s no secret that smartphones make travel much less painful and way more fun–from reducing our chances of getting hopelessly lost to helping us find an ATM or even update Twitter in-flight. More and more travelers already pack them along on their work and business trips, and we have a pretty good idea of what devices they’re carrying, too. Gogo, which provides in-flight Wi-Fi for eight major North American airlines, revealed Tuesday that 65 percent of those using Gogo to log on to the web mid-flight do so with an iPhone and 15 percent with an iPod touch. By contrast, 12 percent of Gogo use is by Android device users, and 6 percent by BlackBerry owners. I’m one of those people who keeps my iPhone close at hand when I travel. And there aren’t many things I love more than planning and going on trips. So for you fellow iPhone-toting travelers, Read More

It’s no secret that smartphones make travel much less painful and way more fun–from reducing our chances of getting hopelessly lost to helping us find an ATM or even update Twitter in-flight. More and more travelers already pack them along on their work and business trips, and we have a pretty good idea of what devices they’re carrying, too. Gogo, which provides in-flight Wi-Fi for eight major North American airlines, revealed Tuesday that 65 percent of those using Gogo to log on to the web mid-flight do so with an iPhone and 15 percent with an iPod touch. By contrast, 12 percent of Gogo use is by Android device users, and 6 percent by BlackBerry owners. I’m one of those people who keeps my iPhone close at hand when I travel. And there aren’t many things I love more than planning and going on trips. So for you fellow iPhone-toting travelers, Read More

It’s no secret that smartphones make travel much less painful and way more fun–from reducing our chances of getting hopelessly lost to helping us find an ATM or even update Twitter in-flight. More and more travelers already pack them along on their work and business trips, and we have a pretty good idea of what devices they’re carrying, too. Gogo, which provides in-flight Wi-Fi for eight major North American airlines, revealed Tuesday that 65 percent of those using Gogo to log on to the web mid-flight do so with an iPhone and 15 percent with an iPod touch. By contrast, 12 percent of Gogo use is by Android device users, and 6 percent by BlackBerry owners. I’m one of those people who keeps my iPhone close at hand when I travel. And there aren’t many things I love more than planning and going on trips. So for you fellow iPhone-toting travelers, Read More

A smartphone is a powerful tool you should use on every trip, if nothing to save some cash along the way. In addition to the must-have navigation apps and local guides from the likes of Lonely Planet, there are other applications that could help you save money while travelling. Here are the apps we suggest you to try out on your next trip: Groupon You’ve probably heard about Groupon and may have also used it. The daily deals service is getting more and more users every day, despite facing a tough competition from the likes of Facebook and Google, with Nokia and Microsoft planning to join the race, too. Their mobile application is available for multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and they also have a mobile website for users of other mobile devices. To take advantage of Groupon, simply sign-up for the local version of the service (your travel destination) Read More

...just discovered Hotel Tonight (same day hotel deals) for iPhone http://t.co/h9xvbiA via @appstorehq #mobileapps... Read More

...@sib1013: I just discovered Hotel Tonight (same day hotel deals) for iPhone http://t.co/h9xvbiA via @appstorehq #mobileapps... Read More

A smartphone is a great companion for every trip. There are a number of apps that can make your travel easier, whether it’s about finding a place to stay, monuments and historical sights to see, or learning more about the city/place you’re visiting… there’s (usually) an app for that. Here are some apps I’ve found useful in my travels. Please note that I’m linking to iOS apps and that not all of them are available on other platforms. The point is to get the idea which apps to use for what purpose, to better plan and ultimately enjoy your trip. Let’s start with the flight search… Flight search Pretty much every major airline now has its iPhone app. Moreover, some companies support Android and BlackBerry whereas some others are experimenting with newer platforms like Windows Phone 7. If you live near a major airport, you should grab the app of the Read More

...@HotelTonight: How about a hip #Vegas hotel for 65% off? All 3 options for tonight are under $60. LV + 12 other cities in the app: http://bit.ly/j9I... Read More

Last time HotelTonight added new cities, they announced support for Miami and Seattle. Now they’re going for the Sin City tourists, allowing them to book same-day stays (until 2am) at major hotels including Caesars Palace, Trump International Hotel, The Palms and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, among others. The pitch is simple – take last-minute trips to Vegas “without having to gamble on lodging.” In that sense, this is great news for people living in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego or Phoenix, who can book a room en route in just 10 seconds. But wait there’s more. In addition to the Las Vegas launch, HotelTonight is also introducing a new social function for hotels called “Happening Tonight,” allowing them [hotels] to send short, timely messages to users within the app. For instance, tonight the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is giving HotelTonight bookers a free upgrade to Read More

HotelTonight, the popular last-second hotel booking app we’ve already covered in January, has been updated with the feature that allows travelers to extend their stay up to four additional nights (for a possible total of five nights). Apparently, this was the most requested feature by HotelTonight users and extends the app’s reach to a broader group of people, like last-minute business travelers. In addition, the company has also announced expansion to Seattle and Miami, adding to its existing cities of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC. During the first two months in the AppStore, HotelTonight’s iPhone app has been downloaded by more than 250,000 people, which is a pretty impressive figure. The reason for this almost overnight popularity could be found in the fact that everyone who downloads HotelTonight receives a $25 credit toward their first booking. Nice incentive, don’t you think? HotelTonight currently works with Read More

There are no shortage of ways to book hotels from your phone, as Kayak and others can achieve this goal. But the new Hotel Tonight iPhone app has been specifically built for mobile platforms and it is hoping to be the go-to program when you need a hotel room. The Hotel Tonight app has gone out of beta with the 1.3 version and the free program enables users to find cut-rate deals on short notice. Like all of these travel sites, this service is able to offer these deals because it’s hooked up with the hotel industry, which would rather allow a room to be rented at a lower price than go unused all night. The Hotel Tonight app lets you sort through rooms through three filters: basic, elegant and hip. Immediately, you notice the layout has been optimized for a smaller screen and there’s large photos to go through. Most Read More

Posted 01/25/2011 at 2:14pm | by Stuart Gripman With the annual Macworld Expo upon us, iPhone-wielding fans of all things Apple will descend upon our beloved San Francisco. For those of you who’ll be joining us, we’ve put assembled a short list of must-have apps. Load these on your ’Phone or ’Pad and you’ll confidently navigate the City’s many splendors. Might want to load these before you arrive, though. AT&T’s 3G coverage here is less than ideal, and with the VeriPhone still weeks away, you could find your evening slipping away while your downloads trickle in. Oh and one bit of advice: don’t ever ever use the term “Frisco.” Getting around the region without a car usually means catching a Bay Area Rapid Transit train. You can call it BART. With stations in four counties and connections to transit providers serving at least five more, BART is the backbone of regional Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...Stuck? We have hotel deals 4 TONIGHT: Ace $186/ThompsonLES $209/RoomMateGrace $165. Book via our app http://bit.ly/gLmeNr... Read More

...have officially launched on the iPhone, iPad, and iPTouch! Visit http://bit.ly/gLmeNr 10 random users who RT will win $50 in HT credit... Read More