Travel and hotel booking has increasingly become about the last minute and mobile, and companies are offering a plethora of apps to book or check things on the go.
Some boast discounts, others tout the fact that you can book a room in just two taps.
Here are a few travel apps and tools to compare, consider, and maybe try next time you travel:
Booking Now
This is a new app by Booking.com (a subsidiary of Priceline), and people are pretty excited about it.
Why? It has a global network of 585,000 hotels.
That’s many times more than its main competitor HotelTonight (which has been losing favor with reviewers in the past year).
The company bills it as the app that lets you book a room in “just two taps.”
The design is also much improved from the company’s old Tonight and Bookings.com apps. In general, booking apps get much higher reviews than hotels’, car-rentals’, and airlines’ own apps according to travel publication Skift.
But if you’re in Singapore, it might also be worth checking out In2Nite and HotelQuickly.
FlightTrack
Mobiata’s (owned by Expedia) FlightTrack app lets users do just that, in real time. The most recent version also sends users push notifications if there are flight or gate changes and track flights for groups of travelers.
Gymsurfing, OmFinder, Gympoints
Traveling and don’t like your hotel’s fitness center? These apps help travelers find nearby gyms, yoga classes, and one-day passes to activities like martial arts, pilates, and more.
MobileSuites
Still in beta, this app lets you access hotel services (like room service, housekeeping, and shuttle transportation) remotely through an app, rather than the concierge.
Detour
Also in beta, this app is a collection of audio-and-map guides for tours around global cities. Journalists, radio producers, tour guides, and artists release new tours every month.
It plans to launch this year with more cities and a toolkit to let anyone create a Detour.
ExpertFlyer
Not technically an app, but the site lets you set up a Seat Alert (among other notifications) to let you know when a seat you want becomes available. Useful for frequent business travelers.
