Hotels.com updates m-commerce app features

Thursday, May 12, 2011 - 13:07 by Sarah Collinson

The m-commerce apps for Android and iPhone created by accommodation booking website Hotels.com, have both been revamped and re-released, integrating new functions to keep consumers coming back for more.

Anyone with an Android smartphone or an Apple iPhone will be able to download an app that lets them carry out safe shopping online from their mobile, with access to room booking facilities that can see them checking in to one of 20,000 hotel suites at low prices, thanks to the last minute nature of the deals.

Hotels.com has over 135,000 hotels on its books at any one time and the new m-commerce app is being built for an international audience, with 30 different supported languages.

Customers will be able to search for a hotel in the area where they want to stay, modify their results based on price and user ratings and even use location-based info to home in on accommodation that is close to their current position.

Hotels.com spokesperson, Scott Booker, said that the firm was looking to make the m-commerce apps just one facet of the site's expansion into the mobile marketplace. He explained that the goal was to make safe shopping online for hotel rooms via a smartphone the simplest way to book your stay.

Customers who do use the m-commerce app will be able to build up their WelcomeRewards total, a scheme which entitles them to a free night in a hotel after they have spent 10 paid nights in participating establishments.

Hotels.com has taken into account the potential hesitancy which some consumers may feel when booking via mobile phone and, as such, the apps have quick links to landline numbers which will allow them to book direct with an operative of the organisation, adding to the ease of the process.