Travel application company Mobiata partnered with Travelocity to offer a wide range of options for consumers looking to book hotel rooms via their mobile device.

The HotelPal application lets travelers search, browse and book from millions of hotels. The iPhone application is available for free in Apple’s App Store.

“The goal for Mobiata is to make mobile products that give people the best tools possible for travel,” said Jeremy Xavier, vice president of Marketing at Mobiata, San Francisco. “HotelPal is designed to be the best way to find and book hotels on the go.

“The idea came as a logical next step to our FlightTrack application,” he said. “If a flight is cancelled, a traveler’s next question is very likely where to book a hotel and HotelPal gives people the power to do that with ease – all right in the app.

“We partnered with Travelocity for the hotel listings to have a wide range of options for our customers.”

Mobiata creates mobile travel applications and offers mobile travel design and development services.

Travelocity provides travel services for the leisure and business traveler. Its customers can access offerings, pricing information about airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, vacation and last-minute travel packages, and other travel-related services.

Mobile bookings
Travelers using the application can search by city, ZIP code or current GPS location.

Users can also view detailed photos, amenities and descriptions.

In addition, there is a built-in Google Maps feature that lets users compare hotel locations.

“Travelers are always on the go and often don’t have time to log into a computer,” Mr. Xavier said. “With HotelPal, you can find hotels quickly, sort by price or location, view full screen pics to check out the hotel and then book your accommodation all within the app – and the great part about mobile is that with GPS, the app knows right where you are so you can find a spot in your immediate vicinity.

“The target demographic for our apps is always the same – men and women who love travel and want mobile products to travel smarter,” he said. “Our customers really do span ages, incomes and gender.

“With HotelPal we have business travelers on the go booking last minute accommodations and college age road trippers looking for a hotel as they arrive in a new town.”

Hotel traveler
The application lets travelers view real-time hotel availability and rates, and the built-in hotel booking feature lets users plan and book their trips with 256-bit SSL encryption via the Travelocity Partner Network.

“The success of our branded applications means that travel companies are coming to us to help with their mobile strategies,” Mr. Xavier said. “We’re enjoying working with them to bring some of the best travel brands to mobile.

“As for our own apps, you’ll see some pretty amazing improvements coming up to our iPhone apps and some great new products for the emerging tablet market,” he said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats, editorial assistant at Mobile Commerce Daily, New York.