Hotel Tonight iPhone app scores hot hotel deals

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 other sites and apps don’t let you book after midnight but this one lets you book until 2 a.m. (perfect for the businessman who unexpectedly is getting lucky).

Another cool feature is that you’ll automatically get a $25 credit towards booking once you downloaded the app. For every friend that you invite to use the service will also get you another $25 once they’ve booked their first hotel room.

I like the layout of the Hotel Tonight iPhone app but I don’t know how often I would use it. Sure, it seems great for those times when you have to extend your trip unexpectedly but I’ll generally have access to a computer during those occurrences. Plus, I like having more information about the place than this app offers currently (things like reviews, points of interest around it, maps, etc.).

Still, this is a cool emergency app to have installed and I look forward to seeing what else the company has up its sleeves. You can download the app here from the iTunes store.