Expedia has updated its mobile app today for both iPhone and Android users, adding flight information, exclusive deals and high resolution photographs for hotels.
The app, which has been announced today only for the United States, is moving closer towards the expansive service offered on the full Expedia website.
The new features include, first of all, flight information. Anyone wishing to travel can now view, search and book flights for more than 200 airlines operating in the United States. The company has confirmed that this includes both domestic and international destinations too.
When filtering flights through the app, users can choose the price, departure time, arrival time or duration as the criteria. Paying at the checkout is also processed “via a single swipe”, according Expedia in a press release issued today.
The second major improvement is for visualizing hotel buildings and rooms. Expedia boasts that more than 140,000 hotel properties, representing “literally millions” of hotel rooms across the globe can be found on the Expedia app. More importantly though, better graphics and images are being used to illustrate each room, making it easier to decide which accomodation is right for your trip.
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Even if you’re sat at home with a laptop or desktop computer to hand though, there is still a reason to open up the Expedia app on a smartphone or Android tablet. Whenever the app is launched, a number of deals exclusive to mobile users – such as 60 percent off rooms in Las Vegas, according to Expedia – will be available for instant purchasing.
John Kim, Senior Vice President of Global Product at Expedia, said:
“Travelers have millions of different flight options and the Expedia app update is the first to marry the simplicity travelers expect from mobile with the underlying intelligence and comprehensive choices they’ve come to expect from Expedia.
The Expedia app puts all of that technology and big data – and the confidence it brings – in the palm of your hands with a casual simplicity that masks the underlying e-commerce power behind it.”
To coincide with the update, Expedia has also revealed today that the app has been downloaded roughly 5 million times in 220 different countries. This figure means that one in ten customers are booking or interacting with Expedia through a mobile device.
Image Credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
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