HotelTonight

Feature 1: HotelTonight, a mobile app for booking last-minute hotel deals, is now available on Apple’s App Store. HotelTonight currently offers deals for Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Smart phone users can download the app for free and receive three featured daily hotel deals for each city at noon every day.

HotelTonight principals include Jared Simon (launched Orbitz’s hotels division) and Sam Shank (founder of Dealbase and TravelPost). They’re working with more than 70 hotels in the above-mentioned cities to offer last-minute deals that might be lower than any other bookable rate.

“Other travel sites have adapted their legacy online systems for mobile, and as a result those mobile experiences can often be confusing and cumbersome,” said Shank. “With HotelTonight’s ease of use and convenience, we plan to turbo-charge the growth of last-second, mobile hotel bookings.”

For more information, visit http://www.hoteltonight.com.

Feature 2: TripAdvisor has acquired Palo Alto, Calif.–based EveryTrail. EveryTrail offers a GPS-enabled publishing platform that allows users to create outdoor tours and city guides for mobile devices. Acquisition terms were not disclosed.

“Like TripAdvisor, EveryTrail is possible because of a global community of travelers who share their stories every day,” said Joost Schreve, chief executive officer of EveryTrail. “The mobile platform that we provide lets travelers turn these stories into highly engaging mobile travel guides that help other travelers enjoy their trips even more.”

EveryTrail has been acquired by TripAdvisor – EveryTrail.com

Here’s the rest of the week’s interesting news:

Super Bowl XLV: HomeAway rolls out customizable commercial – Homeaway.com
Super Bowl XLV: The story of our social media campaign that got 2.4 million people talking – Wilhelmus.ca
Super Bowl XLV: The technology behind the event and the Cowboys Stadium – ITWorld

Border security report prompts U.S. Ambassador to deny visa plan for Canadian visitors – CBC News
GAO border security report – GAO.gov
U.S. Ambassador’s statement – USEmbassy.gov

Canadian lured by Silicon Valley’s ‘risk mentality’ – The Globe and Mail
Hipmunk raises $4.2 million to “de-agonize” flight search - VentureBeat
Wanderfly.com raises $1 million in funding - Press Release

Travelodge branded as ‘childish’ by angry rival Premier Inn – Daily Mail, U.K.
Airlines urged to introduce ‘adults only’ flights – Daily Express, U.K.

Google Art Project brings Street View to museums – DigitalTrends
Google releases Hotpot worldwide - SearchNewz
Google Latitude gets place check-ins for Android – PCMag

InterContinental aggregates hotel check-ins with PlacePunch - Promo Magazine
Priceline.com chooses Skyhook location engine for Hotel Negotiator Android app - SkyhookWireless.com

FAA to invest $4.2 million to equip 35 JetBlue A320s for NextGen – ATW Online
Airlines won’t get upgrade funding – WSJ
FAA reauthorization bill critical for economy – USTravel.org

NBTA is now Global Business Travel Association – GBTA.org
Impact of social-mobile convergence on the U.S. corporate groups and meetings marketplace - PhoCusWright

Sabre adds agent-friendly traveler tracking technology - Travel Agent Central
ASTA releases annual supplier-travel agent marketing report - ASTA.org

Photo courtesy HotelTonight