There seems to be no slowing down in the desire for travel companies to launch (or reboot) applications for a population that’s increasingly tuned into mobile devices. Here’s a look a three new free travel apps—beyond the new JetBlue app we wrote about a few weeks ago—that recently have hit the market.

AFAR
The media company with the gorgeous glossy travel magazine that launched in late 2009 recently released an iPhone app with a focus around Highlights. These bits of travel inspiration include a photo, title, description and location of a recommended travel experience. The app launched with 4,000 Highlights, with more being added daily. There’s also a contest running through the end of March for users to upload their highlights for a chance to win a trip to India. AFAR says that a version for Android phones will be released soon. Now how about some wildlife photos to inspire me to go on an adventurous safari in Africa?

TravelZoo
One of the earliest travel deal sites on the Internet, TravelZoo has launched a mobile website and added an Android app to join its existing iPhone app offering (introduced in August 2011). Mobile users can quickly access TravelZoo’s traditional Top 20 weekly deals listing, Local Deals, Entertainment Deals, Travel Deals and Last Minute discounts, which is not a category found on the company’s main website. The Android app features local deals based on users’ detected location. According to Tnooz, 17.5 percent of traffic to TravelZoo.com was already coming from mobile devices.

Travelocity
Last-minute deals for travel bookings on mobile devices—especially for hotel rooms—are gaining in popularity. Travelocity already went after this market last year when it enhanced its iPhone app for same-day hotel deals and some local information. The company has now launched an iPad app that offers additional discounts for flights, hotels and rental cars at rates through the app that are better than what’s available on the Travelocity website. In addition, app users get daily mobile-only deals. They also can access their Travelocity accounts through the app, which can auto-fill in purchase information to speed the close of the transaction.

Photo: AFAR

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There’s an App for What?

If your road trip takes you past Zillah, Wash., check out the 90-year-old Teapot Dome Service Station—erected as a reminder of the Teapot Dome Scandal that marred Warren G. Harding's presidency.

If you’re taking a road trip this holiday weekend and want to work in detours to a few presidential landmarks in honor of Presidents’ Day… There’s an app for that.

The Roadside Presidents app is now available in the iTunes store for $2.99 from RoadsideAmerica.com, a website with videos, news, maps and free tools to help travelers plan their own road trips. It allows travelers to find historical sites, from traditional ones like graves and birthplaces, to the more offbeat.

“We’ve discovered so many bizarre presidential sights out there,” says Ken Smith, senior editor of RoadsideAmerica.com. “By visiting conventional landmarks, but also the hidden treasures, you get the broader, nuttier picture of America’s history. You’ll never think of George Washington quite the same way after you’ve seen his whiskey-making still—or of Ronald Reagan after seeing a statue of him eating a potato pancake.”

Travelers can search for sites along their route, or search by president. In addition to driving directions, the app gives opening hours, phone numbers, photos and irreverent write-ups for each site. First ladies, vice presidents, first pets, assassination and scandal are all in the app.

The Roadside Presidents edition is the second app from Roadside America, following the original Roadside America app, introduced in 2010.

Photo: Public domain, National Park Service

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From unseasonably warm weather to unreasonably expensive lift tickets, circumstances outside your control can quickly put a damper on a planned weekend of skiing. But now there’s an app that aims to help winter sports enthusiasts hunt down the best powder for the best price.

The free iPhone and iPad application from Liftopia, an online marketplace for ski and snowboard trips, lets consumers search for ski-resort deals, check weather conditions and map trips to ski resorts all over the United States.

Compare ski conditions at area resorts with Liftopia's new mobile app.

By its own count, Liftopia has information on 150 ski areas and offers lift tickets at up to an 80 percent discount off of window ticket prices.

The Liftopia Ski Reports, Snow Conditions and Ultimate Lift Ticket Deal Engine for iPhone and iPod touch lets users save their favorite resorts and research current weather, information on depth of snow, amount of fresh snow, and open trails and lifts. They can also view resort-specific information including photos, amenities and number of runs for different ability levels. And when they find the best deal with the best weather conditions, they can reserve lift tickets right from their phone.

Now if only there was an app that could actually make it snow.

Photo: Liftopia Blog

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Travelocity app upgrade offers insight on user trends.

It seems that the travel industry is constantly looking for ways to cash in on the mobile revolution. On any given day you can read about established travel companies releasing new apps or start-ups announcing new ways to incorporate the cell phone into travel. While the quantity of mobile travel applications is consistently rising, the quality (and usefulness) of all of these apps is still up for debate.

Are people really interested, for example, in checking out the view from their hotel room before checking in?

Only time will tell how consumers respond to new technology, but a new iPhone app update from Travelocity offers some insight into how travelers are adapting old purchasing behaviors.

Travelocity’s iPhone application was one of the first introduced by an online travel company, but it hasn’t been well reviewed by users in the iTunes store. A new update based on user trends may change that.

In a recent announcement, Travelocity revealed that more than 60 percent of hotels booked on the Travelocity iPhone application happen on the same day of the hotel stay. “Whether on a road trip or going on a spontaneous getaway, lots of travelers are regularly making last-minute bookings on a mobile device,” said Beth Murphy, Travelocity’s vice president of product marketing.

As a result, Travelocity added the option of booking “Top Secret Hotels” to its iPhone application. This feature allows customers to book heavily discounted hotels at the last minute without knowing the name of the hotel until after booking.

Working in a fairly new industry like mobile applications calls for a lot of guesswork and innovation from developers, but that can also lead to a lot of misses. It will be interesting to see if updates based on user data will produce better results.