SAN FRANCISCO, June 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the summer travel season, Hotwire.com® today announced changes to its mobile booking platform and shared insights on the way digital technology is changing travel patterns. Updates to the Hotwire® app, available on Android and iOS, include a new home screen and functionality that allows customers to book one-way car rentals, reserve hotel rooms after midnight, and select a bed type when making hotel reservations.

"Our mobile platform is a big priority for us because we're all about enabling spontaneous travel and mobile technology is rapidly becoming the primary way people book trips," says Hotwire President Henrik Kjellberg. "Nearly half of our hotel transactions in the first quarter of this year came from a mobile device*."

Updates to Hotwire Mobile App

With Hotwire's updated mobile app, travelers can search, find, and book a trip in less than a minute and with just three clicks. Specific improvements include:

• The new post-midnight feature allows customers to book a hotel even when it's after midnight, which is helpful when travelers forget to make reservations or plans change unexpectedly.
• The app now enables one-way car booking, great for moving, trips across the country, and airline delays or cancellations.
• Bed-type selection allows families or friends traveling with Hotwire to book Hot Rate® Hotels and still know they can all be comfortable.

Insights on Changing Travel Patterns

• Nearly half of Hotwire's hotel transactions now take place from a mobile device.
• According to Hotwire data and recent surveys, mobile technology is allowing people to book trips closer and closer to the date they leave. Between January 2015 and today the company has seen about three quarters of our bookings take place within two days of departure.
• For our mobile app, over 40 percent of our transactions are "in-destination," and more than a third occur on the same day.

"It's very liberating to have the power to plan a trip right in the palm of your hand and with Hotwire, that's what's happening," Kjellberg said. "It's about deciding on Wednesday that you want to take the family on a last minute trip to Napa. Or deciding to join a friend for a music festival this summer that you hadn't planned on attending. Those spontaneous, 'slightly adventurous' travel moments are the reason we do this."

About Hotwire
Hotwire.com is a leading discount travel site with low rates on airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and vacation packages. Launched in 2000, Hotwire, Inc. obtains deep discounts from its travel suppliers to help travelers book unsold airline seats, hotel rooms and rental cars. Hotwire.com is an award winning website and Hotwire, Inc. is an operating company within Expedia, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.hotwire.com. In addition to Hotwire.com, Hotwire, Inc. also operates www.carrentals.com.

©2016 Hotwire, Inc.  All rights reserved. Hotwire, Hotwire.com and the Hotwire logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Hotwire, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  CST # 2053390-40.

*Based on Hotwire data, Q1 2016

Contacts:
Anita Lavine, Porter Novelli for Hotwire
Anita.lavine@porternovelli.com
206-770-7075

Carrie Peters, Hotwire
carpeters@hotwire.com
425-679-7776

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SOURCE Hotwire