Booking.com has axed its Booking Now mobile app after 20 months in service, although it says last-minute hotels bookings are continuing to grow.
The Priceline Group-owned hotel booking giant launched the Booking Now app to a fair degree of fanfare in January 2015 ("the first truly global app for spontaneous bookers", with it being positioned as a way to serve guests who are looking for hotel stays within 48 hours or less.
It was also the evolution of a series of launches across the group, beginning in September 2011 with the release of a Tonight-Only service on the Priceline app and then Booking.com Tonight in April 2012.
Booking.com's enthusiasm for providing a standalone service to cater for last-minute bookings also came against the backdrop of it and other online travel agencies observing what was then a meteoric rise in popularity (or, at very least, industry attention) in same-day hotel apps such as HotelTonight, HOT Hotels, et al.
Now, Booking.com says despite last-minute demand still being on the rise, such requirements are "best met through our regular Booking.com app".
Booking Now is no longer available in the app store and will not be promoted or supported as a service. Late bookings will still be available on the existing Booking.com mobile app for Android and Apple devices.
An official adds:
"We’re constantly monitoring, changing, and evolving along with our customers’ behaviour across our website and apps. Testing and learning is core to everything we do.
"We introduced Booking Now as a dedicated last-minute booking app that connects people with the nearest stay that meets their personal criteria, at a great price."
Booking Now was clearly not the HotelTonight killer that Wired predicted back in 2015.