Hilton’s new in-app guide offers tips from hotel employees

Hilton is adding location-based recommendations for food, nightlight, shopping and activities to its Hilton Honors mobile app.

Dubbed Explore, the tips are available for nearly 1,000 properties across all 14 Hilton brands in 28 markets, including London, Rome, Dubai, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Hilton plans to expand the service to additional markets in the future.

The recommendations come from Hilton employees that live in the area of the participating hotels, and each tip includes photos and suggestions such as menu items to try, best times to visit and specific things to see.

“In listening to our guests, there is a real desire for more personalized travel advice and access to local perspectives surrounding best restaurants, attractions and neighborhoods to explore,” says Joshua Sloser, senior vice president of digital at Hilton.

“No one knows their city better than local team members, which is why we’re empowering them, through Hilton Explore, to provide the latest local recommendations to enhance our guests’ experiences.”

The service is powered by Foursquare’s Places API, which has real-time information for more than 105 million places around the world including ratings, features, photos and hours.

The system will provide recommendations to guests based on their hotel reservations and in advance of their travel, so they can “favorite” the ones that interest them to create a customized trip guide.

In addition to Explore, the Hilton Honors app lets guests preselect their room before check-in and receive their room key. In some markets, the app can also be used as an in-room remote to control the television, lighting and temperature and to request an Uber ride.