How last minute is last minute? Very last minute, it turns out!

Statistics proving the procrastinating proclivities of others are always extremely popular - especially for travel marketers looking to capitalize on the "always on" nature of the mobile device. Enter the latest number crunch by the last-minute hotel elves at Priceline.com, who gleefully discovered that 42% of all mobile-equipped travelers waited until 5pm to book their hotel on New Year's Eve.

 Beyond the 5pm threshold, 65% booked their rooms after 2:00 pm on the same day, and 13% waited until after 9:00 p.m. to make their reservations. Mobile has clear implications for hotel operators, especially those looking to take advantage of the last-minute surge of bookings among mobile users. In their most-certain-to-be-earth-shattering announcement, John Caine, Priceline's Chief Product Officer points out that holidays are a clear time for hotels to encourage casual bookings they may not have received otherwise.

The user data came from bookings made on the Priceline and Tonight-Only Deals app. The New Year’s Eve study looked at which destinations pulled in the most revelers at the last minute, and where said procrastinators found the best deals. Savings was substantial in some cities, with users enjoying an average rate cut of 53% in San Francisco, 52% in Las Vegas, 41% in Seattle and 37% in Chicago.

Here are the top last-minute New Year's Eve destinations, according to Priceline's statistics:

1. Las Vegas Strip
2. Downtown Chicago
3. Houston Galleria
4. Downtown San Francisco
5. Downtown Boston
6. Chicago's Grant Park
7. Atlanta's Midtown/Downtown area
8. Downtown Minneapolis
9. Downtown Denver
10. Downtown Seattle

For hotels concerned about the effect of discounting on their overall brand value, read this recent article about how a few select hotels are approaching the last-minute opportunity.