Skyscanner - known primarily for its air search prowess - is now offering insight on the ground with standalone app for hotel search.
The UK-based company's recent push into North America has contributed to its push for growth, creating circumstances of both increased competition and pressure to expand its offerings.
Simply called Skyscanner Hotel Search, the hotel app offers a direct search functionality for hotels, and then provides a list, picture and map view of the results. Information about available hotels include the price, overall star rating and distance, in addition to the ability to save hotels for later search.
The ability to search via images is quite refreshing, as it creates a better visual way to swipe through the picture-based results.
Inventory is also quite broad, as the app also searches for hostels and apartments for different styles of travel.
Another feature certain to please mobile browsers is the ability to open up to four searches via tabs within the app, allowing for a direct comparison of different searches. This is an important feature, especially as more people begin to search for travel on mobile.
Apps must allow for as much of a desktop experience as possible to win over bookings, and make it easy to compare different searches - and thus increase confidence in completing the booking right there on mobile.
The app is also optimized for tablets, where the tabbed search functionality will likely see the most use.
NB: Binoculars image courtesy Shutterstock.