After checking in at the hotel, you go out for dinner and want to order your hotel wake-up call for the next morning or see if anyone left you a message on the hotel room phone.
No problem.
Thing5 introduced a mobile app, travelButton, which consolidates hotel services from your hotel room's phone into your smartphone.
The service is currently available for download in the Android market, and will be coming soon to iPhones and Blackberrys.
Using travelButton-enabled icons on your smartphone, you can access wake-up calls, the front desk, room service and other standard guestroom services.
You receive calls to your hotel room on your smartphone and when you call the hotel from your smartphone, it appears to hotel personnel that you are phoning from your hotel room.
And, of course, Thing5 says your smartphone otherwise continues to operate as it would normally.
After downloading the free travelButton app and checking into the hotel, you select the hotel from a prepopulated list, and then enter your name and room number.
travelButton is then enabled until you check out of the hotel or manually disconnect the service.
The app also includes services that you won't find in your hotel room.
Using your phone's GPS functionality, a Nearby feature provides information on things such as local tourist spots, restaurants, shopping and pharmacies.
The app also provides, maps, directions and weather.