Wyndham Hotels is extending its reach to last-minute travelers through a new integration with the Last Minute Travel Deals mobile application.

The partnership with Wyndham also includes other major brands, such as Days Inn, Ramada and Howard Johnson. The app, which claims to offer agent-level prices on hotels worldwide, allows consumers to locate last-minute deals on their smartphone or tablet – a feature that it expects will be even more popular during the holiday season.

“Consumer travelers can now access a broad selection of travel inventory at bulk-rate travel prices – as if they were their own travel agent,” said Omer Chehmer, head of mobile communications for Last Minute Travel, Orlando, FL. “Everyday travelers can serve as their own agent and avoid any pricing markups or service fees when booking their reservations.”

Wyndham partnership
Last Minute Travel is hoping that its partnership with Wyndham continues to expand the app’s market growth and benefit the hotel conglomerate, which offers hospitality in locations such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Turkey and the Caribbean.

“By integrating Wyndham’s hotels into the LMT Deals app, they are increasing their reach and demand,” Mr. Chehmer said. “Now, travelers on the move can easily search and book Wyndham rooms using the app.”

The app is also planning to incorporate3,000 Hilton Worldwide Hotels into its inventory in the coming months.

Last Minute Deals offers flights from over 175 worldwide airlines, 25,000 car rental locations and more than 100,000 hotels to book from. The app aims for a large brand awareness push just ahead of the holiday season, during which holiday travel is at a premium.

It is available for Android and iOS.

“This app is unique from other mobile travel offerings like HotelTonight, because it’s not offering distressed inventory – and it’s not putting you in a situation where you’re bidding or negotiating a price,” Mr. Chehmer said.

Large client base
Last Minute Deals recognizes the massive client base that it has the potential to reach, and is developing more features for its app to compete with other booking apps and sites.

Its latest feature is a card-imaging function that auto-populates credit card information, developed to facilitate a more convenient booking process and circumvent consumers typing in long credit card numbers.

“Bringing our massive inventory of travel deals to mobile is huge for travelers on-the-go,” Mr. Chehmer said. “Sixty percent of the hotel reservations booked through the app are ‘last minute’ (either the day before or the day of).

“Often times, people don’t have time to find a computer and go to our Web site.  Instead, they can pull out their phone or tablet and find cheap travel products, while in a meeting or at the airport.”

The app is ideal for business travelers needing to book last-minute flights and accommodations, or guests that will be traveling to visit family and friends during the time-sensitive holiday season.

“Consumers these days are in a time-crunch,” Mr. Chehmer said. “The app has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible, so people can quickly make bookings and move on.”

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York