NORWALK, Conn./PRNewswire/ — Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) today launched its first iPad app for making hotel room reservations, and this app is squarely targeted at travelers who place high value on location when they book their hotel rooms.

The new iPad app is free and can be downloaded from the iTunes store:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/priceline-hotel-car-negotiator/id336381998

Here’s how the app works. After picking a destination, travelers can scroll and see hotels appear on the map in real time. There are four different ways the map can be scrolled:

• Price View. Price points are highlighted on the map and color-coded from red (the highest rate) to blue (the lowest rate). Tap on a rate and full hotel details are shown.
• Star Level View. This view shows all the different hotel star levels and where they’re located on the map. Tap on a star and full hotel details are shown.
• Guest Satisfaction Score View. This view displays the actual average satisfaction scores, from 1-10, posted by priceline.com guests for each hotel. Tap on a score to see the full hotel details.
• Name Your Own Price® View. This view will display all the zones in a city where priceline.com has Name Your Own Price® hotel partners. Tap on a zone and the app will retrieve actual winning bids made by other customers for different star level hotels in the selected zone.

All of the views can be zoomed in or out. Once app users have selected the hotel, or zone and star level they want, they can use the quick booking feature to get their room, all without leaving the app.

Priceline.com and its sister hotel reservation service, Booking.com, are the only two major online travel agencies to offer pannable real-time hotel mapping and to allow hotel bookings to be made within the iPad app. “Our new iPad app is designed to be an extremely convenient, simple and fast hotel searching and booking tool for a traveler on the go who wants to stay in a particular part of town,” said John Caine, priceline.com’s Senior Vice President, Marketing.

Priceline also has a popular Hotel & Rental Car Negotiator app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, available for free at the iTunes App Store www.itunes.com/appstore/, and a Hotel Negotiator app for Android, available for free at the marketplace https://market.android.com/details?id=com.priceline.android.negotiator.

About The Priceline Group

The Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN) is a leader in global online hotel reservations, with over 190,000 participating hotels worldwide. The Group is composed of four primary brands – Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and TravelJigsaw – and several ancillary brands. The Priceline Group provides online travel services in over 110 countries in Europe, North America, South America, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

Booking.com is the number one online hotel reservation service in the world, offering over 155,000 hotels, and is available in 43 languages. Priceline.com gives leisure travelers multiple ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacation packages and cruises. In addition to getting compelling published prices, travelers can take advantage of priceline.com’s famous Name Your Own Price® service, which can deliver the lowest prices available. Agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation service that is available in 37 languages. TravelJigsaw is a multinational car hire service, offering its reservation services in over 4,000 locations. Customer support is provided in 29 languages.

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/52014-hotels-com-launches-integrated-marketing-campaign-mobile-booking-app

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110906/MM62235)

“The hotels.com mobile booking application is so fast, you can book in a freefall…” is the story being told in the digital video piece with JT Holmes. The video features the world-renowned skydiver booking a hotel room while flying at over 115 miles per hour in a 15,000 foot freefall before landing on the Lake Tahoe beach of the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino. The stunt, performed by Holmes is actually a live-action version of an animated television commercial, produced by hotels.com, in which claymated characters also book a hotel room while on a skydiving vacation.

As the use of mobile devices as consumer travel tools increase, hotels.com continues to launch new applications with sophisticated functionality. This particular campaign, supported by a full 360 marketing effort, included display ads, social media activation, and the www.thesmarterapp.com microsite, in addition to the digital video and claymation commercial.

The hotels.com mobile booking app, which is available for iPhone and Android, features specialized offers, including exclusive mobile deals and over 20,000 last minute deals. It is available in more than 30 languages in more than 70 countries, and can access past and future reservations, even when offline. Mobile GPS functionality will allow the app to find the closest hotels with the best deals, based on a user’s current location. Welcomerewards® loyalty points can also be tracked and redeemed through the app.

“Our customers are increasingly relying on mobile devices to play, work, shop and book travel while on-the-go. We want to offer them the quickest, most seamless way to take care of travel while actually travelling,” said Vic Walia, senior director of North America brand marketing. “The hotels.com mobile booking app helps our customers to make fast last-minute bookings, allowing them to create a malleable travel itinerary, open to last-minute changes.”

Over one million hotels.com mobile apps have been downloaded for iPhone and Android since the original launch of both products. Additional mobile extensions, including an iPad booking app, are planned for the near future.

For more information, or to download the hotels.com Mobile Booking app, visit www.thesmarterapp.com . Other news is available at our media room: http://hotels.mediaroom.com.

To be able to select the most suitable camping stove, it is a must to consider these four helpful criteria: safety, weight, environmental effect, easy to use and of good quality. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of the fuel used is also important.

There are pros and cons in every device or equipment. That is the reason why people find it so hard to choose the best from all other camping stoves. You can, however, narrow down your options by gaining insight on the following factors:

Safety

As always, safety should be your priority. There are two types of backpacking stoves, pressurized and unpressurized. Both types can leak fuel, but whichever type depends on what kind of fuel is used.

Weight

The size and weight of the stove is also something you should consider, as this may hinder your camping activities. Find stoves that can be disassembled, folded and disconnected. Look for something that occupies as little space as possible. Zenstoves says that wood and solar stoves are the lightest since it does not require fuel canisters. It can also cook up to more or less a dozen meals. Alcohol stoves are lighter than other gas stoves for trekking that cooks about less than fifty meals. Also, according to their interpretation, stoves using petrol can be very heavy.

Environmental effect

The by-products of fuel can cause pollution. While enjoying recreational activities like camping, you can participate in the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a certain percentage. Examples of eco-friendly stoves are wood camping stoves, solar stoves and flame-less stoves.

Easy to use

Campers should also consider the ease on how to use the stove. Select stoves that have easy to understand instructions and simple assembly. Also, look for those stoves that can be maintained by the camper himself or herself.

Good quality

Durability of the stove is one factor to consider in assessing its quality. Stoves that are long lasting can help you save money. Sometimes, the quality of a stove is heavily affected by the fuel type being used. Also, it is best to remember to consider the amount of time needed when you boil water.

Fuel used

According to Zenstoves, fuel is a big factor to consider in selecting the best stove. However, this would also depend on your stove needs and destination. Wikipedia tabulated the advantages and disadvantages of some of the most common fuel types.

Purpose of the stove

In choosing the topmost backpacking stove, you must also realize the use of the stove. Are you preparing meals for yourself only or for the whole family? What is the menu you are planning to cook? Are you up to long or short distances? Answers to these questions may help you in your quest for the supreme stove.

Here is something handy for the constant traveler. The Nalgene Travel Kit features an assortment of compact, break-resistant vials you can use to safely transport personal travel essentials such as shampoo, lotion, ointments, cotton swabs, and more. Includes 1 oz jar, 2 oz jar, 1 oz wide-mouth, 2 oz square (qty 2), 4 oz rectangular, 4 oz wide-mouth (qty 2).

Price: $7.35 to $12.99

Finger Lakes Wine Country, in partnership with Discovery Anywhere Mobile, proudly announces the launch of the free travel application for mobile devices. The travel app allows users to have information on wineries, attractions, restaurants, accommodations, and events in Finger Lakes Wine Country while also sharing their trip on social media. The app is one of the first in the travel industry to incorporate Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, into the trip sharing process.

To download the app visit the Apple Store on your iPhone or www.apple.com and search “Finger Lakes.” The Finger Lakes Wine Country app is free to download. Applications for Blackberry and other mobile devices are coming soon.

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