Digital Traveler: Hotel Deals app streamlines booking

— -- Whether you are already at the airport or mulling your options at a local restaurant, one of the most frustrating parts about using smartphone apps to book a hotel at the last minute is all the information you have to enter, with the inevitable typos and multiple screens you have to navigate.

But the free new iPhone app, Hotel Deals by lastminute.com, which is one of the best products released by parent company Travelocity in years, breaks new ground in making the hotel searching and booking process a snap.

The Hotel Deals app enables travelers to book 3-, 4- and 5-star hotels tonight, tomorrow, or the next day in 36 U.S. cities for as many as seven days for what Travelocity promises are discounts of up to 55% off published rates.

And Travelocity, which says hotels can optionally load mobile exclusive deals into the app, markets the hotels in two ways: In one method you know the hotel identity and rate upfront, and the other way is semi-opaque in that you know the rate in advance, but only find out the hotel name after you book to get larger savings.

One of the major ways lastminute.com eases the booking process is through a one-page checkout screen that autofills your name, address, e-mail and phone number, which the app accesses from your iPhone's address book, and then you can auto-scan your credit card using the iPhone or iPad camera.

The auto-scan process is easy, and eliminates the need to punch in all those numbers, although you still have the option to enter your credit card number manually. Even if you use the auto-scan feature, you still must enter the credit card's expiration date and security code, however.

Unlike mobile apps from Hotel Tonight, which pioneered last-minute hotel bookings in just a handful of taps, lastminute.com, out of security concerns, does not retain the credit card number so you have to auto-scan the card, or manually fill in the number, each time.

On the other hand, lastminute.com's Hotel Deals app has several advantages:

Unlike with Hotel Tonight, you can book a hotel deal using the Hotel Deals app for the same night early in the morning and don't have to wait until noon for rates to be loaded.It eases the hotel-search process. You don't have to manually enter check-in dates, but merely tap tonight, tomorrow or the next day, and then, after reviewing the hotel amenities and room types, you simply tap the checkout dates and a "book room" button to finalize the transaction. It features verified guest reviews in full, which is something few hotel apps do.

When it comes to the hotel offers themselves, the app indeed provides some bargains.

For example, on September 20 it offered a king bed in the 4-star Heldrich Hotel and Spa in New Brunswick, N.J., for that night for a total rate, including taxes and fees, of $138.25. And that mobile deal was a whopping $40 cheaper per night than what Travelocity.com, and even the Expedia app were showing for the same property and date, although Expedia's offer came with two double beds instead of a king.

The lastminute.com app also features Top Secret Hotels, where you know the property's star rating and price in advance, but only learn its secret identity later.