By Karrie Gillett
HOTEL chain Travelodge has launched a mobile phone service for customers to check vacancies while on the move.
The newly-launched device will allow travellers to book a hotel room in three steps on a touch-screen Apple iPhone.
The iBooker service can be downloaded for free giving users the opportunity to hunt for more than 25,000 empty hotel rooms – with 27 Scottish hotels on the list.
A logo for Travelodge – famous for its £19 rooms – will appear on the home screen of the phone and when activated it will return the nearest five hotels.
Using GPS technology, a selection of rooms, their availability and prices will be listed alongside a set of images for the user to select a booking.
Guy Parsons, the budget hotel group’s managing director, said the group were the first to offer the service to consumers.
He said: “With the Travelodge iBooker service, wherever you are, you can always find a low cost bed for the night.
“We are delighted to be the UK’s first hotel brand to launch a free GPS based iPhone application.”
The company currently has 1,734 rooms available in Scotland, including hotels in Ayr, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Kinross.
And in Edinburgh there are six Travelodge hotels, with the firm aiming to open another two in the capital over the next year.
