Next Generation Travel Apps To Think, Do More

It seems that there is no shortage of travel apps that do everything from guide us around an unfamiliar city to share our travel experience with others. In the beginning it was a rush-to-market situation that had travel app software developers working overtime, just to get a brand out there for us to try in one way or another. If that app did something unique, all the better. Now, after working with them a while, gathering user information and tweaking apps already in place, a new generation of travel apps seem to be a bit smarter, faster and more relevant.

In “Travel Apps That Actually Do Something,” we talked about apps that rely on existing data and don’t really do anything special. A variety of GPS-based apps, for example, take that same satellite signal and do different things with it. One uses it to give us driving directions, another to connect us with others in the area or find a restaurant, hotel or area attraction.

New generation travel apps, like Gogobot’s new Android app released this week, do more.Via their iPhone app, Gogobot’s social network of travelers have been able to search and book hotels, restaurants and things to do in thousands of destinations around the world.

The new Android version goes a step or two further, allowing the ability to search and book that hotel on the fly with filters for real-time hotel pricing and availability, user ratings, hotel class and social recommendation. Adding new, rich content and ability from OpenTable, Gogobot users can now search and select a table on the go too.

A smart integration of Google Street View for Android uses the phone’s compass to turn an Android device into a virtual window, with 360-degree views of Gogobot locations.

“With our new Android app, Gogobot has responded to the needs of avid travelers who are Android users with an experience uniquely tailored to maximize the device’s capabilities,” said Gogobot CEO and co-founder Travis Katz in a press release.

Not just adding an Android version of their iPhone app, Gogobot is addressing the future too. With mobile predicted to take over PC’s as the most common web access device as soon as 2014, as many as one billion users are expected.

“This means travelers will be accessing – and creating – an increasing amount of information via mobile apps,” added Katz, “both in real time and around such destinations and venues as restaurants, hotels, shops and sites.”

Want a first-look at Gogobot’s new Android app? See this video:



[Photo Credit- Flickr user mtsofan]