Roomlia for iPhone offers nice travel booking options
As Carl Sagan once said, "There are billions and billions of travel apps in the App Store." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the sentiment. Giants like Kayak (which I love) and Travelocity are quite visible while others get less attention. Today I want to point out Roomlia (free) as it's got some very clever features that work quite well. Here's my look at Roomlia for iPhone.
Looks
Roomlia is a very minimalist, "flat" app. That's mostly a good thing. The hotel review screen is very pretty and legible, with white text on a field of black, which also offsets the colorful photos. The hotel detail screen is text-heavy, but I guess there's no way around that. Other screens like Account Settings and "Other Things" are kind of dull. But that's fine, as Roomlia is more about function than form. Most people don't spend an inordinate amount of time gazing at travel booking apps, so that's fine. Speaking of function, how does Roomlia work?
Use
For the time being, travel options are limited to several major US cities plus San Juan, Puerto Rico. To get started, tap a city that you'd like to visit. In the examples below, I've chosen Orlando, Florida because I'm one of those Disney people.
The app grabs some rates and creates a nice list. Each listing presents a photo, the hotel name, star rating and initial offering. To view the amenities, swipe left on any image. You'll see details like on-site restaurant, pool, free wi-fi and so on. Tap any listing for more details.
The detail screen is just that: detailed. You'll find a series of photos as well as the street address and all sorts of details. Buttons at the bottom of the screen let you select arrival and departure dates easily, and a convenient slider lets you adjust how long you'll be at the hotel. Booking is as simple as tapping Book Now.
I promised you some cool features, and this is the first. When you view an attractive listing and then hit the back button, the app is smart enough to recognize what you were looking at and suggest a compatible alternative with a fantastic rate. For example, I was browsing three-star hotels in Orlando. After viewing one option, I hit Back and was presented with an exclusive offer for a similar hotel in a similar area. The deal was quite good indeed, and exclusive to Roomlia. As someone who as spent a lot of time hitting the back button over and over in booking apps, I was impressed with this clever implementation.
Here's the other feature I liked. Roomlia is so confident in the exclusive rates it has on offer, if you find a better one they'll pay for it. Finally, Roomlia operates on an agency model. That is to say, when you pay and book, you're dealing with the hotel, not Roomlia. Therefore, if there is an issue at the hotel when you arrive, you can deal with them, and not have to worry about getting in touch with a representative at Roomlia.
Holiday time is travel time, and Roomlia is worth your attention. Give it a try, and happy traveling.
