New hotel iPhone apps for InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and more

By John Walton, June 24 2011
New hotel iPhone apps for InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Hotel Indigo and more

Travellers can now book IHG hotels -- including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo -- with a full range of iPhone apps from the hotel group that allow you to find a hotel, book rooms and manage your hotel reservations.

Fortunately, you don't need to download separate apps for each hotel chain: the InterContinental app will search for the Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and the rest.

That makes it the perfect app to have tucked away at the back of your iPhone or iPad for an emergency, in case your flight is cancelled or your travel is disrupted by, say, an ash cloud. (Unthinkable, we know...)

The hotel chain app you pick will show its own brand first, but apart from that we can't find any non-cosmetic differences between the apps from InterContinentalHotel IndigoCrowne PlazaHoliday InnHoliday Inn ExpressStaybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.

We've used the InterContinental version to show what the app can do.

You can search by GPS-enabled map, address, brand and distance from your current location -- and results come back for all the IHG hotel brands.

The booking page gives you an option to book online, the hotel's number, and directions. 

Each app is also linked in with the Priority Club rewards programme -- interestingly, the new branding for Priority Club seems to have been leaked through this app.

You'll also be able to check your upcoming reservations, both through your Priority Club account and with a confirmation number search.

At a compact 6.5 MB in size, and at the excellent price point of "free", one of these apps will definitely be finding a quiet home on the third screen or tucked away in a folder on our iPhones.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.


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