Long Layover? The HotelsByDay App Will Book You A Daytime Stay

Credit: © HotelsByDay.com

By Nikki Ekstein

If you've ever had a long layover, taken a one-day business trip, or spent a day channeling Don Draper, you’ll appreciate the value proposition of HotelsByDay, a new app that allows travelers to book hotel rooms without having to pay for the full night’s stay. Available free for Android and iOS, it’s the first app to offer “intra-day” reservations—that is, bookings between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., after early check-out passengers have departed and before late check-in travelers arrive. It’s a great idea—founder Yannis Moati says roughly 34 percent of all 3- to 5-star hotel rooms go unoccupied during the day, and there are more than a handful of reasons why travelers would want to buy in.

So far, the app is available in five markets: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., though a few searches outside these parameters did yield results (an indication that the app will likely expand quickly). In New York, for instance, we found availability at an airport hotel ($140 for eight hours) and at the design-centric GEM hotel, in Midtown ($65 for an 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. reservation)—ideal options for that unexpected layover or mid-day meeting. In Miami, an as-yet unsupported market where we might want to freshen up between a flight and a cruise departure, a Renaissance hotel showed up for $95, conveniently located right next to the port. Clearly the HotelsByDay team has carefully thought through the demands of each market.

We’ll tip our hat to Moati and his team not just for launching a well designed, considered app, but for finding a way to innovate in a space where we’d thought we’d seen it all.

Nikki Ekstein is an Assistant Editor at Travel + Leisure and part of the Trip Doctor news team. Find her on Twitter at @nikkiekstein.

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Travelore Tips: An App For Last-Minute Flights

The Flight Tonight app.Credit Hoppe

Travelers who dig the spontaneity that services like Hotel Tonight afford will be happy to hear that the last-minute booking game has expanded to airline apps as well.

Flight Tonight, a new digital application from the flight data company Hopper,provides travelers who with a single-search service want to find the most affordable flight leaving from a nearby airport in the next 24 hours.

For instance, if Friday’s long lunch turned into a long weekend, a search on the app would turn up flights leaving in the late afternoon, early evening and throughout the night. A happy-hour-inspired search might show late-night flights and those leaving early the next morning.

Either way, the app was built to factor in a two- to three-hour buffer so that travelers can pack and get to get to the airport on time.

In its first weeks, the app turned up flights on some popular routes, like Dallas to Denver or Houston to New Orleans, for less than $200, Patrick Surry, Hopper’s chief data scientist, said in an email. It also revealed some fares less than $250 on more exotic getaways, like Newark to Montego Bay.

Although Hopper does not negotiate with airlines to offer users a discounted fare (as Hotel Tonight does with hotel companies), the company is interested in approaching airlines with the idea, Mr. Surry said, as it could be of use in getting rid of leftover inventory.

Flight Tonight includes data on international flights as well as domestic and is currently available on iOS 7 devices and throughapp stores in the United States and Canada.

For those planning a long-term trip, Hopper also recently started aFlight Explorer tool on its website, which notifies users of daily flight deals, ranks fares according to whether they are good (the lowest-priced 25 percent of flights for that route) or great (the lowest-priced 10 percent of flights for that route) and offers charts for comparison shopping by destination.

Contributed by RACHEL LEE HARRIS, http://intransit.blogs.nytimes.com/

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Travelore Tips: 5 Money Saving Tips For Exchanging Currency

Contributed by Joseph Pisani, AP.

 Headed overseas for summer vacation? It's easy to get hit with extra fees and expensive exchange rates when switching currencies.

Some currency exchange tables in airports and tourist areas offer bad rates, taking more of your money. And some credit cards and banks can add fees when you buy something with your card.

Your best bet is to bring a credit card that doesn't charge currency exchange fees and some cash for backup. Most purchases should be done on the credit card, says James Gambaccini, a certified financial planner at Acorn Financial Services. That's because credit cards offer fraud protection. If you lose cash, or it gets stolen, you won't get it back. Lost credit cards, or fraudulent charges, are easily replaced or fixed, says Gambaccini.

"Walking around with a money belt and a large amount of cash is not relevant anymore," he says.

Here are five tips to maximize your dollars:

1. GET AN APP

Before boarding the plane, download a currency converting app on a smartphone you plan to use on vacation. You can open up the app to see if you're getting a good deal when exchanging money. With the apps, you type in the amount you want to exchange and it will calculate a figure in the new currency. There are several free ones to choose from, including XE Currency and GlobeConvert.

2. ASK BEFORE YOU EXCHANGE

Be wary of currency exchange places that say they don't charge fees or advertise really good exchange rates. "Don't trust it," says Stan McGahey, an international tourism professor at Saint Leo University in Florida. Often, they will offer you a worse exchange rate to make up for the low fees or have caveats that they don't advertise. Instead of just handing them your money, ask how much you would get for the amount you want to exchange first, McGahey says. That way you will know exactly what you're getting.

And always do currency exchanges in the country you're visiting. You're likely to get a better rate than if you do the exchange at home, McGahey says.

3. FIND THE RIGHT CARD

Get a credit card that doesn't charge a foreign exchange fee. Some will charge a 2 percent to 3 percent fee for every purchase made with a foreign currency, says Matt Schulz, a senior analyst at credit card comparison site CreditCards.com. There are many that don't. You can find a list of them on websites such as CreditCardInsider.com, CreditCards.com or Bankrate.com.

Not sure if your card charges a fee? Call and ask.

If you don't have a fee-free card, it may be worth applying for one, says John Ganotis, founder of credit card comparison site CreditCardInsider.com. As long as you're not charging more than you can afford to pay, it could be a better deal than exchanging cash. Most credit cards designed for travelers let you earn benefits, such as miles or points to use for a future trip, Ganotis says.

Another benefit: credit cards often will offer exchange rates that are an average over the past month. That could be helpful if you are traveling to place where the currency is volatile, including some South American countries, Gambaccini says.

(Incidentally, you should call your credit card company before traveling to let it know where you are going. If the credit card company doesn't know you're traveling, it could think it is being used fraudulently and temporarily block your card from making charges.)

4. SAY NO TO HOTEL EXCHANGES

If a hotel or another business asks if you want them to convert the bill into American dollars for you, decline. The exchange rate can be bad, Gambaccini says. Instead, let the hotel bill you in the country's currency and let your credit card do the exchange.

5. CHECK OUT CHECKING ACCOUNTS

As with credit cards, make sure your bank doesn't charge foreign exchange fees if you plan to use a debit card. Some may charge a flat fee for using a foreign ATM on top of a percentage for currency exchanges. Checking accounts at online banks, such as Capital One 360 and Charles Schwab Bank, don't charge foreign transaction fees. Call your bank and ask if you're not sure if they charge fees. Personal finance website NerdWallet.com publishes a list of banks that don't charge fees.