Much like Expedia Hotel (for iPhone) (Free, 3.5 stars) and Hipmunk Flight Search (for iPad) (Free, 3.5 stars), Orbitz Hotels (for iPad) (Free) targets one element of the desktop travel search site and transports it, with care, to a mobile platform. The result is an app that feels perfectly tailored to the iPad, taking advantage of the large touch-screen interface and carrying over the price protection features that made the Orbitz (Free, 4 stars) desktop site an Editors' Choice winner.
Unfortunately, as with the mobile apps from Expedia and Hipmunk, Orbitz Hotels (for iPad) is an incomplete travel booking solution; as long as you do not have the option to book flights with hotels, you're relinquishing the significant savings found in bundling. And, despite plenty of iPad polish, Orbitz overlooks a couple of key features, namely a hotel name search and an Orbitz login for retrieving booking information and accessing Insider Steals. In short, Orbitz Hotels does a fine job transporting the site's hotel-booking to the iPad—I just wish it packed more for the trip.
Map or Matrix
By Default, Orbitz Hotels loads Map view, which pins hotels to a Google Map and automatically locates you and your (GPS-equipped) iPad. You also have the option to enter a location manually, using a city, address, zip code, or landmark.
Map view has two components: an Orbitz-annotated Google Map and tiles for the top hotel results (to the left side of the screen). Orbitz begins by sorting results by best value, though there are also sorts for Lowest Price, Distance, Star Rating, and Hotel Name. You can also apply filters—Amenities, Star Rating, User Reviews, Hotel Chain—to narrow results. Despite including both a Hotel Name sort and Hotel Chain filter, I was disappointed to see that the app doesn't include a way to search for a particular hotel.
I was, however, impressed with the app's filtering prowess. Not only can you tap a particular selection to check it (e.g. specifying a 4-star hotel), you can tap more than one selection to tailor results. This is particularly useful when searching in multiple neighborhoods: For example, with one filter I can easily return results for Gramercy, Midtown East, and the Upper West Side.
Finally, there is the option to toggle to what Orbitz calls the Matrix view. While the desktop site had made the Matrix a fixed feature across the competition, Matrix on the iPad is really just a tile-based view. It's entirely usable, but I see little reason to choose it over the location-attentive Map view.
Details and Bookings
Exploring a hotel doesn't require a second thought. Simply tap it to open a window with Overview, Reviewer Score, and Rooms and Rates tabs. Like the Expedia Hotels app, Orbitz Hotels lets you swipe through images of the hotel (though the imagery is not quite as impressive). And thankfully, unlike, say Travelocity (for Android) (Free, 2 stars), you can read individual user reviews from the app.
The app's largest limitation reveals when it comes time to book a hotel. Without an Orbitz login, users have to manually enter traveler information, payment, and billing information. On a desktop, this would be a quibble, but using the iPad, all that tapping feels like an unnecessary inconvenience. Furthermore, because there's no Orbitz login, you cannot take advantage of the site's Insider Steals, a weekly, members-only sale that can save you up to half off on some hotels.
Automatic Protection
Although Orbitz Hotels lacks plenty of desktop functionality, you'll still benefit from the same impressive protections that secured the site the Editors' Choice designation. With Automatic Hotel Price Assurance, Orbitz will automatically send you a check (for the difference) if another customer books the same room for less. Automatically is the key word here: You do nothing but click "Agree and Book" and Orbitz takes care of the rest. That said, if you do want to hunt, if you find it for a lower price on another site, Orbitz's Low Price Guarantee ensures you'll get the difference plus a $50 discount on a future booking. Finally, if something comes up and you have to scrap your trip, Orbitz won't hit you with hotel cancellation fees (though the hotel might).
A Confident Mobile Booker
What Orbitz Hotels (for iPad) does—hotel booking—it does quite well. As soon as you open the app, you'll know how to use it, and the company deserves credit for taking advantage of the iPad's screen estate with a unique combination of maps and tiles. I wish it did more: Not only do I leave with the impression that the app could excel with other types of bookings, but as long as it remains hotel-specific, customers cannot take advantage of the real savings to be found from vacation bookings. Download it today if you want Orbitz's superb customer protections and a hotel-specific booking app for your iPad.
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