Need Hotel Tonight?

Need a hotel room tonight?

Before I continue telling you about the rest of my trip, I think now would be a good time to tell you about Hotel Tonight. I knew nothing about Hotel Tonight until a couple of days before my trip when my friend, Tammy, told me about it. I am not exactly a technology-friendly person, believe it or not. I like simple. I was a bit skeptical when Tammy told me, but I trust her - so I tried it. And I loved it!
 
Here's how it worked...
 
First, I downloaded the Hotel Tonight app to my phone. Then, I put in my information, including what credit card (or cards) I want to use to pay for hotels. After that, we hit the road and decided where we wanted to stay as we went. This was SO easy, thanks to Hotel Tonight!

Every day, we would travel as far as we wanted to and, at some point, decide what town we would end up in. Once we knew where we were going to stay (or actually arrived there), I would pull up my app and Hotel Tonight would show me what was available in the area that they had reviewed. The app tells me where the hotel is, what they like about it, and the price I could get it for. It also shows me pictures and consumer reviews. 
 
The Hotel Tonight app also labels the hotels so you'll know what you're getting. Some of their labels are: basic, solid, luxury, and hip. The app defines what those labels mean. After all, sometimes you may just need a 'crash pad' on the road, while sometimes you want some luxury. The app suits what you need where you are.
 
Another thing I really liked about the app was all I had to do was pick the one I wanted, book it for the price (the exact price w/tax) that would be charged to my card, and confirm I really wanted it by using my finger to trace their logo on my phone's screen. Once I gave final confirmation, I immediately received a confirmation on my screen and a confirmation email in my inbox. All we had to do was pull up to the hotel, walk in, show I.D, and (in some cases) the hotel would require a card on record for incidentals.

When I checked out the next morning, all I had to do was say, "Thanks for they stay! Have a great day!" And, no, I didn't actually have to say that, but I'm a nice, friendly person. I also like to let the front desk know I enjoyed my stay, which I always did. Every. Single. Time.
 
Amazing, right?! I sure thought so!
 
Truth is, I didn't even have to check out if I didn't want to. There was never a receipt to sign for the hotel because I didn't pay them. I had paid Hotel Tonight before I ever slept in the room. We were very pleased with every hotel and the service at every hotel. It was also nice to have my receipts on record, as we went, so I knew our total cost without guesswork.
 
Two more things you should know...

Hotel in the Mojave Desert?
Of course not, but I loved the
search response.
 

Hotel Tonight doesn't go "live" with deals until nine in the morning. If you try before then, you'll get a cute "early bird" sign that gives you a countdown until deals come on. I don't know who writes all the different little messages on the app and blurbs about the hotels, but I felt like I was carrying around a wise and witty friend with me in my phone. Also, as the app will tell you, it is Hotel Tonight, not Hotel Tomorrow. The deals are only for that day.
 
Deals can be for more than one night. You can choose whether to stay one night or...as many as five nights. I noticed that you can sometimes get an even better deal the more nights you stay. We stayed in a couple of nights in two places. We found, in more than one case, we really wish we had booked for more than one night because the experience was so wonderful...we hated to leave. Of course, to make the road "loop" we wanted and get back home in two weeks, we needed to. We made notes of the places we'd love to revisit one day.

Now, I'm not a saleswoman, and I don't own stock in Hotel Tonight. I do, however, like to share when I find something wonderful because my fabulous friend was willing to share it with me. I used it, I love it, and I continue to use it now. In other words, I don't have a trip planned, but I pull up deals in different cities on days I could take off somewhere. If my options look good, I'm gone for an unexpected adventure! What could be more fun than that?
 
Try it. You'll like it!

Trust me...

The Inn at Sonoma was the perfect place for us in Sonoma, California.