SAN FRANCISCO, CA and LONDON and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - May 17, 2011) - For most travelers, the local experiences often make -- or break -- a trip. Viator, Inc., the leading resource for nearly 9,000 tours and activities in 750 destinations in 150 countries, today introduced two free apps to help travelers uncover the best experiences at the best prices anytime, anywhere -- whether they are planning ahead from their living room or standing in a hotel lobby looking for something nearby in the next few hours. The Viator Tours and Activities App for iPhone and the Viator Ultimate Experience Guide(SM) for iPad are uniquely different apps that capitalize on the native features of each device to inspire travelers and help them find unique things to do around the world, offering more last-minute inventory than previously available and new mobile e-vouchers for paperless confirmation.
Each app provides access to Viator's vast tour and activity portfolio, which includes a broad range of experiences for every taste, like a private, after-hours tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel; surfing lessons on Sydney's Bondi Beach; a 4x4 desert safari in Dubai, a private hot-air balloon ride over Barcelona; and even a Grand Canyon helicopter wedding officiated by Elvis. All local tour operators are hand-selected and vetted for quality, value and service and are validated by more than 260,000 traveler reviews and photos. Close relationships with these local operators allows Viator to create exclusive deals and promotions, bookable in five currencies ($US, $AUS, $CAN, GBP and Euro) and backed by a low-price guarantee.
"Today's travelers are more self-directed and less reliant on concierges and stale guidebooks than in the past and our apps -- like Viator.com -- cater to their needs with the added flexibility to find and book tours and activities on the go anytime, anywhere," said Ms. Barrie Seidenberg, president and CEO of Viator Inc. "Our new iPhone app helps travelers easily find the best tours and activities nearby, and make last-minute bookings directly from the device they always have at hand. And, our iPad app helps to inspire travel with ever-changing content about great local experiences that fit almost any budget and can be easily booked online."
The Viator Tours and Activities App for iPhone
The Viator Tours and Activity App for iPhone is designed for travelers on the go, making it easy to find, share and book unforgettable activities around the world -- in advance or up to the last minute -- in just a few taps. The iPhone GPS instantly detects the traveler's location or they can opt to change to one of the hundreds of supported destinations worldwide. Specific features of the Viator app for iPhone include:
- What Can I Do Today? Viator's new back-end system lets local operators load last-minute inventory and will instantly show what's available today, tomorrow or on a future date. Search results can be easily filtered by activity category, such as 'family friendly,' 'tours & sightseeing,' and 'shows, concerts & tickets' or date, time and even by hotel pick-up locations.
- What's Near Me? Orienting oneself to a new city has never been easier as the app quickly maps what attractions are near the user's current location. When exploring a distant destination, the map shows the top local attractions to help travelers plan their visit.
- Top Attractions: Viator has geo-coded more than 3,000 attractions worldwide and travelers can browse top local options as well as related tours and activities.
- Deals and Discounts: Quickly scan exclusive deals in each market. Prices are shown in the traveler's currency choice and reveals percent savings off original price.
- Reviews and Photos: All traveler reviews, ratings and photos are easily accessible through the Viator apps and website. The app also makes it easy to share reviews and photos with Viator in just three taps.
- Paperless E-vouchers: Forget about the hassle of keeping track of paper confirmations. The majority of Viator tour operators now accept mobile e-vouchers, making it a breeze to securely book and check in within the app.
- Wishlists and Sharing: Travel is often a group experience and app users can easily save favorites to Wishlists or share via email, Twitter and Facebook. Viator.com account members get the added benefit of having all Wishlists and bookings automatically synced to their account.
- 24/7 support: Plans can change and Viator makes it easy to modify existing bookings directly from the app. The Viator app for iPhone also features 'click to call' for access to a Viator agent 7 days per week.
The Viator Ultimate Experience Guide for iPad
Viator's free Ultimate Experience Guide for iPad is designed to inspire travelers as a living, never-outdated guidebook featuring the best experiences in the world's most popular cities. Whether travelers are dreaming about exploring the best markets in Hong Kong or Bangkok, visiting the top cultural icons in New York or Barcelona, discovering the must-try food experiences in Paris or Florence, or finding an outdoor adventure in Cape Town or Cancun, Viator's Ultimate Experience Guide can help:
- World Navigation by 3-D Globe: The Viator app for iPad literally puts the world in travelers' hands by allowing them to navigate a rotating 3-D globe and select and zoom-in to the world's top 100 cities.
- Customized City Guides: Travelers simply tap a destination to open a current city guide that highlights the top attractions, unforgettable experiences and other custom categories relevant to each locale.
- Original Content by Experts: Each city's guide contains original content that captures the essence of each destination to help travelers discover iconic attractions and experiences, supported by relevant traveler reviews and an extensive photo gallery, primarily sourced from real travelers.
- Tours and Tickets: Unlike traditional guidebooks, the Viator iPad app is actionable and travelers can check availability and book an experience in real time by simply tapping the 'Tours and Tickets' icon, which will securely connect them to Viator.com to complete the transaction.
- Wishlists and Sharing: As with the iPhone, users can save favorites they find to their own Wishlists and easily share the inspiration via email or through their social networks.
The Viator Tours and Activities App for iPhone and the Viator Ultimate Experience Guide for iPad may be downloaded worldwide directly from the App Store(SM) in the travel category. More information on the apps is available at http://www.viator.com/apps. From now through May 31, 2011, all mobile bookings through a Viator app or its newly revamped mobile website (m.viator.com) will receive an additional 10 percent off tours and activities, even those already discounted. Viator plans to continue adding new features to its apps for the iPhone and iPad and expects to introduce additional apps for other smartphones later this year.
Viator is a trademark of Viator Inc. registered in the U.S. and other countries. Viator Ultimate Experience Guide is a service mark of Viator, Inc.
iPad and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
About Viator
Viator® is the world's leading online resource for travel experiences, providing access to nearly 9,000 tours, attractions and activities in 750-plus destinations in more than 150 countries. Viator - the Latin word for traveler - offers a one-stop shop to plan, research and book trip activities via its Web and mobile platforms with resources such as 260,000 traveler reviews, ratings and photos, suggested itineraries and the Viator Travel Blog. Viator's in-house travel experts hand-pick trusted local operators to ensure quality, value and service, all backed by a low-price guarantee. Viator sells its products through Viator.com, the Viator Tours and Activities App for iPhone, the Viator Ultimate Experience Guide for iPad, eight local language sites for the European and Japanese markets and more than 2,000 affiliated sites that include major hotel chains and airlines, online travel agencies, city-specific sites and more. Viator is a privately held company, with lead investment from The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms. Founded in 1995, Viator is headquartered in San Francisco with regional offices in Sydney, London and Las Vegas.
