for frequent travelers, announced today that Blackberry users can now book hotel rooms directly within WorldMate Live™. WorldMate has partnered with hotels.com®, an Expedia, Inc. company, to enable people to book travel quickly and securely on their mobile phones without requiring a phone call.

WorldMate Live serves as a personal travel companion, allowing frequent travelers to manage their entire itinerary -- flights, hotels, meetings and ground transportation -- all within a single service, accessible any time from a smartphone or computer. Once a traveler's itinerary is in the system, WorldMate Live proactively warns of schedule disruptions and suggests alternate flights when it detects a delay or cancellation.

And now, WorldMate Live can proactively recommend -- and directly book -- hotel rooms, even at the last minute. The process is simple: Members searching for a hotel receive recommendations that factor in proximity to meeting locations on their itinerary, as part of WorldMate Live's propriety algorithm used to rank and list the best hotel options. Members can also view their entire agenda on a map together with any hotel option to make an informed decision. The service is free and initially available to all BlackBerry users. The company plans to release a Windows Mobile version in the near future.

"No other travel booking service automatically considers a traveler's itinerary and simultaneously factors in their personal preferences," said Nadav Gur, CEO of WorldMate. "Our members no longer need to sift through the multitude of hotels within a destination just to find a suitable option in convenient location, at the right price, with desirable amenities."

Gur added, "Business travelers often find their schedules changing on the fly. Meetings get postponed or extended, itineraries change, and they need to book hotel rooms and revise their schedules quickly, often without immediate access to a computer. Thanks to WorldMate and hotels.com, what was once stressful -- finding a nearby hotel with the right amenities, and doing it in mid-trip -- has now been simplified to a few clicks on a mobile phone."

In a recent study, Forrester Research estimated there are 47 million frequent business travelers worldwide. Last year, business travelers took more than 260 million trips, spending $265 billion.

The majority of WorldMate Live's personalized travel planning and management services are available for free. Premium services, such as real-time flight alerts, flight status and flight schedules are available for a yearly or monthly subscription. For a free download and for more information, please visit www.wmlive.com.

About WorldMate

Based in Los Angeles, California, privately held WorldMate® has been developing award-winning mobile travel software since 2000. Removing stress and paperwork from the travel experience, WorldMate turns a mobile device into a personal travel companion, providing frequent travelers all the services they need at home, work or on the go. Dubbed a traveler's "guardian angel," the newest addition to the WorldMate product family, WorldMate Live, tracks every trip and sends real-time "push" alerts about itinerary updates and changes, including flight delays and cancellations. WorldMate products also feature travel resources including flight schedules, weather forecasts, travel directories, maps, world clocks, a currency converter and much more.

Information Source:    Marketwire

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