Conrad Concierge App Helps Hotel Guests

Ever get to a hotel and realize you forgot your toothbrush—again? Once you get it from a shop or the front desk it hits you—you need a map for tomorrow. And some food, too.

As we’ve seen in the past, convention centers are upping their game on the app front, but most of the good apps we’ve seen for hotels have been focused on booking. Thanks to Hilton Worldwide, Inc.’s Conrad Hotels & Resorts, not anymore.

The free Conrad Concierge app  (opens in a new tab), available on smartphones and iPad and available for use at 22 locations worldwide, lets hotelgoers order anything from turndown service to room service before they’re even assigned a key. It plugs back into the hotels’ systems so the request automatically goes to the correct department (housekeeping, concierge, maintenance, and so on). Worldwide traveler? The app’s available in six languages.

The app reportedly has some glitches, as a recent Wall Street Journal article describes  (opens in a new tab). (Overall take: “When the app worked, it was brilliant. But there were plenty of technical difficulties and weird computer-human miscommunications, too.”) But for frequent travelers (and bad packers), the app may be worth a download.

For a closer look at smartphones and travel apps, Blynk notes  (opens in a new tab) that 60 percent of travelers “consider a smartphone to be their ‘personal travel assistant or companion.’” Some common hotel apps travelers like include those that handle last-minute bookings, mobile payments, and similar concierge services.

(Hilton Worldwide Inc.)