Travel + Leisure India & South Asia — May 2017

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66 TRAVEL + L E I S U R E / M AY 2 0 1 7

4 GRAB

If you’ve only got

a few minutes for

a meal before

boarding a flight,

Grab will let you

look at airport

restaurant menus

ahead of time,

map them in the

terminal, and in

some locations

order in advance

and pick up your

food on the way to

the gate. The app

currently serves

174 eateries at

17 airports in

the US; by early

2017, Dallas/Fort

Worth Airport will

offer Grab’s mobile

ordering at all of its

200 dining outlets.

T + L T I P

Use the Offline Areas

and Download features

in Google Maps to save

maps and directions to

your phone.

DINING

short-term-rental

company has a

handpicked list of

coveted luxury

apartments and

homes in close

to two dozen

destinations,

including Rio de

Janeiro, Miami, and

Milan. Guests can

also use the app to

access a 24/7

concierge to help

with restaurant

reservations,

theater tickets,

and tour bookings.

14 O N E : N I G H T

Similar to Hotel

To n i g h t , t h e n e w

app from the

operator of

Standard Hotels

offers same-day

stays at more than

a dozen luxury

hotels in New York

City, Los Angeles,

Miami, and Austin,

Te x a s. Ev e r y d a y a t

3 pm, the app

unveils discounts

for that evening.

We recently saw

rates of US$189 per

night for the

Standard Spa in

Miami Beach and

US$568 for a stay

at New York’s 1

Hotel Central Park.

15 ROOMER

Use this app to get

deep discounts on

hotel rooms from

people who have

had to cancel their

trips, and save 30

to 80 per cent.

Likewise, if you’ve

prepaid for a

non- re fund able

room, you can sell

your reservation

on the app.

16 TRIPHAPPY

This browser-based

customisable

10 CHATNBOOK

Call it Tinder for

hotels. After you’ve

entered your

destination, dates,

11 DAYUSE

Extra-long layover?

Use this app to book

a hotel room for a

few hours to grab a

shower, take a nap,

or just freshen up

after a red-eye.

Dayuse offers hotel

rooms for up to 75

per cent off regular

nightly rates at

3,000 hotels around

the world.

12 HOSTELWORLD

To u t i n g p r i va t e

rooms, fun

communal spaces,

and booze-fuelled

events to bring

together solo

travellers,

Hostelworld is the

go-to app to book

33,000 hostels

globally.

13 OASIS

A cooler version of

Airbnb? This

LODGING

5 VELOCITY

This slick

reservation app

offers a highly

curated collection

of the hottest

restaurants, such

as Drunken Dragon,

in Miami Beach, or

Petty Cash, in Los

Angeles. You can

also use it to pay

your bill or split

it with your dining

companions.

Coming soon:

popular nightlife

spots in Aspen,

Colorado, and

Gstaad and Verbier,

Switzerland.

6 HAPPYCOW

HappyCow lists

vegan and

vegetarian

restaurants in

nearly 10,500 cities

worldwide, from

major cities like

London (Book &

Kitchen) and New

Yo r k C i t y ( B l o ss o m

du Jour), to obscure

places like Vatra

Neamului, in

Chişinău, Moldova.

Each restaurant

listing comes with

a short description

of the menu and

user-generated

reviews. US$3.99

T+L TIP

Review your carrier’s

international plans.

Turn off data roaming

while overseas and

disable GPS for

seldom-used apps to

save your battery.

7 COOL COUSIN

Collections of off-

the-beaten-path

recommendations

from savvy residents

in 14 destinations,

such as a mixologist

in London and an

artist in Paris. Their

suggestions aren’t

ones you will find in

a typical guidebook;

expect hip new

spots in emerging

neighbourhoods.

8   STREET-OGRAPHY

For anyone missing

the recently retired

Maps feature on

Instagram comes

this new service that

allows you to preview

neighbourhoods

with user-generated

and preferences

(rating, free Wi-Fi,

etc), the app (the

Android version is

still in beta)

presents a series

of property profiles

with photos. Tap

on the green

thumbs-up or the

red thumbs-down

and you’ll later be

contacted by the

hotels you’ve ‘liked’

with their best rates.

photos. Want

to check out

an area before you

book an Airbnb

stay? With better

photos than

Google Maps,

Streetography

covers most

major cities in the

US, Canada, the

UK, France, Russia,

and Australia.

9 WALC

Plug in your

destination and

Walc will give

you directions

based on easy-to-

spot landmarks.

A Pocket Mode

feature gives

step-by-step

audio directions.

Just plug in your

earbuds, and you

won’t have to

constantly pull

out your phone.

search tool uses

big-data analytics

to comb through

37 million user

reviews to

determine the

best places and

neighbourhoods to

stay in. Sort results

by price or rating.

triphappy.com

17 VACASA

This vacation-

rental manager

recently expanded

to 15 states in

the US. And it

now also offers

apartments and

homes in Latin

America, Italy,

and Spain. Unlike

VRBO or Airbnb,

the properties

are cleaned and

managed by

Vacasa, so you’re

not dealing with

the owner.

vacasa.com

NAVIGATE

68 TRAVEL + LEISURE / MAY 2017