The Trivago app is available on Google Play as well as the Apple App Store, and it’s a great way to save money this holiday season and all year long.   Available in over 190 countries, Trivago lets you search over a million hotels for your perfect night’s stay, wherever you may be headed.   Since the app offers last minute discounts, it’s great for unplanned weekend getaways or unexpected travel.  Although the last minute discounts and holiday deals can be impressive, it’s one of my favorite apps for vacations planned months in advance.

Installing Trivago is a snap, just like you’d expect.   Just go to the Play or App Store for your device, install it, and open it.    When you open it for the first time, you’ll be asked to sign in if you have an account:  you can also create a new account, or skip signing in and just start using the app to search.   The UI is clean and simple and gives travelers an easy way to find deals on hotels for their trip.

Searching For Deals

When you search for hotel deals in the app, you’ll see a simple search box where you can enter a location you’re interested in.   Beneath it, there are some simple ways to enter the dates your interested in as well as the number of rooms you’re looking for.  There are also a few ways to filter your search, such as price  per night, average rating, hotel class (3 star, 5 star, etc.), distance, and many more.

Once you’ve entered that information, it’s on to checking out your hotel deals!  A simple list of hotels that match your criteria are shown in the app, along with a photo, average rating, distance from the center of town, and the price of the room on a competing booking site.  In addition to the list format, you can choose to see matching hotels in a map layout.   From there, you can pick the hotel you’re interested in by tapping on its deal.

In some cases the property works directly with Trivago and you can go through a streamlined booking process inside the app.  In other cases, you’ll find yourself jumping through extra hoops once you land on the booking site with the deal you wanted.  You’re still getting your room through Trivago, but someone else is acting as a middle-man, like Expedia or trip.com.

Other things I like about the app include an option in the map layout, which shows you entertainment, food, shopping, and nightlife options near the hotels in your search.  The reviews are also easy to navigate and give useful information to help you understand what other guests thought about the hotel.  

Trivago isn’t the only hotel deals app out there, but it is clean and simple and doesn’t spend time or app real estate trying to sell you a flight too.   There are plenty of times where that’s all I want: a good deal on a good hotel, and Trivago is a great pick for that.