Introducing DoubleTree: Home & Away for iPad
Posted by Heather Penner on 9 May 2011 @ 11:01 PT
Sometimes the thing that makes an app truly great is something that it doesn’t do.
When DoubleTree approached us for an iPad app for its hotel chain, you could have predicted the feature list:
The ability to book a room.
The ability to check in remotely.
The ability to verify that those mints you loved were waiting for you on the pillow.
Instead, we decided to build this app around a single profound insight:
When you are a traveler, you are in more than one place at a time.
This isn’t a turn of quantum mechanics, but a result of the way mobile technology has permeated our life. You could be in a business meeting in DC, while getting MMS messages from your family back home. You could be on a train to Seattle, and IM’ing with a business partner across the country.
The immediacy of our world is getting tighter. We constantly have to reconcile the fact that we often have to be present, even when we are away.
Our latest app Home and Away for DoubleTree is based off that very human observation. It gives you a snapshot of where things are at home, and what things look like where you are going. It orients you to the time & weather in both places, gives you access to AP news, and also scans the latest photos from Flickr to show you what 62 degrees and overcast really looks like. It syncs with your TripIt account, and also scans your calendar for your next meeting.
In short, it is designed to smooth out the toll traveling can take on you by beautifully connecting you to where you are going, while still anchoring you to where you came from.
Download Home and Away from the App Store™.




