HotelTonight, a mobile-phone app that offers last- minute hotel bookings, said on Sunday that it has launched in Dubai.

The San Francisco-based start-up said that hotels operated by international chains and independent properties have committed to working with it. However, it did not give the names of the properties. The company added that properties in other emirates will be available on the app, but did not state when.

HotelTonight said that leisure and business travellers will have access to rooms at a reduced rate through the app.

There are more than 65,000 hotel rooms in Dubai, with one in every four rooms going empty every night on average, it said, adding that the opportunity for hotels to market and sell unoccupied rooms is "huge”.

"HotelTonight delivers by helping move these rooms, generating incremental revenue while allowing hotels to maintain control of their brand image and margins,” HotelTonight said in a statement.

The company launched in Russia and Australia earlier this year, bringing the total number of countries where it is present to 35.

Source: Gulf News