AP APP & AWAY!

Continuing our weekly guide to apps, Anne Shooter and David Thomas present six for finding the perfect holiday

1. EXPEDIA HOTELS

Cost Free. What it does Offers good deals on hotel rooms all over the world. Why we love it The best apps, like this one, do a single job well. Expedia’s website was the first big travel site, offering a one-stop shop for cut-price plane tickets, hotels, car hire and so on. The planes and cars aren’t yet on an app, but the hotels are, and there’s a huge selection from five-star luxury to hostels, Each has its own entry with pictures, reviews, a full list of amenities and the prices for various types of rooms. Find what you want. Book it. Job done.

2. EYEWITNESS TRAVEL GUIDES

Cost £2.49 each. What they do Help visitors get the most out of the world’s favourite cities. Why we love them They’re packed with interactive maps and illustrations, museum plans and photographs. So far London, New York, Paris, Venice, Rome, Barcelona, Washington DC, Berlin and Prague are available, with attractions, walks, individual neighbourhoods and, of course, eating, drinking and where to stay.

3. TRIPOSO

Cost Free. What it does Offers an encyclopaedic guide to more than 8,000 destinations. Why we love it It’s a very 21st-century type of travel guide. Rather than using inspectors as conventional guides do, or even collating user reviews like TripAdvisor, Triposo harvests information from the web, then edits, organises and repackages that information into a very clear, functional, easy-to-use format. An amazing free source of useful information.

4. AIRBNB

Cost Free. What it does Offers private rooms around the world to rent. Why we love it A perfect example of how technology can bring people together. Those with a space to rent put it on Airbnb, then users all over the world can see it and book it. There are now over 200,000 spaces available across 192 countries: everything, claims Airbnb, ‘ from apartments to private islands’.

5. WORLDMATE

Cost Free. What it does Organises and stores all your travel plans and documents. Why we love it Have you ever been driven mad trying to find the emails confirming your flight, hotel booking or, even worse, your actual e-tickets? Well, that’s where Worldmate comes in. Just forward your travel emails and this app will sort and file them so your itinerary is laid out in a clear, detailed travel diary, with all your vital info at your fingertips. At last, an end to lost bookings.

6. CLUB MEDITERRANÉ

Cost Free. What it does Offers the Club Med brochure at the click of a button. Why we love it Because it’s better than the competition. We checked out Thomson, Thomas Cook, P&O, Virgin Holidays and Kuoni apps, and the basic material was simply the standard print brochure, rather poorly reproduced. This app has been designed from scratch, with useful features that give you a good sense of a resort, then let you make a booking with ease.