HotelTonight, the on-demand mobile hotel booking app, today announced that Barry Sternlicht, the founder, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, has made a personal investment in the company. Sternlicht also joins HotelTonight today as a strategic advisor.
From 1995 through early 2005, Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., a company he founded in 1995. Starwood Hotels is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, with more than 895 properties in 100 countries.
Nicknamed the 'King of Hotels,' Sternlicht is a tastemaker known for having created W Hotels, one of the world's most successful boutique brands. Later this year, Starwood Capital Group will be launching two new hotel brands, 1 Hotels & Resorts and Baccarat Hotels & Resorts, debuting projects in New York and Miami Beach. His keen awareness of customer trends and design-focused background are a natural fit for HotelTonight's innovative take on the hotel booking process.
Sternlicht has spent his career developing unique, personalized hotel brands that delight customers and inspire new demand for hotels. He'll bring his deep understanding of design and the hospitality market to HotelTonight, as well as his network of fellow hoteliers, helping grow HotelTonight's product offerings and ever-expanding portfolio of cities and hotels across the globe.
In addition, HotelTonight announced that it has teamed up with several large-scale, global hotel chains, including InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®), Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Best Western International, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, FRHI Hotels & Resorts (Fairmont, Raffles & Swissôtel brands), La Quinta Inn & Suites, Barcelo Hotels & Resorts and Steigenberger Hotel Group. More will be announced soon.
By focusing on a specific use case (same-day booking), HotelTonight attracts incremental, tech-savvy customers without cannibalizing business from these chains' brand-loyal guests, and gives hotels complete control over their use of the channel.
With close to 9 million downloads and now over 10,000 hotel partners in 17 countries and more than 250 destinations, HotelTonight is the world's favorite hotel booking app.
Since HotelTonight's launch in January 2011, the company has raised more than $80 million in funding and established itself as the leader in mobile travel. By delighting users with a beautiful product that's easy and natural for anyone to use, HotelTonight is breathing new life into the travel industry and fundamentally changing the way people think about booking hotel stays.
HotelTonight is available for free on iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Download the app here: http://www.hoteltonight.com/now

Quotes:
Jared Simon, Co-Founder and COO, HotelTonight:
'To have a visionary like Barry Sternlicht backing and advising HotelTonight is a powerful validation of the work the HotelTonight team and our top tier network of hotel partners have put into revolutionizing the travel industry. With his support and the addition of several chains to the app, we're proving that the hotelier-distributor relationship doesn't need to be adversarial but can actually be mutually beneficial.'

Barry Sternlicht, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Starwood Capital Group:
'Booking windows are shrinking and customers are going mobile, trends which position HotelTonight perfectly for the future. But there's something more that attracted me -- it's that HotelTonight is proving booking by booking that both hotels and distributors can win. HotelTonight is a refreshing alternative that should become a major participant in the future of hotel distribution.'

About HotelTonight:
HotelTonight was launched in 2011 to provide easy mobile booking of same-day unsold hotel inventory. For consumers, HotelTonight offers incredible convenience and amazing value at quality hotels. For hotels, HotelTonight is a marketplace to fill last-minute rooms that would otherwise remain empty. HotelTonight is currently available in over 250 destinations across the globe. Based in San Francisco, California with a London-based European office, HotelTonight is backed by Coatue Management, top venture firms and leading travel-industry pioneers. Visit www.hoteltonight.com for more information and to download the free app.