Travel apps were featured prominently during the reveal of the Apple Watch. And it makes sense — what better use of a smartwatch than portable translator,hotel room key and navigation aide?
Travel companies that have already announced additional app functionality for the Apple Watch include major airlines and hotels, as well as general booking sites, travel guide companies and transit apps.
If you are getting your Apple Watch on Friday (or in the coming months), here are the apps that want to change how you travel.
Maps
Apple Maps
Providing directions is a key feature of the watch, but Apple Maps will do more than that: Hotel reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com are baked into the mapping app.
IMAGE: APPLE
CityMapper
CityMapper is focused on public transit, providing the fastest routes to your destination based on Google Maps data. Once you arrive, the watch will tap your wrist to make sure you know you've reached your destination.
The app notes your location, providing step-by-step instructions for catching the nearest bus or train. For options with published schedules, the app lists the next three arrivals.
Trip planning
TripAdvisor
The travel resource's watch app includes traveler reviews, ratings and photos of hotels, restaurants and attractions, cramming as much travel information as possible onto your wrist.
By swiping, users can view nearby points of interest based on location and time of day. For example, if you swipe rround lunchtime, you may see the highest-rated restaurant in the vicinity.
IMAGE: TRIPADVISOR
"It's all about location," Adam Medros, TripAdvisor's senior vice president of global product, told Mashable. "You're talking about increasingly knowing exactly where a user is, and even starting to know more context about time of day, weather, things like that that will help us make smarter and smarter recommendations based on what the user has already told us."
Medros said the goal with watch recommendations is to unobtrusively recommend to travelers the information they want, when they want it.
"It's a very personal device," he said. "There's potential for it to give me bits of information and bits of advice, to point me in a direction or to recognize things like it's 11 a.m. on a Wednesday, it might [know] I'm looking for coffee."
Priceline.com
Priceline.com's app will show four popular nearby hotel options for same-day booking, offering discounts from published rates. The deals link to the iPhone app, which can be used to complete the reservation.
IMAGE: PRICELINE
The app also provides a view of existing itineraries, including flight, hotel and rental car details. If you need directions to one of the items on your itinerary, the app will link to Apple Maps.
The focus is on travel coming up in the next two days.
“Travelers with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are a large and growing percentage of priceline.com’s customer base, particularly among last minute travelers,” Priceline.com's chief product officer, John Caine, said in a statement. The app "makes it that much easier and faster for travelers to access significant savings on the go.”
Expedia
Expedia's app includes upcoming trip itineraries, with both flight and hotel information. Flight info includes gates, terminals and departure and arrival times.
For hotels, you can get check-in and check-out times, ratings, locations, addresses and phone numbers."
Orbitz
The Orbitz app takes advantage of the "Glances" feature on the watch, putting itinerary information a swipe or two away, beginning 24 hours before the start of the trip.
Orbitz Rewards members will also be able to view their balance from the watch.
Notifications from the watch can include day-of travel updates on flight delays, gate changes and cancellations, as well as details like the number of the baggage claim carousel at the arrival airport. Notifications can also include deals and promotions.
TripCase
TripCase's app provides a look at upcoming trip items and lets users open the iPhone app, save places for later, and view destinations on a map.
IMAGE: TRIPCASE
The app also provides real-time flight alerts.
Gogobot
On the watch, travelers can find restaurants, accommodations and attractions nearby, including names, ratings and pricing.
Hotels
Booking.com
The Booking Now app enables booking directly from the Apple Watch, letting you choose from nearby hotels matched to your personal preferences (based on the site's previously collected data).
You can book your selected hotel, manage "key aspects" of your reservation, and check the room number and length of stay using the watch.
The app will be the "first and only travel app to enable users to book a stay directly from their watch, and in just one touch," according to Booking.com.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts lets you walk straight through the lobby, head to your room and unlock the door — without ever talking to a hotel clerk or even removing anything from your wallet.
The app will also provide you with directions to your hotel, check in, allow you to see reservation details and view your Starpoints balance.
Marriott
The Marriott Apple Watch app lets you complete an advance check-in, notifies you when your room is ready, and allows you to check out easily.
Marriott also accepts Apple Pay, so you could pay at the counter with your Apple Watch instead of opening your wallet.
HotelTonight
Popular last-minute booking app HotelTonight will offer its hand-picked selection of hotels on the watch. Booking on the smartphone app was easy; booking on the Apple Watch is easier.
IMAGE: HOTELTONIGHT
In addition to same-day booking, HotelTonight also offers a look at prices for the next week.
Hotels.com
The Hotels.com app will provide details about upcoming itineraries on the watch (including directions). It also books deals for hotels in your current location.
Airlines
Many airlines are making their apps compatible with the Apple Watch, so you can get notifications about your upcoming itineraries and any problems or delays. Some airlines, like American, are also adding a check-in feature to the watch.
The airlines that will have apps on the watch include:
Transportation
On the ground, that is.
Uber
As soon as the Uber app is opened on the Apple Watch, you'll see an estimate for how long it will take for a car to reach you. From there, you can request the car and track its location on the map as it heads your way.
Hailo
Hailo will also have an Apple Watch app, which will allow for calling a car and show how long it will take to reach you.
Bonus apps
Since wearables come with us everywhere, almost anything on the watch could be considered a "travel" app. Here are some other apps that aren't necessarily travel-focused, but will help travelers get where they're going — and enjoy the journey.
What better way to find the destinations you want to visit next than to see them through the eyes of the travelers who are there now?
On the Apple Watch, you can browse your Instagram feed, like photos and leave emoji comments.
IHG Translator
The translator app from InterContinental Hotels Group, provides on-demand translation "virtually anywhere in the world."
"By speaking directly into the watch, or selecting from a range of pre-loaded common phrases, travelers will be able to translate from English into 13 different languages, in real-time," IHG said in a statement. "Translations will appear instantly on the screen of the device in the chosen language, giving users the chance to read the word or phrase, with the help of phonetic spelling."
BONUS: Apple Watch Commercial Reveals Time Travel Feature
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