Twitter books first hotel application

An Indian software business has launched what is claimed to be the first hotel-specific application for Twitter.

Twihotels launched in beta this week. The idea is that people register for the site, input their hotel requirements and Twihotels will alert the prospective guests’ followers who can then follow-up the request.

However, because the tweets will be sent out from @twihotels, this can be picked up by hoteliers using the new search function which is now featured on the home page of Twitter. Hoteliers can also follow Twihotels.

While the volumes are likely to remain small, the move is indicative of how Twitter is starting move away from its original microblogging function.

TwiHotels is descibed as “an incubation” of MapXL, a division of Compare Infobase. Compare Infobase has a team of 250, and has previosly worked with ebookers in the UK.