Agoda.com, Asia’s leading hotel booking site and part of Nasdaq-listed Priceline Group, has built on the success of its iPhone app with the release of its brand new iPad app, designed specifically to take advantage of Apple’s groundbreaking portable tablet.

Available now for free in the iTunes store, the iPad app lets users search for hotels by city, location, hotel name, landmark, or place of interest, providing instant feedback on over 200,000 properties worldwide. Users can also apply filters based on room price, star rating, hotel name, popularity, or location.

Agoda.com Chief Product Officer John Brown said: “Agoda customers will love viewing millions of high-res photos with access to 3.5 million verified customer reviews on our iPad app. We will be rolling out new versions with improved features and functionality on a regular basis.”

Research has shown that consumers are turning to their portable devices to book hotels in ever-increasing numbers, and the trend is only speeding up.

Taking advantage of the bigger screen, the iPad app differs from the iPhone app in several distinct ways. The most obvious is easier, more intuitive navigation using the map, which gives a bird’s-eye view of the current location on the crisp, colorful display. Further benefits of the iPad app include the ability to browse through a list of the world’s top destinations; find hotels close to the current location; save a list of favorites; and scan through images, room rates, reviews, and hotel info with the simple swipe of a finger.