HotelTonight, the mobile application that allows you to book hotel rooms for the same day at discounted prices, just extended its internationalization strategy with fresh funds.  Starting with the Canadian market last month, HotelTonight has secured a $23 million Series C investment to further extend its international presence.

CEO Sam Shank said Tuesday that the company secured Series C round of funding led by U.S. Venture Partners, which includes participation from Accel Partners, Battery Ventures and First Round Capital.

The 18 month-old San Francisco company has raised $35.85 million in total venture funding since launching in 2011. The capital will be used to grow business abroad, add to the team and further develop its existing apps.

“Our goal at HotelTonight is to revolutionize the way people shop for travel. By building apps that allow users to easily book same-day hotel stays at great properties at incredible prices, we’re delivering on that mission,” said Sam Shank, CEO, HotelTonight. “This latest round of funding will let us continue to build a top-rated product, drive growth abroad and in the US, and allow us to make moves that will establish HotelTonight as the next great brand in travel.”

With over two million mobile downloads, the mobile app is designed for those moments when you suddenly realize you need to book a hotel for that very night. Instead of randomly choosing a hotel and risk a bad experience, you can use HotelTonight to check your careful selection of hotels with their offers.

Competitors moving quickly

The model of same-day bookings is gaining momentum as competitors appear to be moving quickly around this new trend. Mobile apps like Expedia and Priceline are already gaining popularity among travel users, translating their online success to the mobile space.

Priceline and sister company Booking.com have launched their mobile apps for US and global markets. The app uses last-minute inventory from its portfolio of 200,000 properties in 165 countries for same-day bookings.

European startup, Blink Booking, which also used the same-day booking service model, recently secured $2.5 million from PROFounders, SoftTechVC and Ballpark Ventures. The company will use the funding to expand the service in seven countries including France, Spain and Italy apart from its presence in the UK.

Then there’s AFAR, the multi-platform travel media brand that recently launched their mobile app for travelers to share, curate and discover travel stories among other experiential travelers, make connection and post comments.

How Mobile Impacts Business Travelers

Travel applications have long occupied a niche in the market of mobile applications for travel, and are in great demand. Mobile applications, both paid and free, carry out the function of navigating travel planning and can provide real-time and on-the-move access to travelers.

PC Housing & The Information DJ came up with an infographic that highlights the interesting tendencies of mobile activities for business travelers in particular, some of the most active in the mobile app space.

According to the infographic, business traveler work 240 hours more per year than the average American worker. In addition, the average business traveler checks their smartphone 34 times a day, and 59 percent of business travelers said they would feel disoriented and lonely without their smartphone for just a week.

Another infographic from MyDestination.com shares some interesting statistics when it comes to traveling.

According to the numbers, users are increasingly checking travel destinations on mobile. About 75 percent of travel users said they are likely to explore, shop, and book travel activities via their mobile phones, while 17 percent have reached a trip on a mobile app or mobile website.

Further, 12 percent of users downloaded a mobile app related to travel and out of those 12 percent, three percent have booked trip on a mobile.