Man books hotel while freefalling 15,000 feet

Hotels.com sent extreme athlete JT Holmes tumbling out of a plane at nearly 115mph, in a bid to prove that he could successfully book a hotel before reaching the ground.

Mobile booking applications for smartphones and tablets are increasingly being marketed as the fastest way to book hotels online. Hotels.com looked to trump the competition with the marketing stunt in which skydiver Holmes jumped out of the plane at 15,000 feet and successfully completed booking a hotel via an iPhone strapped to his hand before landing near Lake Tahoe.  An onsite representative confirmed the booking was valid after the jump was completed.

"Our customers are increasingly relying on mobile devices to play, work, shop and book travel while on-the-go. We want to offer them the quickest, most seamless way to take care of travel while actually travelling," said Vic Walia, senior director of North America brand marketing. "The hotels.com mobile booking app helps our customers to make fast last-minute bookings, allowing them to create a malleable travel itinerary, open to last-minute changes.

The company claims the app has already been downloaded more than 1 million times. Video of Holmes's feat is available below.