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Premier City Guide and Travel Review Site Enables Users to Immediately Connect, Share Locations and Experiences; User with the Most “Check In Points” in March Wins West Hollywood Get-away

San Francisco, Calif., March 10, 2010 /LGBT News - PRWEB/ GayCities (www.gaycities.com), the most comprehensive city guide and travel review community, today announced the first iPhone app with “check in” functionality developed specifically for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, letting people instantly share where they are going and what the crowd is like with friends and fellow members. By adding check ins, GayCities users now have the ability to establish immediate connections with hundreds of thousands of users in more than 150 cities worldwide, bringing the gay community together in an unprecedented way.

GayCities also announced that the user who becomes Overall Top Fan with the most check in points throughout the month of March will win a four day, three night trip for two to West Hollywood, CA. Users earn check in points by simply using the GayCities iPhone app to check in from wherever they are, by becoming a “Regular” or becoming “Top Fan” of a venue (the person who has checked in the most). Additionally, users who recommend the app get their friends’ point totals added to their own. The contest winner will receive two free airline tickets, a free hotel stay, dinner for two at O-Bar and other great perks, courtesy of a partnership with the West Hollywood Marketing & Visitors Bureau. The winner will be notified in early April.

“The increasingly mobile and tech-savvy LGBT community has been seeking better ways to uncover the best places to go, find out where their friends are, and which locations are hot at that particular moment. We’re incredibly excited to be the first to bring check-ins to this community,” said GayCities founder and chief executive Scott Gatz. “The amazing thing about GayCities’ iPhone app is that it really lets people express themselves, showing where they are and where they plan to go in an extraordinarily open manner. While this is tremendously significant from a social, political and historical standpoint, it’s also a fun and simple way for people to find each other and share great (and not so great) places in cities around the world.”

GayCities iPhone app has long been one of the iPhone App Store’s most downloaded travel applications, typically ranking in the top 30 of all free travel applications. Reaching 150,000 downloads in its first year, the GayCities iPhone app demonstrates the value of a targeted application that maps nearby gay-friendly restaurants, clubs, hotels, shops, gyms, beaches, and more. GayCities users identify nearby locations and similar people on-the-fly that match their interests. With the addition of check-in functionality, the app’s popularity is expected to spike as it streamlines the way gays and lesbians connect and discover the most vibrant parts of the cities where they live and travel.
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In addition to check-ins, the latest version of the free GayCities iPhone application includes:

More social interaction: People have become the central feature of the app, as users can immediately connect and share with their friends and others. More cities: The new version includes the most requested locations from big cities to small towns, domestic and international. Redesigned interface: The app is now easier to navigate so that users can quickly find people and places, browse destination pictures, or filter listings on the map. More user-contributed content: Users can add new places, upload photos, write reviews and say what events they are attending, all within the app.

GayCities has also seen its overall user base increase by more than 200 percent in the past year, highlighting the growing demand for a broad-reaching community-driven resource. According to Quantcast and Compete.com, GayCities.com is now the most trafficked LGBT travel or city guide website. With more than 150 city guides, GayCities not only gives users access to the most detailed information available on gay-friendly destinations, it also provides them a vibrant space to share their thoughts and experiences with others in a safe, fun online environment.

To download the latest version of GayCities for the iPhone or connect with users through the GayCities website, please visit www.gaycities.com.