Three trends in travel apps that will shape the future of mobile travel

BY JASMINE W. GORDON As global smartphone and tablet adoption continues to increase, travel provider and traveler demand for mobile apps shows no signs of stopping. Tnooz reports that 30 million individuals seek travel information via mobile devices and travel apps each month. Forty-four percent of travelers even plan their trip via mobile device. Today’s travelers prefer multipurpose applications that simplify their lives. For today’s social and mobile consumers, apps that provide access to reviews, purchase comparison and local recommendations can become an integral part of the travel process. Throughout the mobile realm, you should focus your mobile developer attention towards socially integrated purchase experiences, convenient deals delivery and localization techniques. Here are three mobile app trends that are shaping the future of travel. Social Planning Social travel planning integrates cutting-edge planning technologies with human recommendations. Users of these apps can view recommendations from friends and family members, tips from experts and consumer reviews to make decisions about destinations, vendors and more. Per Adweek, social amplification matters to mobile travelers, with 80 percent preferring recent reviews before making decisions and 76 percent sharing experiences on social networks. Through integration of social media application programming interfaces (APIs) and vendors reviews, you can create applications that supply sufficient social proof to prospective travelers. Getting Deals Travel apps that facilitate price and vendor comparisons, are popular among both price-minded and budget-focused travelers. Forty-nine percent of travelers prefer review websites, according to Adweek, while 55 percent consider up to five properties before making a hotel vendor selection. Regardless of traveler budget, having sufficient points of comparison to prove the best deal was booked at the right price is critical to today’s OTA applications. With the use of APIs like Sabre Dev Studio’s Channel Connect, you can integrate retail and negotiated rates from thousands of hotels on Sabre’s system to provide a wide array of information on availability and rates from to your app’s users. Experience Localization Localization is the concept of delivering geotargeted recommendations and offers to travelers, based on location and traveler preferences. With integration of mobile location insights, you can create experiences that offer convenience and relevant offerings for app users. Booking.com is one example of a mobile app provider whose app meets Fortune‘s travel app criteria of delivering “clear value” while optimizing efficiency and simplifying presentation. With the use of APIs to auto-complete travel profiles, purchase history and location factors, you can create mobile experiences that consistently convert travelers due to highly relevant vendor and experience recommendations. The travelers of today and tomorrow are beginning to abandon mobile travel apps that serve a single purpose. The most popular and effective travel applications rely on API integration and consumer insights to deliver relevant, localized recommendations and social proof. By developing marketplace applications that meet the needs of today’s consumers, you can build apps that match travelers’ need for ease-of-use and broad functionality.