Travel app development - give new heights to your tourism business

By 2018, the gap between being mobile is predicted to grow to people spending three hours and 20 minutes using the net on their phone, compared to just 40 minutes on the computer. Gone are the days where people used to sit for hours on their desktop or laptops to plan their trip. Mobile app development has made this process easy and handy. Now the audience are moving towards the usage of travel app to plan anything related to their trip.

You need to book tickets for your bus, it’s just a tap away. You need a room booking in a hotel, this also is just a tap away. With travel app development, the users can leverage numerous features from booking a cab, bus, train to hotel rooms and tourist attractions.

Tourism industry has dramatically changed over the past few years. More people have started travelling not only into the natives but also across countries. Travel industry has spread its wings, economically dominating most industries. With this growth and popularity, there arises a need of non-speculative solution to sustain the competition.

Why will travel app development see a paradigm shift?

9 out of 10 travellers prefer travel app than a traditional way of booking and travelling.

The travellers would always need to visit the travel agent’s website to refer to the itinerary or for booking. And if the website isn’t mobile friendly, people might also be restrained from using those.  They would not have their laptop handy all the time. Travel app development proves to be the best solution in this case.

People are now engaged in their mobile apps more than 50% of the time. Henceforth, mobile application for tourism will prove to be an efficient solution that you can offer as a tour operator. Unlike travel websites, travel app is a one-pack-solution where the user can it easily use whenever required. Travel app development will foster the needs of your customers whenever needed.

Customer engagement and customer satisfaction are the foremost strategies to look upon as a solution to pertain a market where competition is flooding. Mobile app development would be an affordable and reliable solution to look at. A growing urge to not only remain in the market but also to provide best of the facilities to the customers will be the reason a travel company will opt for travel app development.

How a simple mobile app can be fruitful to a travel business?

MICE segment tourists or the business travellers are the ones to get the maximum benefit out of the travel app development. These travellers frequently rely on mobile app from booking of air/train tickets to hotel booking. A travel agency can foster the requirements of a wider audience depending on the features that they provide them via their Android or iPhone mobile app.

There are many features that a travel agency can impart to its customers to give them a blended experience of travelling.

Ticket booking: Travel app provide an anytime, anywhere service providing all the necessary solutions. Ticket booking being the major requirement, a convenient way of offering this service would be favorable for the tour operators. Air, land and sea, ticket booking for all these mediums under one shade is something a traveller would love to see in a travel app.

Customized packages: Offering holiday packages along with itinerary is a great way to show your audience your customized solutions. Customization is a factor that the customers look for while travelling. Putting their needs and requirements first through the travel app would be something they might be inclining to.

Payment gateway integration: By providing a secure payment gateway, a travel agency can gain the trust of the users. Integrated secure payment mode and a refund option proves to be an extensive strategy to utilize for your mobile app.

Car rental within the app: When everything is provided under one shade, what else can an individual be looking for? An option to book a ride with the car service providers within the mobile application would help the person while traveling through different places. Whether the traveler wants to go to a hotel from the airport, or to the holiday destination, if the travel app incorporates a cab service in its features that would be a bonus for the travelers.

Geolocation based services: Once the tourist reaches the destination, the first thing a tourist wants is to check out a hotel, cafe or a nearby local attraction. Inculcating GPS or geolocation solutions to your travel app development, can make your customers use your app more efficiently and frequently.

Furthermore, offering digital payments, mobile room entry, online flight check-in are other ethical benefits for travel app development proves to be your ultimate way towards customer retention.

Redbus.in - a startup, popular for its travel app

Redbus.in is an Indian startup which was acquired by Ibibo group in June 2013. This is a popular app that allows the users to book tickets without much hassle.The business also owns BOGDS, a cloud computing service for bus operators, and SeatSeller, a GDS for bus inventory distribution.

It has been very popular among Indian travellers for booking buses for their road journey.

What to do if you are in need of travel app development?

A business will always look for affordable solutions. But with affordability, reliability and assurance are some of the major factors that should be accountable.

LetsNurture is a leading IT service provider with a vintage experience in the field of mobile app development. If you are a travel operator or into tourism industry looking for travel app development, you are on the right page. We have an in-house team of talented developers to guide you through your requirements.

Get a free quote from us or feel free to write to us

Priceline, Expedia and OTA emerging in the Online Travel Market

Travel industries has become one of the most competitive. And now a days everyone enjoys accessing large number of options to book trips and accommodations. Mobile apps for flight and hotel booking have become major concern for the traditional travel agents for a while now.

Alike Airbnb, online bookings are increasing through websites and mobile apps. Even, airlines, hotel chains and car rental brands have been developing their own websites and apps. For boosting their brand, loyalty programs are conducted where they try to convince customers that have no reason to use OTA search engine to find the best deal.

This becomes obvious for the travel agencies difficult to survive! Having website is not the solution. Expedia, Booking.com, Priceline and many others are the rising competitors and launching a new travel app means to go against them. To stay in this fierce competition, travel agencies must be something different.

Let’s have a look how popular travel brands operate and provide recommendations for the agents who wants to navigate into online world.

Source inventory of Expedia and Priceline

Companies like Expedia and Priceline source their inventory by negotiating directly with the hotels and using GDS (global distribution systems) to book hotel reservations, cruises, air tickets, car rentals, different attractions and services. GDS systems is expensive to access, and so travel agencies generally do not prefer inventory if they can avoid. 

How do online travel agencies make money?

Online travel agencies uses these business models, to monetize their products.

Agency business model: OTA acts as a middleman between industry operators and customers, making commission on each transaction. Expedia's rates for commission ranges from 20 to 25%. 

Merchant business model: In this model, OTA is the merchant. Bookings are done on the company's own website or mobile app. To use this model, online agency buys large number of hotels at wholesale rates and then markets rooms to travellers according to the agency's rate. Priceline sells hotel reservations according to this model, whereas Expedia totally relies on the merchant model, that offers higher margins.

Advertising business model: Priceline earns 0.3% of its revenue from advertising fees. Moreover, TripAdvisor is driven by advertising. For small travel agents seeking for travel apps or websites, advertising model is the most affordable. Alternatively, you can even use the existing infrastructure to build new services and earn money along with them. Many travel agencies make money on flights and hotels charging cost-per-click to OTA and supplier websites.

Differentiate your Product offerings

1. Go Mobile

Recent survey by Euromonitor International stated that, the travel industry will have highest percentage of mobile bookings of any retail industry by 2020. Since then, the market for travel apps will as competitive as for the web, it can be recommended to initiate your application with by targeting your existing customers. Your travel app can greatly increase your customer loyalty.

2.  Get into new and niche Markets

Rather than targeting undeserved geographical area, travel agencies that do not wish to be endangered species can differentiate by catering the niche market. Some of the areas where agents are still succeeding included luxury and business niche where travellers value personal relationships and expertise over cost savings.

Moreover, you can also choose a niche to target based on interests like adventure, spirituality, history, extreme sports etc. You can also select based on demographics, special events as in olympics, rock concerts, festivals or even you can choose themes like camping, city breaks, wellness, family or luxury. 

3. Technology to improvise Customer service

Expedia and Priceline care to the mass market, that consists of young people and are used to get instant information on the web and booking trips on their own. 

If you are start up, that audience you attract is not same as the one like Expedia target. While online travel agencies have wide range of options, they do not offer customer services that is actually expected. Customer service is what traditional agencies are so good at!

Traditional agents search for flights and accommodations for their customers. Moreover, a traditional agency plans the entire trip without any awareness of their client. And if there are any concerns during or after the trip, travel agents are always ready to help. These advantages can be improved with the help of technology. And the agents who embrace technology to improve the client experience, it is obvious for their survival.  

If you want to know more about your travel app, feel free to contact us!

Impact of Mobile Apps in Travel Industry

Traveling is shrinking among all ages. The report says that traveling has witnessed one of the most burgeoning industries in 2016 and beyond. The era of the smartphone has given unprecedented rise to access the vital information to enrich the travel experience. It has been found that the growth of travel apps usage is resulted to give a new shape to the travel industry.

Travel companies are maximizing their best potential to attract travelers through personalized services. With the advancement in technology, solutions integrating the mobile apps gives the users instant information through message alerts or even chats with the customer representatives. Marketers are tracking the peculiar behavior exhibited by customers whilst browsing through the travel apps or website.

Get Customized services

The travel industries are exploring the engaging ways and mediums to connect with the customers while they are on move. They are expecting the customer needs to improve their services with the help of travel apps. For example, offering some of the best discount rates for any travel purchases like hotel accommodation, airline booking etc.

In Short, it is about offering the customers more before they ask for through strong connectivity. It is about the mad race to target sequentially ever precise need of travelers. Travel app development has become one of the best media to target and engage the target audiences in the travel industry.

Build a bond

People want their travel experience to be a hassle free one. By selecting a right package for your travel, they like it have customized options to match their specific needs. They give message alerts or notifications to make everything easy for the customer. Every people use smartphones in this tech era, and thus travel agencies connect and engage them in improving their travel experience.

Never Ending Experience

Customers nowadays have become excessively friendly with the travel apps to come up with their needs. Travel companies are providing an easy way to the intense travelers. Travel app development makes easy for the travelers to find the attractive traveling packages for themselves.

They can even browse through travel packages, airline tickets, car rentals, hotel booking etc. Even the travel companies can escalate the best travel experience with their apps. It can help customers to plan for their next sojourn.

Offers and Rewards

There is fleet of companies offering irresistible offers to grab the attention of the customers. Online travel agencies even do the same to lure the customers to their travel services, no matter it is discounted air travel or affordable accommodations. The travel companies are making use of their travel apps to provide best offers, discounts to the customers.

There are many benefits for the travel companies by adding more value to their mobile applications. Instead of reducing the travel expenses, it is better to explore through exclusive discounts to enjoy the complete travel experience.

LetsNurture has specialization in integrating effective business solutions for The Web and Mobile platforms. In the domain of travel app development, the experience lies in delivering successful results in the form of travel booking app, incorporating the requirements of Online Travel Agencies, Resellers. Travel App Development is also good for Rail and Airlines, Car Rentals and others in the Travel sector.

If you have any inquiry regarding travel app development to have your own customized travel app, do get in touch and share your requirement today.