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Trends Assessment: Mobile Booking and Its Impact
Mallory Schmidt, Gina Schammel and Jill Smith
October 3, 2012

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Historical Overview of Mobile Bookings
Spending hours searching through print ads in the newspaper or waiting to see the best
travel agent in town has increasingly become a thing of the past. Travel agencies were once the
most reliable sources because they were just about the only people who had easy access to
available prices, flight times and more, so that customers could compare and get the best deals.
Although some people still utilize the services of travel agencies, mobile bookings are taking
over for several reasons. The most obvious motives are because mobile bookings are quicker and
easier than most other methods offered. According to the International Telecommunication
Union, “At the end of 2011 there were 6 billion mobile subscriptions, which is nearly 87 percent
of the world population” (Favell p.3). This statistic proves that people are becoming increasingly
technologically advanced and are beginning to favor and apply that technology. This wave of
people using their mobile devices for anything and everything has reached the business world
and it has greatly impacted the way organizations reflect and create. Since the demand of the
customer is to have everything at the click of a button, businesses have been applying customer
wants and have changed the way they promote themselves. What once was through print ads
now is through mobile devices. That being said, in order to attract customers and get them to stay
at a hotel or book a flight for a certain airline, businesses need to create an app that is user
friendly, easy to understand, and quick to use. With customers growing expectations, it’s crucial
for businesses to keep current with the times or they will easily be forgotten about. Some have
spent thousands and even millions of dollars trying to come up with a successful app. Many have
been unsuccessful and according to Danielle Belopotosky, a publisher for the New York Times,
“airlines, rental car agencies, and hotels offer mobile versions of their websites, but they can be
slow and clunky” (p. 5). The businesses that make best use their customer’s time are the ones
who are most prosperous but there are several that have a long way to go in the re-vamping
process. Since the emergence of smart phones there have been several improvements of apps
especially in the hospitality industry. Businesses need to keep striving to make their existing
products and services better or they will not be able to withstand other competitors.
Mobile Bookings Impacting the Business World
Mobile bookings are the upcoming trend, whether it be booking hotel rooms, airline
flights, or even movie tickets at a local theatre it will become the preferred method for planning
activities or destinations. Cell phones are increasingly becoming a necessity, especially for our
generation. We rely solely on technology; it’s getting to the point where we get frustrated
standing in line and filling out any sort of paper work by hand, which is why mobile bookings
will be so crucial in the near future. With mobile booking accomplish all of our tasks through our
cellular phones and will not have any lines to wait in, which will ultimately save much time and
frustration for many people. The article, “Priceline’s Booking.com Targets Last-Minute
Travelers with Mobile App” by Lauren Johnson, talks about how Priceline’s Booking.com has
recently started an application for customers to book through their cellular devices. In the article,
Johnson stated that with Booking.com there are three main steps to mobile booking for hotel
rooms. First the customer is asked to fill out their contact information, then they give their credit
card information, and lastly confirm that they have the correct room. Then, once this process is
done that individual’s information can be kept on file to make booking a room faster the next
time the customer wants to book. The simplicity of mobile bookings has attracted the large
amounts of customers today. Many companies have apps for the iPhone and are now looking to
expand into Androids. This trend will spread and be successful because as the article, “The Heat

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is On: Five Online Travel Trends Set to Explode” from Hospitality Net; that “by 2015
smartphones will take over and even overpower the traditional computer desktop. It was proven
that in March of 2012, 350 million Facebook users accessed Facebook via cell phone” (The Heat
is On: 1). That statistic alone shows that the number of people using their mobile devices is
increasing drastically. I feel as though this will impact businesses positively because it will give
guests and customers the opportunity to book at their convenience and to see last minute deals
faster which will increase the amount of reservations for companies.
Priceline’s Booking.com has an application for both iPhones and iPods that allows
customers, guests, and travelers to see openings, savings and hotels in the area. They are
specifically launching this application after having so much success last year with mobile
booking transactions being on record. Booking.com saw over $1 million in mobile bookings last
year. Brian Ek, a spokesperson for Booking.com says, “Travelers wanting to book their travel at
the last- minute using mobile devices is small, but growing part of the overall travel market.” He
is saying that even though Booking.com saw more than $1 million in mobile bookings, which is
still considered a small portion for the overall market, they are expected to grow. Booking.com
eventually made the realization that in large cities such as; Hong Kong, New York, and Los
Angeles had forty percent of its bookings made for same day stays, as in the guest made the
reservation on the same day that they checked into the hotel. This new application called, The
Booking.com Tonight app allows users to search for more than 200,000 hotels in the entire
world. The application will find the individuals location when the app is opened and can be
filtered by star rating, price or proximity which is great for all segments of the market. The way
the application works is it first displays any last-minute deals which will help the guests find
excellent rates. Guests can see photos, maps, and read reviews through this application as well.
Not only do they have this application for the iPhone and iPod, they also have applications for
the iPad and Android. They made an excellent decision when they were making this application
especially after seeing the success they had last year with guests using their mobile devices.
More and more people will discover the simplicity of booking via mobile devices and will learn
to love it. As a potential customer though, I had never heard of Booking.com prior to researching
this topic, so they could have advertised their app better to become more successful and make it
more well known. (Johnson 1, 2).
Expedia is a current competitor in the mobile booking world as well. They just released
an application for the iPhone in April, 2012 that allows guests to reserve hotel rooms in 130,000
hotels by doing it through their mobile devices. This application uses the location system on the
mobile device to quickly bring up hotels located near that specific guest. Once the guest begins
his/her search they can choose to view a list or a map of where all the hotels they may be
interested in are located. This application allows guests to take a slide show tour and then
receive details through a text message once it has been booked. Expedia is moving fast and
coming out with a version of this application for Android phones this month and the iPad later
this year (Belopotosky 2). This is a great move for Expedia; it will really help them stand out as
a high quality application that others will draw to because of the slide show tour they offer and
with the follow up text messages. It will make Expedia come across as the most convenient
application for guests to use. To make this mobile booking application even more successful
they could also have had a list of entertainment, restaurants, or other activities in the close
proximityso that the guests could get a better idea of what he or she could do while in that
specific area. This would allow for guests to plan their entire trip via their mobile device which
would be at great convenience to many people, especially for our generation and younger.

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BookMyShow Application is yet another application accessible for those who have
iPhones. This is an application, not having to do with hospitality and is new for mobile devices.
It allows users to see movie listings, show times, buy tickets, and even pick their seats. This
application also allows you to pay for you movie tickets which is great for the customer because
then when they get to the theatre they do not have to wait in line, they already have their ticket
purchased and are ready to go watch their movie of choice (BookMyShow 1).
Avis and Hertz, car rental companies, both have applications for booking cars via mobile
devices. The Priceline’s negotiator app is for rental cars and hotels which is why it is related to
the hospitality industry. Priceline’s is one of the top competitors because they are thinking about
what they need to do to pursue guests from using Avis or Hertz over themselves. Priceline’s has
made it possible for their customers to add insurance through mobile devices as well as rental
equipment such as a GPS, this way, the customer doesn’t have to waste any time when it comes
time to pick up the vehicle (Belopotosky 2). I feel as though Avis and Hertz both need to come
up with something that will top off the Priceline’s negotiator application so that they can gain
more business.
In the future we may end up going as far as picking out our groceries and paying for them
via mobile device. If this were to happen; it would allow customers to look in their kitchens
while on their mobile devices picking out what they need, it would save time with making all
decisions at the store and waiting in line to check out and pay for it. If we could do it all through
mobile device and then just go to the store to pick up what we ordered and paid for via our
mobile devices; I’m sure many people would be in favor just because it would be a great way to
save time. We may also see that schools (colleges) begin to come out with apps for classes on
mobile devices. We already have so many online classes or at least parts of our classes are
online, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if new applications started coming out for our mobile
devices for us to take our classes directly through them. Replacing our computers with just our
cell phones in 10-15 year would not surprise me in the least. Another idea would be restaurants
making an application for customers to order food prior to getting to the restaurant or to order a
takeout order. This would be an enormous success with certain demographics such as college
aged students, who would utilize the services on a regular basis.
For the hospitality industry I feel as though mobile booking is a great way for the
industry to expand and please their guests and customers. As Will Pinell, director of mobile
strategy for Sabre Holidays said, “travelers are having growing expectations that their
smartphone can do anything that their PCs can do” (Belopotosky 1). This is just enforcing what I
mentioned earlier that we will be doing everything we do on our computers now, on our
smartphones in a just a few short years. It will make planning for vacations, business trips, or
any other type of get away that much easier and less stressful for guests because they can do it at
their own convenience on their mobile device which is most likely on them at all times.
Interview With An App Expert
In an expert interview with Timothy Fox, Director of Customer Print Products for Quad
Graphics, he provided a lot of important information about mobile booking and what it will bring
for the future. He has a lot of experience with smart phone usage, traveling worldwide, and
using booking apps. When asked what his job duties are Timothy said, “To use products via
Apple or Android App store and look up “actable”. That is Quad’s “IPS – Interactive Print
Solutions” App. IPS was a team that I lead from start to launch during late 2011 and through this
summer. Interactive Print Solutions via App’s like “Actable” will be a part of most print as of
2014….packaging, in-store signage, billboards, magazines, books, catalogs, direct mail pieces,

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you name it. Look at the following technologies: QR – Quick Response Codes, IR – Image
Recognition, AR – Augmented Reality, NFC – Near Field Communications, and CHIRP
technology.” As a part of Timothy’s job he receives a new smart phone to use and experiment
with weekly or monthly. He uses various apps and different software to figure out what is best
for customers to use and what they would want to use.
When asked, “How do you think mobile booking and booking apps may or may not
impact the business landscape?” Timothy said, “They already do, but will much more so as of
2014 when the iPhone-5 and Samsung Galaxy S III become the mobile devices that all others
emulate. Once these types of devices become the norm then people will do more through mobile
booking and booking apps. This also is coming into play more as people become more
comfortable with “pads/tablets”. Business travelers utilize these devices the majority of the day
and use mobile booking all the time right now.” This is a great point, customers need to become
more comfortable with the newest smart phones and mobile booking will have an even bigger
impact as customers can use the apps comfortably. Priceline’s booking app is being reported to
be one of the easiest apps for customers to use and that is why it is so successful because
customers now feel it’s easier to use this app than it is to wait in line and book a service.
(Belopotosky)
Mobile booking cannot be denied as a popular trend in the market right now, but it has to
keep advancing and increasing user friendly features to continue to move forward. Timothy says
“Mobile booking makes things more user-friendly and less need for travel agents, although the
best travel agents will survive and do well. Quality will live, quantity will decrease. Travel
agents and agencies have no choice right now but to get very good at using these tools, teaching
people how to use apps, and then selling their expertise as “travel specialists/experts.” As long as
apps keep their user friendly quality’s up to date they will take out the travel agents marketing,
but just as travel agency’s need to keep quality not quantity so do booking apps. Customers are
only going to use booking apps that they like, not all booking apps will be successful, but the
ones that are will continue to explode on the market and advance the company’s future. The most
popular market for mobile booking is travelers doing same day booking. In the future to expand
that to a greater audience it will be important for the booking apps to keep using discounts and to
target more than traveling markets using rental cars and flying. Today, top travel-related
purchases on mobile devices are same-day theater tickets and restaurant reservations, etc.
However, hotel bookings are soaring, and other travel components could catch up quickly. A
recent atmosphere study revealed that almost 40% of the nearly 2,400 smartphone users surveyed
said they intended to use their devices to book a hotel stay. ("Consumer Trends 2012: Mobile
Strategy.")
The most important thing for mobile bookings is what competitors are you trying to
compete with, and how does each competitor differ from one another? The future of mobile
booking will be heavily influenced by what booking apps customers like the most. Timothy
gave an expert opinion saying Apple is a good example of offering the easiest apps, “Use Apple
as the example – speed, ease of use, no complications.” But when it comes to using a specific
app what competitor would win? “The fastest easiest to use will win. Same as it always
was….those that makes their clients the happiest with the product and/or services wins. I have
no time or patience for any app that I cannot figure out and benefit from very quickly,” stated
Timothy. It is the truth; if an app is easy for someone to figure out in a few minutes then they
move on to another company’s app of that type. Rental car companies have become a huge
popularity trending in mobile booking. A good example of rental car company’s competing is

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Avis and Hertz, who both have apps for the iPhone, but are being beat out by Priceline’s
Negotiator booking app (for rental cars and hotels) because it is much simpler to use and more
intuitive than the offerings by the rental agencies. (Belopotosky)
The future is bright for mobile booking, and the booking apps companies that are going
with this trend and starting to show its success are: Expedia, Priceline, and BookMyShow.
However, there are several more booking apps out there, not all of them have had as great
reviews as the previous three listed. Expedia, Priceline, and BookMyShow are the booking apps
to compete with this year, they are what’s trending and what’s making mobile booking so
marketable. As long as these apps prove to be user friendly, and as long as mobile booking
proves to be easier than any other way of booking then there is no limit to what mobile booking
can bring for the future.

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Works Cited
Belopotosky, Danielle. “Mobile Booking Apps Are Only Just Starting to Deliver.” The New York
Times.(1-2) May 4th, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/business/05APPS.html?_r=1
BookMy.Show (1.) 2012 http://in.bookmyshow.com/mobile/.
"Consumer Trends 2012: Mobile Strategy." - Travel Weekly. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/Consumer-Trends-
2012-Mobile-strategy/>.
Favell, Andrew. “Global Mobile Statistics.”MobiThinking(3-6) June, 2012.
http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#subscribers.
Fox, Timothy. "Trend Analysis." E-mail interview. 26 Sept. 2012.
Johnson, Lauren. “Priceline’s Booking.com targets last- minute travelers with mobile app.” (1-2)
April 11, 2012. http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/booking-com-targets-last-minute-
travelers-with-ios-app.
“The Heat is On: Five Online Travel Trends Set to Explode.” Hospitality Net .(1.) 2012
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4057551.html.