STI OC Result

1. Empirical Evaluation of Popular
Mobile Hotel Booking Apps
Term Paper
Seminar 3: Online Communication
Cornelia Lezuo (cornelia.lezuo@student.uibk.ac.at)
Sabrina B. Neururer (sabrina.neururer@i-med.ac.at)

2. Introduction -1-
 mobile-ready  demand for mobile
services increases
 different types of mobile booking apps
◦ car rental
◦ hotel booking
◦ flight booking
◦ …
 different target groups
◦ e.g. last-minute bookers
2

3. Introduction -2-
 issues:
◦ easy to download/install
◦ which functionalities/features
◦ usability
◦ availability/performance
◦ privacy/security
◦ follow user expectations
3

4. Material & Methods -1-
 10 mobile hotel booking Apps
(Google Play)
◦ popular Apps (Booking.com, HRS …)
◦ Apps well known from ads (Trivago …)
 hotel offers not restricted to regions
 2 mobile testing devices
◦ Sony Ericsson Xperia (4.0.4 – Ice Cream
Sandwich)
◦ Samsung Galaxy Note (2.3.6 – Ginger Bread)
4

5. Material & Methods -2-
 questionnaire
◦ developed using GrafStat1 (Edition 2006-l, v
3.39-i)
◦ 35 items
 4 multiple choice
 26 single choice
 5 free text answers
◦ basic functionalities
◦ personal impressions (subjective)
 6-level Likert scale (1 – totally agree … 6 – totally
disagree)
◦ not specified option 51 www.grafstat.com

6. Material & Methods -3-
 evaluation scenarios:
◦ scenario 1:
last-minute booking according to GPS position
◦ scenario 2:
destination: Vienna
category: 3 stars
arrival date: December 14th 2012
nights: 2
persons: 2
room: I double-room
6

7. Results -1-
7
Booking
.com
Expedia
Agoda hotel.de
Hotel
Mobile
HRS
JustBoo
k KAYAK
Trip
Advisor
Trivago

8. Results -2-
 storage:
7.23 MB
 downloads:
> 500,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
Windows
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
limit search results
(filter)
customer feedback
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
– no additional
services
– no tap-zoom
8

9. Results -3-
 storage:
10.75 MB
 downloads:
> 1,000,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
limit search results
(filter)
customer feedback
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
– no additional
services
– no tap-zoom
9

10. Results -4-
 storage:
8.75 MB
 downloads:
> 1,000,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
flight booking
limit search results
(filter)
customer feedback
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
– no tap-zoom
10

11. Results -5-
 storage:
16 KB
 downloads:
> 100,000
 OS:
Android
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
 limit search results
(filter)
 customer feedback
 MapView
 hotel photos
 sorting search
results
– price comparison
– no additional
services
– not all functions
seem to work
properly 11

12. Results -6-
 storage:
797 KB
 downloads:
> 10,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
RIM, Windows
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
limit search results
(filter)
customer feedback
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
– no additional
services
12

13. Results -7-
 storage:
4.70 MB
 downloads:
> 10,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
RIM, Symbian,
Windows
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
 limit search results
(filter)
 customer feedback
 MapView
 hotel photos
 sorting search
results
 travel organization
– no additional
services
– no tap-zoom
13

14. Results -8-
 storage:
3.07 MB
 downloads:
> 50,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
RIM
 target group:
last-minute travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
 limit search results
(last-minute)
 MapView
 hotel photos
– no sorting of search
results
– no filtering of search
results
– no additional
services
– no customer
feedback
– no tap-zoom 14

15. Results -9-
 storage:
16.27 MB
 downloads:
> 5,000,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
RIM, Symbian,
Windows
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
 limit search results
(filter)
 customer feedback
 MapView
 hotel photos
 sorting search
results
 travel organization
 additional services
– no tap-zoom
– no direct booking 
booking site
15

16. Results -10-
 storage:
1.92 MB
 downloads:
> 10,000,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS,
Symbian, Windows
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
limit search results
(filter)
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
travel organization
additional services
call-by-click
– no tap-zoom
16

17. Results -11-
 storage:
1.22 MB
 downloads:
> 500,000
 OS:
Android, Apple iOS
 target group:
all travelers
 evaluation:
scenario I 
scenario 2 
limit search results
(filter)
MapView
hotel photos
sorting search
results
call-by-click
– price comparison
– no additional
services
17

18. Results -12-
18
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
Storage
KB

19. Results -13-
Agoda
Booking.com
Expedia
HotelMobile
hotel.de
HRS
JustBook
KAYAK
TripAdvisor
Trivago
Search according to GPS
position
x x x x x x x x x x
Customer feedback x x x x x x x x x
Map view of hotel location x x x x x x x x x x
Photos of hotels x x x x x x x x x x
Last Minute booking x x x x x x x x x
Travel organization support x x x
Sorting of search results x x x x x x x x x
Contact-by-click functionality x x x x
Share bookings via Social
Networks
x
Data privacy statement x x x 19

20. Results -14-
Agoda
Booking.com
Expedia
HotelMobile
hotel.de
HRS
JustBook
KAYAK
TripAdvisor
Trivago
Well arranged 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Attractive 3 1 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 3
Intuitive 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
Performs well 1 3 1 3 5 1 1 3 1 1
Usability 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 2
Easy to do things on the go 1 1 3 3 3 1 1 1 3 3
Simple to use 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1
Self explanatory 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2
Does exactly what I want it to do 1 1 1 6 1 1 2 1 3 6
20

21. Results -15-
Agoda
Booking.com
Expedia
HotelMobile
hotel.de
HRS
JustBook
KAYAK
TripAdvisor
Trivago
Your location
precise location (GPS and
network-based)
approximate location (network-
based)
x x x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x x
x
x
Network communication
full network access
view network connections
view Wi-Fi connections
receive data from Internet
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Phone calls
read phone status and identity x x x x
21

22. 22
Agoda
Booking.com
Expedia
HotelMobile
hotel.de
HRS
JustBook
KAYAK
TripAdvisor
Trivago
Storage
modify or delete the contents of
your USB storage, modify or delete
the contents of your SD card
x x x x x
Hardware controls
take pictures and videos
control vibration
x
System Tools
prevent tablet from sleeping
prevent phone from sleeping
x
Your personal information
read your contacts
modify your contacts
x
x
Services that cost money
directly call phone numbers x

23. Discussion and Conclusion -
1-
 evaluation of 10 different Apps
 easy download and installation
 Apps were well arranged, easy to use
 usability is satisfactory
 direct booking  do things on the go
23

24. Discussion and Conclusion -
2-
 hotel comparison Apps not suitable for
mobile booking
 Apps interesting for last-minute
bookers
 data privacy and security
 permissions of the App
 sharing via Social Networks?
 Winner: HRS  met all expectations
24

25. Empirical Evaluation of Popular
Mobile Hotel Booking Apps
Thank you for your
attention!
Cornelia Lezuo (cornelia.lezuo@student.uibk.ac.at)
Sabrina B. Neururer (sabrina.neururer@i-med.ac.at)