Mobile booking is growing in importance for the travel industry, but poor design and mobile user interface sometimes means that travel planning and inspiration that starts on mobile often results in booking through a more traditional channel. How can travel brands book more sales from this fast-growing medium?

1. The Rise of
Mobile Booking
in Travel
SKIFT REPORT #5
2013
Mobile commerce is growing in importance
for the travel industry, but poor design and
mobile user interface sometimes means
that travel planning and inspiration that
starts on mobile often results in booking
through a more traditional channel. How
can travel brands book more sales from this
fast-growing medium?
SKIFT.COM

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3. The Rise of Mobile Booking in Travel
SKIFT
REPORT
#5
Executive summary
Expedia mobile app
Image by Placeit
Mobile phones and tablets are still new, but their impact is already felt
in the travel industry. Travel sales on mobile devices, through both the
mobile phone browser and native apps grew nearly 100 percent in the
U.S. just last year, but there is still a lot of room for mobile booking to
grow.
Despite all of the hype around mobile commerce, completely mobile
bookings are still hampered by legacy platforms, cumbersome processes and designs that aren’t optimized for the small screen or onthe-go use cases. The conversion rate is considerably lower for travel
products than mobile commerce in general.
This trends report will explore the huge growth in mobile queries
and examine why this often fails to translate into mobile sales. Mobile commerce is often assumed to comprise native apps for iOS and
Android. We will examine the benefits of native apps and the importance of having a mobile-optimized website for those who don’t
download the app. It will also look at trends in other countries and
the demographics of travelers who book on mobile devices. Finally, it
will distill best practices for mobile booking based on conversations
with experts and examples.
3
2013

4. The Rise of Mobile Booking in Travel
SKIFT
REPORT
#5
2013
Table of contents
Executive summary 3
About Skift
The Rise of Mobile Booking in Travel 5
Behind the trend 5
True mobile booking has yet to catch on 6
Why mobile planners don’t book on mobile 7
User interface design: Don’t make users think 8
Smartphone 9
Tablet 10
PC 10
Mobile and the sharing economy 11
Q&A with HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank 12
Apps versus mobile-ready websites 16
Aggregators dominate, but loyal customers use brand apps 18
Who mobile bookers are 18
Hotel booking works well on mobile 19
Flights and car rentals on the go 20
Mobile devices enable spontaneous last-minute planning 21
22
China 22
India 23
Europe and the United Kingdom 23
Insights and strategies 24
Further reading 27
About Skift 28
4
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make smart decisions
about travel.
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