NB: This is a viewpoint from Alicia Jao, president of TravelNerd.
Mobile continues to be a vital new frontier for most travel companies. With PhoCusWright forecasting $25.8 billion just for for US mobile travel bookings in 2014, "smartphones and tablets are on track to capture nearly one in five travel dollars".
Travel companies would obviously be remiss to ignore the growth potential in mobile.
However, the pervasive fragmentation in online travel is extending into mobile. Travel companies are simply applying their existing web services to native and mobile web apps.
Moreover, the popularity of mobile apps has attracted new entrants to the travel landscape. Apple’s App Store and Google Play are swarming with thousands of travel app options for consumers.
While mobile offers the promise of ease and convenience, travel fragmentation (many suppliers, many intermediaries, and many apps) continues to plague the travel experience and crowd smartphones.
Company Goals versus Traveler Goals
Hyper-competition in the travel industry has led companies to focus on branding and increasing customer loyalty. Driving traffic and customers to branded websites is key to establishing a sustainable business model.
Thus, travel companies have applied this philosophy to their mobile strategies. As travel companies develop mobile optimized sites and native mobile apps as extensions of their existing web apps, travelers are becoming inundated with mobile travel options.
While trusted brands and loyalty rewards are appealing, the potential ease and convenience of mobile travel is eroded.
Branded Apps versus Function-Focused Apps
Top travel apps on the App Store and Google Play are dominated by the big travel brands (ie. airline and hotel brands). According to PhoCusWright:
"A traveler doesn’t want one room check-in app from Hilton, a different one from Marriott and still another from Starwood. The traveler just wants to hit a screen icon and have the hotel room door unlock."
This issue also affects airlines, each providing their own apps for flight status, check-in and booking. Function-focused apps that allow travelers to check-in to any hotel or any flight would provide a better mobile experience for users.
While the branded route makes sense for big brands to ensure a quality user experience and achieve corporate goals, it may not be the ideal experience for travelers.
The big travel brands are not the only guilty ones. There is also a long tail of smaller brands developing niche apps in the travel space. Airports, city travel guides, theme parks, and other travel companies have developed their own niche apps. This long tail exacerbates the problem.
For example, when planning a family trip to Orlando, travelers shouldn’t have to download separate apps for their departure airport, the Orlando International Airport, their hotel in Orlando, Universal Orlando, Disney World, and other major attractions.
Online travel bookers may be accustomed to visiting multiple sites before booking. However, regardless of where mobile content is consumed (at home or on-the-go), this comparison-shopping behavior is more challenging on mobile devices.
Horizontal, function-focused apps may be on the horizon.
Moreover, developments, such as Passbook and mobile wallets, may be well positioned to provide the ease and convenience travelers need on mobile.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Alicia Jao, president of TravelNerd.