A study has found that one in five travellers would always pick a travel brand over another if it meant they could have a better mobile experience.
The analysis by Apteligent, carried out by way of a global survey of travellers, found that around 70% would sometimes select a company if it had a "superior mobile capabilities".
Just 9% never considered the mobile prowess of a brand based on its mobile provision, the study found.
These data points chime with other recently released studies, in terms of the expectations that many consumers now have, such as that from TripAdvisor which found that over a third of travellers wanted a hotel to offer mobile check-in.
Other findings from the study include the now unsurprising trend in mobile use.
Two-thirds (66%) of travellers use their mobile device as a boarding pass, whilst 59% will book a hotel on a mobile, 55% will secure other services (restaurant, ground transportation, etc), and 48% will buy an air ticket.
Core to what constitutes a good mobile experience can be found in three elements, according to Apteligent (figure in brackets denotes how many see it as an important-to-critical feature):
- Load times for content and functionality (86%)
- Simple payment process (71%)
- Easy navigation (63%)
Interestingly, Apteligent found that the "connected" nature of travellers was different between those in the west and from those in emerging or under-developed economies.
This, it says, is due to travellers expecting more comprehensive device-based services from travel brands when the mobile is the user's primary way of accessing the internet, rather than when they may have access to both a home boradband connection on a lap alongside a mobile device.
The report claims:
"The connected traveler comes from a variety of ages, demographics, and geographic locations.
"While the East is a leader in consumer saturation, the rest of the globe is quickly following suit.
"Any company that is not mobile-ready runs the risk of becoming laggard, losing consumers by waiting in the sidelines as mobile pioneers take over the market share."
NB:Mobile travel image via Shuttestock.