Some of the industry's leading brands are now considered to have a stronger user experience on their mobile websites than desktop.
The latest wave of consumer benchmarking from UK-based eDigitalResearch found that users of Booking.com, for example, favoured its mobile website (87.5%) over desktop for overall user experience.
The brand's mobile app scored at the same ranking level as the desktop version (85.1%).
Against other brands, Booking.com was the overall winner for user experience across multi-channel environments, ahead of the likes of Hotels.com, British Airways, Lufthansa, Expedia and Marriott.
So how does it all break down into the various components that make up an overall online user experience?
(full results here)
Homepage:
Lufthansa is considered to have the best homepage experience, again with its mobile version beating the desktop.
First Choice, Booking.com, Premier Inn and InternContinental Hotels also found their mobile homepages more popular than desktop.
And here are the other elements...
Initial research phase:
Search phase:
Search results:
Booking process:
Design and usability:
Overall, travel brands are making "significant progress" to their mobile websites with each new wave of results, eDigitalResearch says, giving those included in the study a general improvement of almost 3% on the previous wave this year.
Features such as servicing via geo-location are proving to be popular with visitors to mobile websites, whilst brands that are able to replicate their desktop versions but with additional, mobile-focused extras are generally more popular with users.
Derek Eccleston, global operating officer at eDigitalResearch, argues:
"Customers now expect an excellent customer experience across all brand touch points and many brand’s mobile sites and apps are now on par with traditional sites.
"However, our results reveal that too often this is not the case suggesting that some brands are still getting to grips with optimising the digital travel experience for mobile users."
NB: Mobile desktop booking image via Shutterstock.