Despite the fact that mobile design and performance issues are causing travel brands to miss out big opportunities, Travelocity and Hilton are the most popular brands for travel booking via tablet devices, according to a study of smartphone and tablet-owning travellers by mobile app provider Mobiquity.
The study, entitled 'The Connected Traveller', analysed the experiences of 1,000 people who have smartphones and tablets to plan and book travel with 19 of the top travel brands and found that 35% of mobile internet-connected travellers would be less likely to book again with a travel brand after a slow, confusing or non-optimized experience when researching or booking travel with a mobile device.
Consumers said they do want to use their mobile devices for travel planning and booking, but that slow and poorly designed mobile apps and sites are negatively affecting their experiences.
The study found that consumers generally have good intentions when booking travel with a mobile device:
But bad mobile experiences are having a very negative effect. For example:
"The connected traveller demands an extremely fast, intuitive experience given the hectic and stressful nature of the travel journey. Unfortunately, many travel apps and mobile sites fall short on the quality of the overall user experience including slow page loads, complex navigation, and a lack of integration with other features like loyalty programmes," concluded Scott Snyder, Mobiquity's president and chief strategy officer. "Despite smartphone and tablet users representing the high-end of travel spend, many travel brands have simply translated what they have on the web to mobile devices instead of taking full advantage of the unique capabilities of these devices."
The full report's findings has been made available for free download from Mobiquity's web site - click here (free registration required).
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