Mobile, and the mobile app, has made a sizable impression on many industries, but perhaps none more so than travel. At the most basic level, simply consider the fact that mobile now accounts for 47% of all travel sales. We’re a long way from the days of trekking down to the travel agent or even sitting down at the desktop to plan and book a trip.

Obviously, in that context it’s something of a no brainer to spend considerable time and effort ensuring that the mobile travel and booking experience is as compelling - and simple - as possible. Whilst users expect straightforward ‘native mobile’ experiences, travel booking on mobile typically involves a lot of data meeting a small screen, so design decisions are fundamental to success.

(As an aside - when that’s the case, it really is vital to make those decisions based on real user data rather than the opinion of the highest paid or most persuasive person in the room. Get A/B testing!)

But the mobile / travel interface is more than just booking. Mobile changes the way we experience travelling in quite fundamental ways, which is no surprise when you consider that our mobile devices are usually travelling along with us. We now manage our real-world experiences via the smartphone, and that in turn opens up a whole range of ways in which travel businesses can help us - from the push notification ahead of check-in that lets us know what the weather at our destination is like, to the quick mobile-based customer survey after we check out of the hotel or off the plane.

As part of our “Travel on Mobile” season, we’re hosting a webinar on this very topic on the 25th May, when we’ll take a close look at these and many more of the ways in which travel businesses of all types can deliver competitive advantage over mobile. Certainly one not to be missed!

You can register here