Mobile now accounts for 35% of all online travel bookings, according to the latest research from Euromonitor.
Little wonder then that online travel agencies and hotel giants have been paying particular attention to the mobile channel and their apps in recent years.
Booking.com has said that more than half of its bookings are made on a mobile device, while Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano recently stressed the increasing importance of mobile at a Morgan Stanley event.
He added that the mobile experience would be further improved as the company invests in its reservation, property management and loyalty systems.
Affilired is one company that has been charting the rise in hotel bookings via mobile in recent years.
Focusing in on booking data from 260 hotel chains and 9,000 properties, the affiliate marketing specialist revealed an increase in bookings from mobile devices from 23% to just over 24% from 2020 to 2022.
Fast forward to the first quarter of 2023 and hotel bookings made via mobile devices hit almost 29%, according to the company.
“Five years ago, online users had a clear preference for using the desktop to complete their online bookings. Active browsing on mobile devices and the use of the desktop computer to complete the purchase are distinctive aspects of the purchasing process of the 'digital immigrant' generation,” said Ana Carmona, marketing communications director of Affilired.
“However, with the explosion of booking apps created by hotel chains and other operators, the adoption of strategies to promote this channel, and the reality that we currently have a digital native audience that is increasingly starting to travel, the balance is shifting more and more towards mobile sales.”
Subscribe to our newsletter below
Maria Magdalena Llabrés, e-commerce and revenue manager at JS Hotels, said the company saw the biggest upswing in mobile booking in 2021. She added that the company expects a 5% increase in mobile bookings in 2023 versus last year.
Llabrés doesn’t feel that the surge in hotel bookings via mobile is due to the pandemic
“The increase in mobile bookings is primarily a result of a coincidental factor. I do not believe it can be attributed solely to the pandemic; rather, it stems from a broader trend of people becoming increasingly accustomed to relying on their mobile devices for various activities in recent years,” she said.
Juan Aguila, head of e-business for Delphinus, has also noted the swing towards booking via mobile devices and believes the pandemic was an accelerator.
“The use of mobile booking has seen significant growth, especially due to the pandemic. With the increase in online bookings, people have increasingly opted to make their bookings via mobile devices. In addition, in recent years, the number of mobile devices in households has increased considerably,” he said.
Aguila has also noticed that mobile bookings trend towards being “more impulse purchases and closer to the time of their activity.”
There’s little doubt that bookings via mobile device will continue to increase given the focus from OTAs on their apps as well and according to Aguila, the trend towards larger screens on devices is also likely to boost bookings.
What’s not yet clear is the impact generative artificial technology such as ChatGPT and Google’s Bard will have on mobile bookings.
The hope from many travel companies is that integration of the technology in their mobile apps. Expedia was one of the first to announce a ChatGPT plugin in March and announced integration for travel planning with its IOS app shortly afterwards.
At the time, group chief executive Peter Kern said: “Obviously there’s tons of excitement around ChatGPT and people are experimenting with it … but whether it enhances the discovery process or really gets you there faster depends on the person. We for sure have lots of customers that are used to our apps, they know how to come in, they know how to get to what they want, they don’t need to type in a bunch of long paragraphs.”