While mobile devices play a huge role in determining where consumers may travel and how they get information while they are traveling, mobile is still gaining ground when it comes to booking travel. A recent survey looks at what devices travelers used to book their trips, it shows that mobile lags behind desktop machines – but is growing rapidly.
• Over three-quarters of travelers booked travel on their desktop machines
• That’s nearly twice as many travelers that booked through tablets (34%). Nearly 30% booked travel on a smart phone
• When it comes to hotel bookings, over half used a laptop, 17% used a tablet and 11% used a smartphone.
• Bookings for air travel were also dominated by laptops – 46% of consumers used them to reserve rooms. 11% of booked rooms with a tablet and 9% used a smart phone
• Booking percentages for attractions and restaurants through mobile devices were much closer to those who booked via laptop – 14% of travelers booked an attraction or activity through a laptop, 9% used a tablet and 10% used a smart phone. For restaurants, roughly 10% of travelers used a laptop or mobile device
What Does This Mean To You?
While the number of travelers who booked via mobile device is much smaller than those who booked using a traditional computer, the booking experience on mobile was positive. In fact, 80% of those who booked travel on a tablet said they would use their mobile device again to book as did 90% of those who booked with a smart phone. Even though this study was based on travel, one big take away was that it all comes down to the experience mobile delivers. Mobile is conveniently powerful – when your solution is easy to use. If your mobile sites are hard to navigate or too busy, it’s likely those users will abandon and move on to another mobile site.
Take an opportunity to watch someone use your mobile site.
Do they intuitively go through the site or are they hunting?
Can they locate your contact information easily?
If you offer mcommerce, how easily does your solution work through mobile?
Sometimes, it’s hard to be objective when you are too close to it.
For more information on creating mobile campaigns that drive results, please contact:
Al Fiala
407.506.4570
amfiala@gmail.com
Source: Expedia; comScore; eMarketer
Research That Delivers Results 
Your post is informative. I learned a lot. Mobile devices are popular and easy to use. Booking using these device is convenient and can be done anywhere. I won’t be surprised if it will used my most of the people on the future.
David – Thanks you. I think that most businesses can bank on mobile. It’s already many consumer’s go-to device for shopping and new business information. Travel is a natural for mobile and people are becoming more comfortable using m-commerce. What are some things you are planning on doing to leverage mobile this year?
Thanks Again
Al