Travel Application Development: Converting Advanced User Experiences into Growth

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Key takeaways

• The importance of travel app development has surged, enhancing customer service, operational efficiency, and brand loyalty.
• In 2022, over 800 million travel registrations were made using web and mobile applications.
• App complexity, design, the chosen platform, integrations, and the location of the development team determine the cost of travel application development.

Establishing a digital foothold has become non-negotiable with the travel and hospitality industry evolving more rapidly and comprehensively since the pandemic. Travel app development emerged as the pinnacle of elevating customer service and operational efficiency, redefining how businesses interact with guests.

A well-crafted travel app not only streamlines user experience but also serves as a potent tool for brand exposure, loyalty, and revenue generation. However, diving into the world of travel application development requires an in-depth understanding of the market and a strategic approach to feature selection.

Keeping a keen eye on the web and mobile technology landscape, Acropolium has delivered a wide range of hospitality software solutions to help hotel businesses digitize their operations. Drawing from our experience in hotel app development, we’re breaking down the benefits of operating with a travel application.

Explore the common travel app types, learn the essential features of such applications, and find out which factors form the travel apps development cost.

Travel Apps’ Impact on the Hospitality Industry

The travel industry is data-rich, and a robust travel app can tap into this wealth. Travel applications offer customized recommendations, personal travel histories, and real-time updates, all powered by sophisticated AI algorithms defining hospitality tech trends.

In 2022, approximately 41.6% of worldwide travel reservations were completed through apps, with an additional 10% finalized on mobile websites.

The market size of the global travel planner app is projected to increase from $544.1 billion in 2023 to ~$1,445.1 billion by 2032, at an 11.90% CAGR. With travel apps utilized by over 800 million users in 2022, hoteliers invest in web and mobile hotel management system development to satisfy modern guests.

Benefits of Having a Travel App for Your Business

The travel app market has witnessed a monumental upward swing, where innovative web and mobile solutions are necessary for travel companies. For hotel businesses, the benefits of diving into custom travel software and travel app development translate into both customer satisfaction and operational improvements.

Customer-Centric Convenience

Today’s travelers require mobile convenience, from a seamless booking experience to real-time navigation in an unfamiliar city. The app becomes an indispensable travel companion and strengthens the bond between the customer and your brand, thus fostering patronage.

Improved Operational Efficiency

A travel app, tailored to your business, can serve as the command center for many tasks, from managing bookings and payments to directing service requests and integrating with your property management system. It helps to eliminate the margin for errors and liberates your workforce to focus on value-generating services.

Stronger Brand Loyalty

An app that reflects your brand vision and caters to personalized customer needs is a tool for loyalty cultivation. Providing relevant offers, customization of travel packages, and a channel for direct customer interaction engrain your brand into the customer’s travel mosaic, fostering long-term relationships.

Data-Driven Decision Making

As part of your data management, a travel app is a treasure trove of user information and behavioral insights. This data fuels your strategic decisions, enabling you to optimize service offerings, anticipate customer needs, and precisely tailor marketing efforts. Furthermore, automatically sorting and processing big data can significantly reduce paperwork.

Types of Travel Apps for Your Business

As diverse as the travelers themselves, travel apps come in various types, each designed to cater to specific aspects of the journey. On your way to travel application development, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with their features and applications.

Here are the common types for you to explore to know how to make a travel app enhance the overall travel experience.

Travel Itinerary Planning Apps

Travel itinerary planning app development implies offering bespoke itineraries and travel packaging solutions tailored to the user’s preferences, providing personalization and ensuring an experiential journey. As digital tools with well-compiled information, they are built to help users manage and plan trips.

Ticket Booking Apps

The streamlined ticket booking apps afford users the luxury of snugly confirming their travel plans, from flights to train journeys, at their fingertips. Hoteliers turn to ticket booking app development to allow their users to book tickets for various services, including flights, trains, movies, hotels, and more.

These mobile applications make the ticket booking process quicker, more convenient, and accessible from anywhere in the world.

Hotel Booking Apps

Hotel booking apps smoothen the process of finding and reserving accommodations. These mobile applications, often accompanied by built-in chatbots, make booking quicker, more convenient, and more accessible.

Navigation Apps

More than just maps, navigation apps guide travelers through intricate routes, with features such as offline navigation further enriching the functionality. They help users find the best routes to their destinations, providing real-time traffic updates with offline maps, speed limit alerts, etc.

Travel Insurance Apps

Travel insurance apps provide protection that is accessible and tailored for individual adventures. These applications offer a convenient way for travelers to protect themselves from unexpected events, like trip cancellations, medical emergencies, or lost luggage.

Travel Guide Apps

Travel guide applications offer insights into the soul of a place, serving as a knowledge portal for eager travelers. Designed to assist users in planning and navigating their travels, travel guide app development aims to compile information about destinations. They also give recommendations for places to visit, route planning, and accommodation options.

Must-Have Features to Consider in Travel App Development

Crafting a successful travel app demands meticulous attention to detail, especially when it comes to features. Here, we’ll dissect the customer and agent panels to understand how to build a travel app that cultivates user satisfaction and operational brilliance.

Customer Panel

Login/Sign up

The first touchpoint with the app must be elegant and frictionless. Streamlined registration keeps the user on the path to planning their journey swiftly.

Search Functionality

Comprehensive search tools that filter through destinations, hotels, and activities are the signposts of efficiency in a travel app.

Messages & Chatting

In-app messaging bridges the gap between the user and your support system for those moments of questions and queries.

Notifications

Be it a flight delay or a personalized suggestion, notifications keep users tethered to the app, ensuring they don’t miss a beat of their travails.

Booking

From flight tickets to dinner reservations, an in-app booking feature must be robust yet simple, allowing instant confirmations while offering secure payment processing operations.

Trip Details

A complete overview of the trip at a glance – from the itinerary to booking details – is a user’s compass through the elements of their travel.

In-App Payment

Seamless payments are crucial. This is where integrated payment gateways come to the fore, ensuring secure transactions and eliminating cybersecurity risks with every tap or click.

Contact Support

In moments of need, a swift contact with the support team can save the day. Make this feature accessible from the app’s prime screens.

Agent’s Panel

Property and Package Management

Travel app development services should provide control over property management and the ability to craft dynamic packages.

Booking Management

The ability to track, amend, and confirm bookings from a unified dashboard simplifies the agent’s operational landscape.

Payment Management

A secure space for managing transactions, generating invoices, and tracking payments should seamlessly integrate into the app and your revenue management system.

Analytics and Reporting

For strategic business gains, a robust analytics section offering insights into user behavior and sales trends light the way forward.

Travel App Development Cost and Factors Affecting The Price

The final cost of travel application development is a composite of various factors, each exerting its influence on the whole. Just like with any custom software like hotel booking systems or hotel management systems, everything depends on the chosen functionality and features you want to implement.

This, in turn, defines the complexity of your future app, as well as leads to determining the required expertise and location of a dedicated team. Below, we’re outlining the core elements affecting the price of travel apps development with approximate figures based on Acropolium’s experience.

Complexity

The complexity of an app – defined by the number of features, integration points, and custom functionalities – directly correlates with the development time and cost.

Platforms

Developing for iOS, Android, or both using React Native framework, as well as choosing between native and cross-platform apps, imprint distinct contours on the cost metric.

Integration

From payment gateways to mapping APIs, the seamless integration of third-party services adds depth and cost to the app development process. With cloud-based custom solutions, you are more likely to have more integration capabilities, which, however, require most initial investments.

Team Location and Experience

The expertise of the development team and its geographical location shape the cost landscape for travel app development. Seasoned developers command higher premiums, which the local cost of living and operational expenses can further augment.

Also, it all comes down to the tech stack required. For instance, if you want to enhance your hotel management with IoT, you need to seek a travel app development company that is savvy enough to provide such a technological solution.

According to Clutch, hiring app developers costs between $25 to $49 per hour.

Costs aside, most companies choose their outsourcing destination based on cultural compatibility and the country’s English proficiency index. This is where Eastern Europe serves as a preferable option, offering great tech experience and value for the talent rate.

Why Choose Acropolium? Our Approach & Success Cases

Acropolium combines technology expertise and hospitality knowledge to create bespoke mobile solutions for your travel business. Our approach ensures a seamless and rewarding mobile experience, which Clutch recently mentioned, with the platform naming us a top IT service company for the hospitality industry.

We are delighted to be trusted with complex hospitality software projects and see our clients grow with the power of cutting-edge technologies.

Hotel Management System Development

One of our partners turned to us to develop a hotel management system, aiming to better the integration capabilities of their solution for hotel owners. The company required the incorporation of integration features tailored for hotel booking software platforms. We also were asked to add a B2B module to complement the integrated hotel networks and online reservation systems.

Solution

• Our dedicated team integrated the client’s current hotel software systems with more communication channels.
• We linked the client’s system to selected booking platforms for automated reservation data input.
• Acropolium also created a cloud-based PMS that supports two-way real-time data exchange for users without internal hotel software solutions.
• We ensured access to the client’s e-commerce software platform across various countries.

Results

• The client can now seamlessly integrate 12 major and medium-sized hotel networks with their system.
• The company experienced an 82% increase in integrations with booking platforms.
• Furthermore, the client base has expanded by 9.7%, contributing to a 14.5% growth in annual recurring revenue.

Hospitality Property Management System Development

In our cooperation with a property rental business, we were asked for a hotel property management system development. The client focused on improving scalability for a property rental business, shifting from off-the-shelf software and embracing bespoke software solutions.

They required a comprehensive solution to handle maintenance, pricing, reservations, payment collection, and reporting. It was crucial that this system could synchronize with booking platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com. The solution also has to be compatible with the client’s CRM system.

Solution

• We developed a user-centric platform enabling property managers to oversee their properties and tenants.
• Our team crafted a customer-oriented website equipped with booking features.
• We leveraged automation of the reservation process and real-time updates on the occupancy calendar, ensuring precise room availability information.
• We ensured the hotel software system was synchronized with Pipedrive to maintain consistent sales data for reporting purposes.

Results

• Our solution streamlined the client’s workflow, enhancing operational efficiency by 37%.
• This improvement in efficiency subsequently led to a 40% reduction in administrative costs.
• Incorporated tools such as the integrated booking engine and reservation management solution boosted booking rates by 30%.

Final Thoughts

Travel app development combines technology, user experience, and industry knowledge to create solutions that meet the needs of both travelers and service providers. From real-time updates and integrated booking engines to comprehensive management solutions, these apps simplify travel planning for your customers.

Acropolium brings years of expertise, innovative solutions, and a deep understanding of the travel industry’s needs. We prioritize your growth, matching you with the needed expertise to develop travel apps and complex hotel systems without compromising quality.

Let’s talk today: we offer a flexible, subscription-based cooperation model where you can bring your project to life while sticking to your budget.

Sources of Information

• Travel App Report 2024
• Travel App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2024)
• Travel Planner App Market