Prospect looks at how mobile devices will influence the way people travel and what travel companies need to do about it.

Nothing is impacting the way we travel more than the rise of mobile devices. Customer desire for up to the minute information while traveling has escalated in the last five years, in parallel to the inexorable penetration of smartphones and tablets in the market place. As powerful technology has become more portable and wi-fi more ubiquitous, travellers are expecting much more information from travel providers along every step of their journey. Where once information was retrieved at specific points (from solari boards and through tinny speaker systems) or received via SMS (by the more tech-savvy among us), modern travellers now want the latest updates, information and services relevant to their journeys delivered directly into their hands. Whether it is managing a booking, reviewing destination guides, getting a currency converted or finding a restaurant, the possibilities of mobile devices to augment the reality of travel is exploding.   

Our modes of digital interaction have changed radically, from a fixed location at a desk with a screen, keyboard and mouse, to interactions managed on touchscreen interfaces in almost any context, often on multiple platforms at once. Mobile devices have become an integral part of everyday life, to the point of being a “can’t live without” tool. According to the Office of Communications, 27% of the entire UK population have smartphones, while penetration for under 25s is 47%. 15% of UK households are mobile only and that number is growing steadily. Ofcom describes the UK as “a nation addicted to smartphones”. And some predictions for tablet sales globally are astounding: from under 20 million units this year to over 500 million by 2015.

The upward trends of consumer use of mobile devices in travel is also well documented. Expedia estimates that 20% of hotel bookings are now made from mobiles; Trip Advisor has seen a 32% jump in visits to its site from mobiles; IHG garners $100 million in revenue from mobile bookings. And there is room for massive growth: there are over 5 billion mobile handsets in the world, but only 10% of websites are actually optimised for viewing on them. Companies must open their arms to embrace this compelling opportunity, none more so than travel providers. The first step to “going mobile” is to make sure that your website is optimised for viewing on a mobile device. Continuing to insist users can adapt to viewing a site designed for a computer screen on a mobile is truly short-sighted and can even work to damage your brand.

Mobile site or mobile app?
Companies will need to create not only optimised mobile versions of their sites, but also consider whether a native app needs to be developed. Mobile apps generally provide a better experience than mobile sites because they can make use of all the device’s functionality (camera, geo-location, embedded address book, etc.) and they also do not necessarily need to be connected to the internet to be used. This is very important for travellers, as high roaming charges can be a deterrent to the use of a mobile site in foreign locations. The usability of an app tends to be superior to that of a mobile site, although the advent of HTML 5 is quickly improving mobile site capabilities. And the superior integration of a mobile site with the full web is another point in mobile sites’ favour. A potential solution lies in hybrids, which are apps that have all the features of a native app, but require updates from the web to function, such as the Facebook app.

The decision on which path to pursue comes down to understanding the user’s need for a particular function, which for the traveller means responding to two things: location and objectives. Devices, whether mobile site, mobile app or hybrid, will need to deliver information that is pertinent to where their customers are in their travels, as well as assisting them with their next actions and goals. Anticipating needs and responding to them in real time will become the hallmark for a travel experience that is engaging and delightful.

Minimum expectations
In the first instance, travel providers will need to deliver consistently to the baseline of what consumers already expect. If we focus on the EU (as the experience of smartphone capabilities varies by region, with Japan, North America and Scandinavia leading the world in features) we can see the baseline as:

•  Booking: “Allow me to book securely and safely.”

•  Schedules: “Show from my booking references where I am meant to be.”

•  Flight/Train status: “I must know whether I’ll be on time or not…”

•  Itinerary management: “If it's Wednesday, I must be in Rome.”

•  Seat selection: “What is the best place for me to sit?”

•  Loyalty scheme info: “Hang on, let me check my mileage balance…”

•  Mobile check-in boarding pass: “At last - I don’t have to bother with paper anymore.”

•  Airport/train station info: “Let me know where my gate/platform is and how long I have to shop, relax or get something to eat. And where I can go.”

•  Service disruption: “Never leave me in the cold - let me know what’s going on so I can plan my options.”

•  Deals/offers: “What bargains are you offering me for my loyalty?”

The mobile travel app/site will feel lacking and perfunctory if it does not supply this minimum list of features.

Surprise and delight me
The next level of app design is being aware of location and objectives. Not just showing travellers where they are now, but where they need to be next, and by when. This location aware theme has arisen from social networking services such as foursquare, and is now seamlessly implemented in apps such as “Next Bus London” which alerts you to expected bus arrival at your usual bus stop and the “UK Train Times” app, whose “next train home” feature automatically finds your nearest station and plans your journey home.

Look closely at the customer journey to understand where travellers may want to go next. Figure out the “pain points” in a journey and see what combination of functionality and technology could provide a meaningful experience. For instance, apps can be used to help direct customers through the mazes that modern travel hubs are - and show them not only the next checkpoint (security, passport control, gate) but also how much time they have to get there and what they can do during that time. Apps can be used to answer the questions every traveller has once they’re past security: “Where is my gate? Is it open yet? How long to get there? What can I do in the meantime?” Excite customers by showing an awareness of this move from location to location and highlight the places they can rest, drink, eat and amuse themselves. And not just in hubs. Once at the destination, apps can provide a myriad of functions in helping to orient travellers and enrich their travel experience. The coming generation of apps will function not only as invaluable tools, but become companions that surprise and delight their owners.

The future for mobiles
We used to consider augmented reality overlays like those seen in the film “Minority Report” as science fiction. But in 2009, a Dutch start-up named Layar demonstrated a new way to navigate a city through the use of contextualised layers of information: “Hey, point your smartphone at that building over there to see what it is.” Layar is used to access information about a given context that the user may or may not be aware of. And may not even care about. Still, Layar has over 10 million installs and now often comes pre-loaded on many smartphones. And Layar is not the only augmented reality application on the market. There are a number of them, but most are riddled with gimmickry.  However, once we get over the technology-for-technology’s-sake attitude that is defining AR right now, it will have a big influence on the way apps are designed over the next 3 years.

It is augmented reality’s ability to deliver a rich, immersive experience that is tailored to an individual’s context that will make it work. This type of personalisation is another key driver to consider in the development of mobile experiences for the travel sector. It will no longer be a question of following the blue line on the floor to a taxi rank that feels miles away. Travellers will be directly engaged and communicated to, creating lots of opportunity for focused marketing messages to be delivered. When done properly, with good sense and intelligence, the blue line to the taxi rank will become a yellow brick road.

Near Filed Communications (NFC) will provide another means of engaging travellers. Mobile devices are already becoming “digital wallets”, but NFC won’t stop at cashless payments. It will enable travel providers to further enhance every step of the customer journey, making it possible for passengers to use their mobile devices to check-in automatically, check their own bags, board without downloading a boarding code and even confirm that their luggage is actually in the hold. Devices will become the repository for sensitive information needed for travel such as personal identification, medical details and security clearances. It will be critical to incorporate robust access systems, such as biometrics, to ensure the security of this sensitive data.

However, passengers will not accept all of this technological hype unless it adds clear value to the experience of travel. And to their lives. At every junction, design must be used to fathom the real need that travellers may have in their journeys and to apply the appropriate technology to answer that need. It may be that simple mapping functions and an ability to indicate time needed between journey milestones will be sufficient for the time being. But having an app that can guide you through crowds makes you feel like you have a concierge from the travel provider in your pocket. It will create an emotional connection between the traveller and your company, over and above that which already exists between user and phone.