Expedia Tablet App Enables Searches for Hotels and Flights on Single Screen
Expedia.com has released the Expedia app for tablets. It is available for free download from the App Store and Google Play. Expedia’s tablet app presents a fresh way for travelers to shop destinations: the new search tools enable consumers to shop for both hotels and flights on one screen, simply by entering or selecting a destination. This is a stark contrast to the user interface seen across the industry, and Expedia made the leap to create an experience specifically for tablets. PhoCusWright data shows that about 40% of people use tablets when they are browsing for a travel destination. For Expedia, this data – paired with internal findings – marked the time to provide content geared towards tablet users.
Through internal user testing and ethnographic studies on tablets, Expedia concluded that travelers using tablet devices were frustrated with website designs that forced users to pick a flight or hotel separately.
Notable findings included:
Early in the shopping process, travelers want easier ways to see prices across destinations. Separately shopping for flights and hotels is the most time consuming aspect of the process.
At the same time, travelers do not want to lose access to traditional filters and sorting options when they want to explore more specific type of hotels/flights.
Travelers often use their tablet device to research travel destinations as an entertainment activity when sitting at home on the couch. The tablet data was further confirmed through Forrester data2 which shows that tablet owners tend to use their devices while lounging at home, multitasking while watching TV, or researching.
To address travelers evolving needs, the new Expedia tablet app is specifically optimized for mobile exploration and browsing and introduces a handful of unique features:
· Single Search Box: To eliminate hefty search interfaces, the new tablet app offers a single search box to do the lifting. When a traveler enters a city name, landmark, or airport code, the app will surface hotels and flights relevant to that query – no dates or specific details are required at the start.
· First-Ever Combined Hotel & Flight Travel Search: For the first time in the industry, combined search has arrived for the travel market. Rather than searching for trips in a rigid, linear progression of flights then hotels, or hotels then flights, Expedia is introducing one combined search that provides both hotel and flight results simultaneously, available all in one glance.
· Collections: Expedia presents various themed travel destinations to spark interest in future journeys. Collections offer customers the opportunity to explore vacation destinations they may not have otherwise considered. Beautiful locations come to life in a particularly compelling way on tablet devices. Collections offer a rich combination of design, mobility and travel research. Content is catered to various regions and will be updated based on traveler feedback.
· Integrated Trip Planning, Booking, & Data, Shared Across Devices: Earlier this year, Expedia introduced Scratchpad in certain markets around the globe. Scratchpad is an easy way to keep track of your travel searches. When a traveler is signed into an Expedia app, trips researched on a tablet device will appear on the desktop or mobile Scratchpad. This allows travelers to begin their travel planning from where they left off – on any device.
Through internal user testing and ethnographic studies on tablets, Expedia concluded that travelers using tablet devices were frustrated with website designs that forced users to pick a flight or hotel separately.
Notable findings included:
Early in the shopping process, travelers want easier ways to see prices across destinations. Separately shopping for flights and hotels is the most time consuming aspect of the process.
At the same time, travelers do not want to lose access to traditional filters and sorting options when they want to explore more specific type of hotels/flights.
Travelers often use their tablet device to research travel destinations as an entertainment activity when sitting at home on the couch. The tablet data was further confirmed through Forrester data2 which shows that tablet owners tend to use their devices while lounging at home, multitasking while watching TV, or researching.
To address travelers evolving needs, the new Expedia tablet app is specifically optimized for mobile exploration and browsing and introduces a handful of unique features:
· Single Search Box: To eliminate hefty search interfaces, the new tablet app offers a single search box to do the lifting. When a traveler enters a city name, landmark, or airport code, the app will surface hotels and flights relevant to that query – no dates or specific details are required at the start.
· First-Ever Combined Hotel & Flight Travel Search: For the first time in the industry, combined search has arrived for the travel market. Rather than searching for trips in a rigid, linear progression of flights then hotels, or hotels then flights, Expedia is introducing one combined search that provides both hotel and flight results simultaneously, available all in one glance.
· Collections: Expedia presents various themed travel destinations to spark interest in future journeys. Collections offer customers the opportunity to explore vacation destinations they may not have otherwise considered. Beautiful locations come to life in a particularly compelling way on tablet devices. Collections offer a rich combination of design, mobility and travel research. Content is catered to various regions and will be updated based on traveler feedback.
· Integrated Trip Planning, Booking, & Data, Shared Across Devices: Earlier this year, Expedia introduced Scratchpad in certain markets around the globe. Scratchpad is an easy way to keep track of your travel searches. When a traveler is signed into an Expedia app, trips researched on a tablet device will appear on the desktop or mobile Scratchpad. This allows travelers to begin their travel planning from where they left off – on any device.