Brits leading the way in mobile switch, says eDreams ODIGEO

Brits leading the way in mobile switch, says eDreams ODIGEO

Travellers across the world are increasingly turning to mobile phones to help plan and book their travel – with UK consumers leading the switch. Continue reading

Whitepaper: Mobile Devices, The ultimate travel companion

Travellers across the world are increasingly turning to mobile phones to help plan and book their travel – with UK consumers leading the switch.

More than half (55%) of visits to eDreams ODIGEO are made via a mobile device, according to new data from the leading European OTA.

The number of the firm’s 17 million users visiting one of its mobile sites, including eDreams, Opodo, GO Voyages and Travellink, has grown by up to 40% across the 44 markets served in a year.

People are using smartphones to book flights 30% of the time across Europe, a figure claimed to be almost 10% higher than the industry average of 21%.

The trend in the UK is even more pronounced with more than a third (35%) of consumers booking their flights through a mobile device.

Booking a direct flight on a mobile through one of the company’s apps takes less than half the time to do the same through a traditional airline website or metasearch engine – just one and a half minutes.

This accessibility may explain why mobile bookings tend to be more last minute than those made by desktop computers, when speed is of the essence.

An average of 40% of users booking flights on mobile do so for travel in less than seven days and 52% of customers booking hotels are for stays within seven days.

And once they have booked by mobile, they are twice as likely to make a repeat booking, ensuring the continued growth of this channel.

The study also found that 94% of app users created an account to receive important information regarding their trip such as flight status notifications, almost eliminating the traditional need for paper travel documents.

Chief retail and produce officer, Marcos Guerrero, said: “In this day and age, people rightly expect to be able to book their travel on any mobile device, at any time, in any place, and to do it quicker than ever before.

“We’ve invested heavily to build one of the largest mobile development teams of any European online travel agency, ensuring the experience for our customers is as smooth as possible.

“I’m thrilled to see so many customers, as passionate about travel as we are, making use of our mobile platforms to help save themselves time and money.

“We will continue to challenge ourselves to find new ways to use mobile devices to make travel easier, more convenient and better value for our customers.”

Whitepaper: Mobile Devices, The ultimate travel companion