Although 42 percent of travelers worldwide use smartphones to plan or book their trips, the industry is still lagging in app quality as seen by customer ratings, according to a new report by ARC from Applause, a research group that offers insights and data on the apps economy.
Applause authored the report to help travel brands understand how U.S. customers perceive their Android and iOS app quality.
It analyzed nearly 400,000 app store reviews of 40 major travel brands on a scale of zero to 100, and came up with some interesting conclusions in its biannual Travel App Quality Index. The index is comprised of the apps that earned more than 150 app store ratings and reviews.
Reviews of travel apps also reflect the level of customer experiences. If a person uses an app to fly to Chicago in February and a storm delays or cancels her flight, app stores are increasingly serving as a channel through which to share brand experience. Six brands received more than 2,000 reviews and were rated by their customers with average app quality scores less than 40.
What did the report discover? Travel booking apps have mastered their mobile moments, sharing economy travel brands are winning with mobile-first experiences, while traditional travel brands are underserving their mobile-savvy customers. Other findings included:
- Booking apps are in the lead for the travel industry: With an average score of 65, travel booking apps are the best apps, while car rental apps were the lowest, with an average score of 27;
- Alaska Airlines leads all airlines apps, with a score of 81, while the lowest score of 7, was given to Frontier Airlines;
- Only eight travel apps earned more than 67 -- Booking.com, Alaska Airlines, Kayak, TripAdvisor, TripIt, Hotels.com, Zipcar and Orbitz; and
- Six major brands scored less than 40: United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hilton, American Airlines, Marriott, Southwest Airlines, Hertz and US Airways.
The commonalities with the winners are apps optimized for a traveler’s mobile moments. For example, one tap to see the best deals, seamless switching across devices, content and alerts pushed at the perfect moment and more. These experiences were born from customer-obsessed developers who fundamentally understand what their mobile users value.
The index note that the four largest airlines and two of the three most popular hotel chains offer the poorest rated apps, suggesting it’s time for the leading brands to realize the opportunity cost of letting users down in terms of brand equity—and lost bookings, said Applause.
But some travel apps, like Alaska Airlines for Androids, received amazing reviews, while others stood out for all the wrong reasons. Seven of the nine lowest-rated apps were on Android while six of the nine highest-rated apps were on iOS.
The travel industry is being disrupted by digital, said Applause. Most bookings are still made by personal computers, but smartphones and tablets influence planning decisions. Travel booking apps have mastered their mobile moments.
Sharing economy travel brands are winning with mobile-first experiences, while traditional travel brands are underserving their mobile-savvy customers. Just in time for travel season, discover the best and worst-rated travel apps so you don’t get stranded with subpar apps.
On average, the 40 most reviewed travel apps lag all others in quality by 20 points—as compared with ARC’s calculation of a 67 average app quality score from our analysis of more than 30 million apps globally, including but not limited to the travel industry. This suggests that brands born in the Web era need to prioritize mobility given how quickly mobile is influencing decisions and serving as the preferred device used by Connected Travelers, according to TripAdvisor.
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