Website Shop

Project Overview

It’s no surprise that mobile devices are taking the online accommodation market by storm with a spectacular increase in the number of customers using mobile devices to book accommodation. Booking.com’s applications for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows 8 devices allow travellers to find the perfect place to stay wherever they want, whenever they need it.

Booking.com is the world’s largest online accommodation reservation site and continues to work hard to ensure that users have access to the same seamless experience from booking to check out and beyond, across all Booking.com channels.

Organisation

Booking.com

Team

Booking.com BV
Amsterdam - headquarters
Rembrandt Square Office
Herengracht 597
1017 CE Amsterdam
Netherlands

Project Brief

With the increasing number of Internet-connected devices in our lives, Booking.com needed to tackle the challenge of providing the optimal user experience across all screens. Allowing users to pick up where they left off in their search for the right accommodation whether they’re on desktop, phone or tablet.

Wanting to give users the same experience of over 340,000 properties, 41,000 destinations, 22 million guest reviews and more than eight million photos, Booking.com was committed to creating applications that offered the same valuable content as is found on desktop, while optimising for mobile devices.

Knowing that mobile devices are often used for last-minute bookings, Booking.com needed to ensure that travellers that have missed their flight, or decided to extend their stay, could look, book and find their way to their accommodation in the shortest time possible.

Mobile devices usually accompany travellers on their trip and therefore the Booking.com mobile applications would have to go beyond the research and booking stages. Therefore, focus also needed to be given to post-booking features that should be available online and offline.

Project Need

Booking.com created applications for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows 8 to assist travellers at every step of their stay; they are connected to each other and to Booking.com’s desktop and mobile websites by the Booking.com cloud.

The Booking.com cloud securely syncs bookings, searches, viewed hotels, favourite hotels, and stored credit card and profile information across any device for signed-in users. Meaning that customers can book faster and have all their important information readily available, wherever they may be.

Users that are signed into the iPhone, iPad or Android applications will also receive a push notification when their booking is confirmed, modified or cancelled on any platform, with the updated confirmation automatically being downloaded to their device.

Booking.com implemented a simple look-to-book experience for users; hotels are booked through a streamlined two-step booking process. The applications simplify check in by immediately contacting the hotel and automatically saving the booking confirmation to the user’s device.

Looking to go beyond the booking process, Booking.com created a variety of post-booking features in the applications. Users can access their booking confirmation offline if Internet access isn’t available when travelling, reach 24/7 customer service in 41 languages by phone or email from the app, view maps to find their way to the hotel and more.

Booking.com also ensures that platform innovations that can benefit travellers in any way are adopted early.

User Experience

- All the available hotels in the immediate area, including last-minute deals can be viewed with one tap. And for users that aren’t in such a hurry any of the 41,000 destinations are also easily searchable from the start screen of the application.

- Users can refine their search using filters (e.g. facilities, districts, accommodation types) and sorting options (e.g. distance from current location, review scores, price, deals) to get the best fit.

- For an in- depth look at the accommodation, users can swipe through over eight million hotel and room photos and read real guest reviews from more than 22 million fellow travellers.

- Maps help users find the right accommodation in the perfect location.

- Signed-in users will have their details and securely stored credit cards pre-filled at the time of booking, making the two-step book process even simpler.

- The Booking.com applications are available in 27 languages and support 53 currencies.

And helping travelers during their stay...
- Past, current and upcoming bookings are all synced to the cloud, which can be accessed from any device.

- Booking confirmations are available offline so there is no need for an Internet connection for paperless check-in when arriving at a destination.

- Maps assist users in finding their way to their hotel.

- 24/7 access to Booking.com's multilingual customer service via email or phone at the touch of a button.

Project Marketing

Booking.com markets the mobile applications to existing Booking.com users through its desktop and mobile websites and email newsletters. The main focus is on post-booking and offline features that are unique to the applications. The goal is to support Booking.com users on whatever channel they choose to be on at any given point.

Booking.com has also used press releases and dedicated newsletters to launch a new application or noteworthy feature within one of the applications. And with a social media reach of over 2.5 million fans across the globe, new features or new applications are also promoted on Booking.com’s social channels.

App store optimisation and paid advertising assist in acquiring new users for the applications. Key to this is maintaining high review scores and ratings across the various applications, by ensuring the quality of the applications meet user expectations.