The Race for Speed and Relevance in Travel Search is On

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

The modern consumer has been groomed to expect fast, relevant results when searching for anything online. This is especially evident in travel, in all its manifestations, from inspiration to booking.

Travel booking has reached a point of no return in the battle for consumer spend. Consumers have grown accustomed to instant gratification and will not accept long wait times for search results to load. In fact, 47 percent of online shoppers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less and 40 percent will abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

Cart abandonment rates for the travel industry are notoriously high at over 80 percent, according to SalesCycle and data from ComScore confirms that US travelers make 140 visits to travel sites in the 45 days leading up to a booking decision. It’s clear that there is a need to optimize the booking experience in order to assure consumers advance through the path the purchase.

User Experience and the Blurred Lines of Metasearch

On the other end of the booking battle is the need for relevance, which is where metasearch has thrived in recent years.

Taking into account a multitude of data from third-party sources, metasearch engines present travel bookers with a comprehensive browsing experience to compare options and pricing while keeping shoppers engaged in a single tab.

Watch the Video: Metasearch, Explained

Not only is it important to keep a travel shopper in one place, but the more personalized the offer, the better. As technology evolves, it’s become easier to deliver more personalized results to shoppers. For example, if a booker’s search history shows an affinity for choosing a window seat on a flight, metasearch engines present results to accommodate those preferences, increasing the likelihood of conversion.

Sites like KAYAK are adopting new technology like Amadeus’ Master Pricer with Instant Search to enable consumers to book directly, faster.

“Our users expect both speed and accuracy from KAYAK – this is the killer combination,” said Giorgos Zacharia, chief technology officer, KAYAK.

When it comes to booking travel online, every second matters for consumers. With the smart execution of speed, relevance and depth of content paving the way towards a better user experience, metasearch sites are looking increasingly viable to win consumer travel spend.

This content was created collaboratively by Amadeus and the SkiftX content studio. Interested in learning more about Amadeus’ flight search technology? Learn more here.