Latest News in Mobile Travel and Travel Apps by Skift

Mobile Travel Bookings Will Reach 40 Percent of Online Sales in 2017

Andrew Sheivachman, Skift

Enhanced mobile booking tools and merchandising are resonating with consumers. As it gets easier to book on your phone, mobile could overtake traditional computer bookings as the most popular way U.S. travelers plan and book their trips.

1 day ago

Managed Travel’s Future is Seamless and Mobile

Sabre and Chrome River + Skift

The ubiquity of mobile devices, coupled with an array of digital travel booking services, has changed the game for business travelers and their travel managers.

2 days ago

Apple Talks Up Enhancements to Its Translation and Mapping Tools

Sean O'Neill, Skift

Apple's annual gathering of mobile app makers revealed that the company is enhancing its voice-activated translation tools. That perked up our ears. But Siri's still not as fast as many travelers would like.

2 weeks ago

Lola Travel App Will Pivot to Target Business Travelers

Patrick Whyte, Skift

Paul English was pretty candid about the limitations of his initial idea and equally excited about the potential of tapping into the corporate travel world. The "travel agent in your pocket" approach was never going to be big for the average consumer and targeting businesses seems much more sensible.

1 month ago

China’s Alipay Wants to Be Part of Chinese Travelers’ U.S. Trips With New Deal

Jenny Surane and Selina Wang, Bloomberg

Mobile payments aren't yet as robust in the U.S. as they are in China, but Alipay is getting in front of demand it sees from Chinese travelers interested in American vacations who want familiar technology in their pockets.

1 month ago

Facebook Expands Its Dynamic Ads for Travel to Airlines

Deanna Ting, Skift

The bigger question here is this: Should airlines and their travel peers be investing more in social versus search?

2 months ago

Three Things to Know About How Chinese Travelers Book Their Trips

worldpay + Skift

Travel providers looking to target Chinese travelers need to pay attention to what they want out of a booking experience.

2 months ago

Microsoft Bets on Artificial Intelligence to Help It Succeed Again in Travel

Sean O'Neill, Skift

Microsoft thinks that voice-powered internet gives it a shot — via voice assistant Cortana — at upending today's travel search funnel, which is dominated by Google's search results. The theory's plausible, but Microsoft needs to move faster to win.

2 months ago

Skift Forum Europe: Google Travel Exec Details Changing Consumer Behavior

Dennis Schaal, Skift

Companies often chase and vie to sign on influencers for marketing purposes, but all can agree that Google is one of the most powerful forces in travel. Despite Facebook's inroads, Google travel products are ascending and Heckmann will shed light on their trajectory.

3 months ago

Mastercard Customers Can Soon Make Phone Payments at Bars and Restaurants

Ken Sweet, Associated Press

There are probably bigger annoyances than mistakenly leaving your credit card at a bar after closing time. But it's not pleasant, and it's nice to see Mastercard doing something to alleviate the issue.

3 months ago

TripAdvisor Debuts Facebook Messenger Chatbot for User-Generated Recommendations

Dennis Schaal, Skift

If your company doesn't have an artificial intelligence-fueled chatbot, the odds are you will one day. Is your company going to sit out this trend like so many procrastinators, or resource-constrained companies, did when the first crop of mobile apps appeared? History does have a habit of repeating itself but it doesn't have to.

3 months ago

Adding Up Facebook’s Competitive Advantages in Travel

Jared Wein, Skift

Facebook has quickly gone from the experimental phase for many travel companies to a growing part of the advertising budget with its own line item. We see the importance of the platform for the travel industry continuing to grow.

4 months ago