The travel industry is one of the few traditional industries that managed to successfully blend the world of the digital with real-life entertainment. Travel always takes place in the real, physical world, but web or mobile travel apps can make the planning process much more efficient and smooth. Travel businesses are taking this into consideration, highly investing in their digital presence.
According to Hubspot’s Mobile Travel Trends 2018 report, 90% of travel brands said that having a mobile strategy is either critical or at least very important to their future success. But while travel businesses invest highly in the digital, often the results do not meet the expectations of the customer. As SaleCycle reported, most travel websites see very high abandonment rates — 84,63% in the case of hotel websites, 91.75% in the case of airlines, and even up to 97.01% in the case of websites of cruise and ferry companies.
How to make sure that your travel app gets you the results you need for your organization to thrive? In our guide below, we carefully review the possibilities travel app development gives you and help you hire travel app developers who will truly get the job done.
How can travel app developers power up your business?
There are multiple ways a web or mobile travel app can support the growth of a travel business. Below we list some of the most popular features that travel app developers can help you implement. However, be aware that the possibilities are way bigger than this and with the right team you can truly revolutionize the market!
- Make bookings easier
Most travel bookings nowadays are made online. 61% of travelers use a mobile app to book a flight nearly always or sometimes. Leverage this and start offering easy online bookings of your services or services of your partners.
- Streamline payments
Avoid accidental cancellations by allowing your customers to pay for services fast. Web and mobile apps can easily utilize popular payment options, including cards, PayPal, or Apple Pay-like solutions.
- Send notifications
Quickly reach your customers and motivate them to book or buy more from you with tailored notifications. These can nowadays be sent to both desktop and mobile users.
- Support your customers
Build trust in your customers by being available for them 24/7. Travel app developers can implement support chat functionalities in your app, link it with your social media, or even develop AI chatbots.
- Improve your customer experience
Even 23% of travelers have already used voice search functionality to research or book a trip — and this number is growing. And AR (augmented reality) is the next big thing after voice search that is revolutionizing the industry. Leverage the potential of these features with the right travel app developers.
- Gather valuable data
As reported by an American Express study, 83% of Millennials said they don’t mind travel brands to track their digital patterns if this leads to a better, more personalized user experience. Leverage the power of web and mobile travel apps and learn more about your customers with the help of travel app developers and data scientists.
What skills should a travel app developer have?
The answer to this question depends highly on what kind of travel app you are exactly looking for — some businesses focus on their web app, others use solely a mobile one, and another big group utilizes both to get the best results. Depending on your unique needs and requirements, you might need to hire separate travel app developers for the mobile and web versions of your app. Because of this, we split the necessary skill sets into three categories…
- The technical skill set of web travel app developers
You will need front-end (what customers see) and back-end (operations on the server-side) developers or a strong group of full-stack developers.
The front-end of a web app is usually built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as leading front-end frameworks, such as React, Angular, and Vue.
The back-end is usually the more difficult area of web development. Firstly, it requires knowledge of at least one relevant programming language. And there are plenty to choose from, including Python, Java, PHP, and Ruby. Just like front-end, back-end development can be made more efficient by using additional frameworks and libraries, such as Laravel or Ruby on Rails. Back-end developers must also have experience with server and database tools (e.g. MySQL or MongoDB for database management, Apache and Nginx for servers).
- The technical skill set of mobile travel app developers
There are two main ways of developing a mobile app — you can either use a platform-native technology or invest in cross-platform development.
If you choose the first option, your team would need to prepare separate versions of the app for both iOS and Android. Apple’s preferred programming language is Swift, while Android apps are most often developed using Java or Kotlin.
Cross-platform development gives you a bit more flexibility. Using tools like React Native (with JavaScript), Flutter (with Dart), or Xamarin (with C#), a huge portion of the code can be shared between the two versions of a mobile app. In many cases, cross-platform apps can run as well as native apps and are a great choice for companies with a more limited budget.
- The technical skill set of PWA travel app developers
PWAs (progressive web apps) are a relatively new way of turning web and mobile experience into one app. By hiring PWA travel app developers, you can build a web app that can be accessed via a mobile browser and still look like a native app. What’s more, a PWA can also utilize all the most important features of a native app, such as push notifications. It can also be added to the user’s home screen without the need of downloading the app from an official mobile app store.
PWAs are already an important element of a business model of leading IT businesses. Twitter, for example, experienced a 65% increase in pages per session, a 75% increase in sent Tweets, and a 20% decrease in bounce rate after launching their PWA.
If you are unsure about what technology would be the best choice for your unique situation, we recommend discussing this with an experienced IT project manager or software consultant.
Leverage the power of soft skills
Technical skills are surely a must-have for a travel app developer, but so should be a specific set of soft skills. These will highly impact how your travel app development team works together — whether they can cooperate and brainstorm well.
When you want to hire travel app developers, consider especially the following soft skills:
- Approachability
To be ready to share one’s knowledge with others and to lend a hand in the case of more difficult projects.
- Accountability
To be able to admit one’s mistakes and learn a lesson from them.
- Expert time management
To be ready to juggle multiple crucial tasks during a single day.
- Customer empathy
To build an app that’s user-friendly for casual customers and not only tech-savvy travel app developers.
The importance of travel industry fit
Even if your candidate for a travel app developer role meets all the technical and soft skills requirements, don’t forget to carefully review their resume and portfolio.
You should be specifically looking for developers who have already worked on a travel app before. Only they will have the expertise you need to deliver expected results in a truly efficient manner.
Additionally, you might also consider…
- Project fit
Travel apps can differ, so look for travel app developers who have worked on solutions and functionalities similar to the ones you want to have in your app.
- Company culture fit
Boost innovation and cooperation across your company. Build a team of like-minded individuals who share the same values. Consider areas like the preferred style of management, approach to diverse teams, or attitude towards remote work.
Assembling your dream travel app development team
Travel app developers can make sure your app works smoothly 24/7 — but this might not be enough to make your solution truly innovative and successful. Your travel app development team should include more than engineers. To start, consider hiring also web and/or mobile designers, data scientists, a Product Owner, and a Scrum Master. They will help you make sure that your app is truly unique and beats the solutions of your competitors.
Do you have limited time or just want to make sure that you hire travel app developers and other experts who will truly meet your requirements? Then get in touch with our consultants at Ideamotive. We run an industry-leading network of IT professionals thanks to which we are able to connect you with the right people fast.
Get in touch with us today and build your dream travel app development team in no time.
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