Through partnerships, deep linking and instant booking, TripAdvisor LLC, a travel planning and booking website, has continually updated its mobile app to keep travelers informed and using the app.

More than 50% of TripAdvisor’s traffic is mobile, although mobile web traffic does eclipse app traffic, says Katherine Bose, director of mobile partnerships for TripAdvisor. Bose spoke on TripAdvisor’s strategic change—going from a travel planning site, to a planning and booking site—at Eye for Travel’s Mobile and Innovation in Travel conference in San Francisco in March.

Previously, once travelers found accommodations they wanted to book on TripAdvisor, they could click on a link to make a reservation on that hotel or online travel agency’s website. However, if that website was not designed for viewing on a smartphone, that reflected poorly on TripAdvisor, even though it wasn’t the TripAdvisor site, Bose says.

“If a checkout process or a use case is broken, or getting through the shopping cart experience is not satisfying, you abandon it,” she says. “Whether it’s our fault, or the online travel agency’s fault or somebody else’s fault, the user does not care. They just know the experience is broken and slow.”

To prevent its users from facing that frustration TripAdvisor within the past year launched its own instant booking service that is mobile-friendly. Travelers can now book the accommodations they find on the TripAdvisor site, including mobile web and app, instead of being redirected to another website.

“If we give you an instant booking capability within the app, and again its native, you know us, you trust us, you secure your credit card with us, that would be a faster experience, and less likely to break,” Bose says.

Hotels and other agencies pay a commission to TripAdvisor for each booking.  

“The idea was, get the app out there, make sure people love it, make sure they come back again and again, and we’ll figure out how to turn on the monetizing agents,” she says.  

Instead of advertising, TripAdvisor is focusing on the making the app more known, such as by deep linking, which sends consumers from a web environment (Google.com, for example) into  the TripAdvisor app.

Recently, TripAdvisor became a beta partner with Quixey Inc., a mobile app search company, which can bring consumers to the exact spot within an app that relates to what they were searching for. For example, if a consumer is reading a news article on her smartphone about Cheyenne, Wyo., a click on an ad within the text of the article for TripAdvisor’s top-rated Cheyenne hotel will take her to the listing for that property in the TripAdvisor app. TripAdvisor did not share if consumers who came to the app from these ads booked the hotel. 

“The jury’s out on what all the traffic will look like in terms of quality,” Bose says.

Bose predicts more companies will integrate outside services into their apps to offer more value and consumer use. For example, TripAdvisor integrated with OpenTable Inc., so when travelers are searching for a restaurant, they can hit a button and make a reservation through OpenTable without leaving the TripAdvisor app.

Knowing travelers may not have access to cellular data service at all times, TripAdvisor also lets its app users download a city guide, which includes ratings, reviews and maps, that travelers can access offline, without Wi-Fi.

Earlier in the month, TripAdvisor launched a new feature in the app called Neighborhoods in 15 cities that lets travelers browse a city categorized by different neighborhoods. In April, TripAdvisor enabled its app to be compatible with Apple Inc.’s Apple Watch. The smartwatch provides travelers with reviews, ratings and photos of hotels, restaurants and attractions.

TripAdvisor has hundreds of millions of app installs, Bose says, and partnered with Samsung to have the TripAdvisor app preloaded on all Samsung S4 devices. Samsung then uses TripAdvisor’s content to power its own travel apps. While a large installed base is good, Bose says, a top priority is to ensure the app has enough utility that travelers will want to continue opening it and using it. Regular updates are important, she adds, because it reminds consumers who have downloaded the app of new features and that they have the TripAdvisor app on their smartphone.

 

Follow mobile business journalist April Dahlquist, associate editor, mobile, at Mobile Strategies 360, @Mobile360April

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