On the Go: Expedia Launches Exclusive Mobile Deals, Reveals Summer Travelers’ Mobile Habits

Sep 14, 12 | 12:06 am

Expedia®, the world’s leading online travel agency, released today the results of a study examining the mobile device habits of Americans during their summer travels. The data is supplemented with an infographic detailing the specific habits of travelers using mobile devices “on the go,” based on Expedia’s mobile booking data.

In conjunction with the survey results and to better serve the growing number of mobile travel bookers, Expedia also announced a new update and exclusive feature to their Expedia® Hotels mobile app. Tapping into the insight that nearly 70% of consumers booking rooms through the mobile app are looking to travel within 24 hours, the app now allows people to access Mobile Exclusive deals, available only through the app. These deals, ranging from 10 to 30 percent off hotel desktop rates, are available exclusively through the Expedia Hotels app and are available at more than 2,000 hotels in the United States, Canada and Europe. The Expedia Hotels mobile app is available for free download on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Expedia’s survey, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive among more than 2,000 U.S. adults, of which 46% took a vacation this summer that included an overnight stay. The study looked at how adults in the United States utilized mobile devices and applications while traveling this summer. Among the findings:

• More than half of online adults (61%) own and use a smartphone, e-reader device or tablet device. There is also a distinct inverse relationship between standard mobile device usage and smartphone usage driven primarily by age. Younger online adults are significantly more likely to own and use a smartphone than their older counterparts, while older adults ages 55+ are significantly more likely to own and use a standard mobile phone than younger online adults.
• Memories and sharing socially are important to travelers connected with mobile devices. Eighty-six percent of online U.S. adults who had an overnight summer vacation took pictures while on their most recent summer vacation. Of those vacationers, 58% of them shared those pictures through social media during their most recent vacation.
• Vacationers are active social sharers via Facebook first. Fifty-four percent of online U.S. adults who took photos on their most recent vacation report sharing pictures on Facebook during their trip and 55% percent report sharing pictures after their most recent vacations. Only 9% of report sharing pictures via Twitter during their trip, while7% report sharing pictures via Twitter after their trip. Finally, 6% report sharing their pictures during their vacation via Instagram, while 7% report sharing their pictures after their vacation via Instagram. Overall and across all networks, 59% of online adults who took pictures on their most recent overnight vacation report sharing photos after their vacation, whereas 58% shared almost exclusively during their vacation.
• Road-trippers prefer non-mobile GPS while driving. With 63% of online adults who took a summer vacation including an overnight stay used a car this summer traveling via the open road, 52% of drivers had a smartphone and drove using GPS preferred on-dash GPS for navigating while only 37% preferred their smart phones.

In addition to the study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia, Expedia’s mobile app team took a look at the booking habits and behaviors of Expedia.com® users. They found that mobile devices are becoming go to tools for the traveler on the go. Among the findings:

• Mobile helps travelers get a room. Close to 70% of users booking rooms through the Expedia Hotels mobile app or Expedia’s mobile optimized site are looking for travel within a 24-hour period.
• Location and convenience trumps luxury. Most rooms booked via mobile are those at hotels with ratings between two and three stars (41.5% for 2-star properties and 37.25% for 3-star properties) and within a 10-mile radius of the customer’s current location.
• Nine of the ten most popular destinations for hotels booked via mobile devices are in America. The top ten include (in order from least to most hotels booked) Paris, France; Chicago, IL; Orange County, CA; Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; San Diego, CA; New York (Manhattan), NY; Orlando, FL; Los Angeles, CA; and Las Vegas, NV.
• The afternoon and weekends are hot times for mobile booking. Thirty-seven percent of flights and hotels are booked in the afternoon hours between 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM via mobile. Friday and Saturday are the most popular days to book via mobile.
• Love is in the air! One of the busiest mobile travel booking days of the first quarter of 2012 came the weekend right after Valentine’s Day on February 18, 2012.

“Mobile devices have continued to become an essential part of travel, whether traveling for business or leisure,” said Joe Megibow, Vice President and General Manager, Expedia.com. “With more travel options than anyone else, and now with exclusive deals just for mobile users, Expedia is making sure that no matter where you are, you can find the right deal for you.”

About Expedia

Expedia.com is the world's leading online travel site, helping millions of travelers per month easily plan and book travel. Expedia.com (http://www.expedia.com/, 1-800-EXPEDIA) aims to provide the latest technology and the widest selection of vacation packages, flights, hotels, rental cars, resorts, cruises and in-destination activities, attractions and services. With the Expedia Best Price Guarantee, Expedia.com customers can get the best rates available online for all types of travel.

Expedia, Expedia.com and the Airplane logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. © 2012 Expedia, Inc. Other products and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. CST: 2029030-50

Source: Expedia, Inc.

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Keeling                                                     Dave McNamee
Expedia.com                                                      HL Group (for Expedia)
(425) 679-8917                                                 (646) 274-3635
skeeling@expedia.com                                       dmcnamee@hlgrp.com

Survey Methodolgy:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia from August 10-14, 2012 among 2,247 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Sarah Keeling (skeeling@expedia.com).