Planning
One of the most popular apps for holiday planning is TripAdvisor, it’s the go to place for hotel reviews and the forums are a gold mine for information on destinations and insider tips. You can also book through TripAdvisor, hotels and flights as they show the best deals available for your trip. You can also use it when you arrive at your destinations with offline apps which you can use to find your way around and things to do without sucking up all your data.
Plan and train tickets
In the UK, 81% of people are happy to use e-tickets when travelling, by plane or train. Research conducted by Cartridge Save found people are adapting to advancements in technology which allows them to remove the need of paper tickets and instead use e-tickets.
Most airlines have their own apps where you can book your flights or access existing bookings. Using an iPhone; plane tickets can be downloaded to your wallet app and accessed there, and shown on lock screen. You can also add the travel times to your calendar with flight details from your airline app.
The Trainline app in the UK allows you to access travel tickets purchased via the app, you can also purchase tickets via the app and also check real-time times of routes. So if you haven’t booked a ticket when you arrive at the station, you can book one online rather than queue, saving you some time.
Hotel bookings
Bookings place through sites such as Expedia or Kayak can be booked and accessed via their apps. Details stored on your phone for easy access online or offline. You can also add the events to your calendar from the apps and then also send details or travel itinerary to other people.
This move to using our mobile phones may not be welcome by everyone though as a lot of people like to have physical paper tickets when traveling (even though these can be lost) and also to keep as mementos. So although 81% of people are happy to make the switch to e-tickets, there are some who don’t.
Concerns
“I do like the ease, of not having to print tickets or queue at ticket machines.”
“I find it easier to have tickets for travel on my phone, one less thing to look for in a bag.”
A few respondents (2%) were left undecided, with a couple of concerns around reliability and battery charge of mobile devices:
“It depends on mobile device reliability and scanable apps. Also, if wanted, tickets as souvenir.”
“It really depends. Paper doesn’t lose charge, although it would be one less thing to worry about if you have your phone with you.”
“I would prefer it on paper in case my phone battery runs out and I’m unable to travel.”
Unsurprisingly, those aged between 24 and 35 were most likely to take up using their mobile phones for e-tickets over paper tickets. This generation, the early millennials have grown up with mobile phones and are generally found to be early adaptors.
In the UK 83% of people use smartphone apps to store travel details such as hotel bookings and itinerary details
So would you have all your travel details on your phone, or do you still like good old paper tickets?
