The industry sees the highest share of mobile traffic – 73% versus other industries – and yet only 24% of consumers book hotels and flights completely on mobile, new research from digital experiences provider Quantum Metric has found.
In fact, The role of mobile performance in building consumer confidence report found that unmet demands around app stability, payment reliability and security may be hindering mobile booking conversions.
The mobile benchmark study found that 59% of consumers research their next trip on mobile.
However, they may not follow through with the transaction as 69% of shoppers research high-value items on mobile and then buy on desktop.
Just 24% book their hotels and flights completely on mobile, with desktop order values in the travel sector nearly two times higher than mobile in 2024.
While Just 17% of people feel confident making purchases over $250 on mobile. And only 25% feel confident booking a flight or hotel on mobile.
The key cause of distrust and discomfort on mobile is errors that cause inaccuracies or roadblocks (43%), followed by a lack of tools compared to desktop (33%) and security concerns (25%).
It also revealed that 45% of consumers have encountered bugs when shopping on mobile, causing half to abandon their activity.
Moreover, 55% would abandon transactions that take longer than 3-5 minutes.
Danielle Harvey, global VP, head of travel & hospitality strategy of Quantum Metric, said: “The fact that consumers are spending more time on mobile, but just one in five people regularly buy on their device shows a clear disconnect between smartphone usage and mobile commerce conversions.
“This is likely costing businesses sales, but making the right investments now can mitigate customer concerns and unlock the true potential of mobile (ahead of peak periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
“By leveraging data-driven insights to better understand customer’s mobile journeys, offering personalised experiences and enhancing security, businesses can transform mobile’s promise into profit.”
