{"id":25230,"date":"2014-09-03T20:18:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T20:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/?p=25230"},"modified":"2021-10-28T17:11:10","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T17:11:10","slug":"travel-search-reimagined-meet-the-new-expedia-tablet-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/travel-search-reimagined-meet-the-new-expedia-tablet-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Search Reimagined: Meet the New Expedia Tablet App"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By John Kim and Aman Bhutani<\/p>\n<p><em>This content originally appeared on Expedia\u2019s Science of Travel Blog.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7Qpwe2cIWFA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Today, with the release of our <a href=\"http:\/\/http:\/\/viewfinder.expedia.com\/features\/new-expedia-tablet-app\">new Expedia App for iPad and Android tablets<\/a>, we\u2019re changing the way people will discover, plan and book trips on tablet devices.<\/p>\n<p>Here at Expedia, we study the travel planning process carefully. To start, potential travelers search four to five different destinations in a given session. They\u2019ll then search for photos and possible activities. After they\u2019ve settled on a destination, they\u2019ll search for flights and hotels and possibly car and ground transportation. This process is cumbersome because each phase requires so many steps. Looking for flights alone can take up to 48 searches before consumers find one they\u2019re happy with.<\/p>\n<p>As we started thinking about the new tablet experience, we wanted to build a product that complimented how users engaged with tablets and set out to make our app the starting point for travel inspiration. We wanted to build an experience that was aligned with how users think about their trips holistically while giving them the power tools (like filters) that they\u2019ve come to grow and love on desktop.<\/p>\n<p>Despite technological advances, travel planning has become increasingly difficult. Customers are conducting more searches across more devices and not getting to their destination (or booking) any faster. Rather than force users down a specific path to look at hotels or flights separately, we wanted to provide them with a more holistic way of planning their trip.<\/p>\n<p>We believe that people are ready to discover and experience travel in a more connected way. Let\u2019s take a closer look at the two big bets we\u2019ve made in creating an easier &#8212; and better &#8212; way to explore and book travel.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Single Search<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.expedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-03-20.56.44.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-401\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.expedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-03-20.56.44-1024x738.png\" alt=\"Expedia Tablet App - Android\" width=\"584\" height=\"420\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The tablet is inherently a browsing device. It is as much about entertainment as it is about utility. With that in mind, we wanted to build an experience that allows users to begin exploring as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Most travel sites and apps today, however, require a lot of information before a search can even be processed. Where do you want to go? When do you want to go? Are others traveling with you? Do you want to look at just flights, just hotels or both hotels and flights?<\/p>\n<p>For the mindset of a person on the couch, this barrage of questions is intimidating. Our solution to this problem? A single search box.<\/p>\n<p>Upon first interaction with our app, the experience should be super easy, starting with our launch screen. To optimize for mobile exploration, we removed all the upfront questions that users typically need to answer. By limiting the questions to just one, we believe it is easier to jump right in so they can quickly begin browsing.<\/p>\n<p>For those who want more inspiration, we also feature travel collections with a wide variety of recommendations based on different interests and seasonality.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Federated Search<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.expedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/new-app-search-results.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-386\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.expedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/new-app-search-results-1024x776.png\" alt=\"new tablet app flight and hotel search results side by side\" width=\"584\" height=\"442\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Nearly every single travel site today forces users down a linear path to purchase individual components of a trip. With federated search, we\u2019re aiming to bring users back to one focal point &#8212; the trip, not its parts.<\/p>\n<p>The process of shopping for flights and hotels is the most time consuming and least fun part of planning a vacation. Consumers want to be inspired and engaged, not forced to fill out a questionnaire and be subsequently overwhelmed by endless pages of results.<\/p>\n<p>As most customers on tablets are in the research phase of their trip planning, the ability to see flights and hotels side by side is more conducive to exploring options. While some locations may boast cheap hotels, flying there may be costly or vice versa.<\/p>\n<p>By displaying these results together, we\u2019re helping travelers realize unexpected information to aid them in choosing where they go. The ability to see prices across destinations is a prime example of why combined flight and hotel search is helpful, particularly in a tablet experience.<\/p>\n<p>This type of experience is not ready for desktop. Because hotel search results generate more quickly, consumers would notice a delay in flight results on desktop when done side by side. However, because the tablet app is built on a different layer of software than websites, we can make the wait time feel minimal. With tablet, we have the opportunity to attack problems that we can\u2019t on desktop sites.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Our Vision: Make It Simple<\/strong><br \/>\nRegardless of whether you\u2019re exploring or booking, we hope you enjoy your experience with our new app. We\u2019ve made a concerted effort in bringing a trip back together in a more natural and beautiful way.<\/p>\n<p>By implementing features that no one else in the industry is yet doing, our hope is that our app is something you\u2019ll want to invest your time in beyond just making flight and hotel reservations.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re on a mission to transform Expedia, whether it\u2019s on our site or with our apps, into a place where users can start their travel planning or discover the trip they want to take. Tablet is our first step forward in achieving this goal.<\/p>\n<p>Our new tablet app is now available in the <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/expedia-hotels-flights\/id427916203?mt=8\">App Store<\/a> and in <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.expedia.bookings&amp;hl=en\">Google Play<\/a>. We welcome you to check it out and let us know what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The status quo of searching for travel products is unnatural. And it\u2019s getting harder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1886,1786,1787,1879,1776],"tags":[],"authors":[2228],"class_list":["post-25230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-company","category-news","category-technology","category-type-of-vacation","authors-expedia-guest-author","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Travel Search Reimagined: Meet the New Expedia Tablet App | Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com\/stories\/travel-search-reimagined-meet-the-new-expedia-tablet-app\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Travel Search Reimagined: Meet the New Expedia Tablet App | Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The status quo of searching for travel products is unnatural. 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