Hotel Booking App Development: Must Have Features and Cost Estimation

• Mobile
• October 22, 2018

by Beantsingh Duggal

Travelers worldwide are becoming friendlier with upcoming technologies. And so if you are also associated with the travel and tourism industry or the hospitality sector, then you should look forward to adopting the recent trends to catch-up with your tech-savvy audiences.

According to Statista, in 2021, the online travel market size worldwide was roughly $433 billion and it was forecast to reach approximately $691 billion by 2026.

People have come out of the tag and they just want to be pigeonholed as tourists when booking accommodation in a hotel. The hotels are also getting booked for business conferences, social and corporate events, and an overnight stay, etc.

With the progression of time, the large hotel chains and groups are also allowing users to reserve a table at a restaurant, book a flight and train ticket or look for taxi services, offer sightseeing and holiday packages. Moreover, you can also read the reviews on the app before finalizing the rooms.

Why You Need to Consider Developing a Hotel Booking App?

Let’s first cite a few vital reasons why the hotel app development is necessary to stay afloat in the competitive business arena:

Surging the User Experience of Customers

The hotel apps help to upsurge the experience of the customers as they search and book their preferred rooms at affordable tariffs with just a few clicks.

Read also: How to Improve the User Experience of your Mobile App

Track the Data of Customers

From the owner’s point of view, you get access to vital information and data about your customers. You can also track their behavior trait.

Helps in Promoting your Hotel Business

The apps are one of the best tools to promote your hotel business and create brand awareness among the users.

Improve Service Quality

The apps can assist in improving your customer services and information about the discounts and other deals offered through notifications.

Integrating the Multiple Language Option

By implementing the multiple language options, you are helping your international customers to choose their preferred language for availing the app service and getting more information.

Become a Local City Guide

The apps can play the role of a local city guide for the users offering them important information about nearby restaurants, tourist destinations, and shopping places.

Read also: Top Benefits Hotel Apps Provide to the Hotel Business

Must Have Features in your Hotel Booking App

Registration

The user will first be required to register his account with your app either by entering his name, email id or phone number or both.

User Account

It contains the basic information about the user such as his name, email id, mobile number, booking and transaction history, wish-list, preferred language and so on.

Search Option

The search is an important key that helps the user to find specific information about the hotel and facilities provided.

Booking and Cancellation Page

You need to provide a simple-looking page that instantly allows the customers to make their booking after selecting the room. It would contain information including the check-in and checkout date, destination or city, number of people for accommodation, and much more.

Similarly, you have to provide them a page where they can easily cancel their reservations if the trip is called off.

Payment Gateway

Payment Gateway is a very important feature to include so that the users can make payments using the app according to the available options.

You can go for internet banking or payment through credit or debit card. You can even integrate PayPal or Stripe etc. as one of the choices.

Read also: Things To Consider Before Integrating Payment Gateway in a Mobile App

Look for Accommodation

The audience can search for the accommodation by viewing the rooms more closely. It may contain the best offers, photo gallery, and status of the room, etc.

Push Notifications

Push Notifications help you to send instant bulk messages to a number of registered users related to new offers, discounts, amenities, and beginning of any service, etc.

Review and Ratings

This feature allows you to get reviews and ratings about your app from the users who want to share their good or bad experience of staying in your hotel and whether or not they are satisfied with the services offered.

Geo-Location Facility

The integration of geo-location services will help your customers reach the hotel in a quick time and taking the shortest possible route from the place of arrival.

Read also: Benefits of Having Geolocation in Your Mobile App

Implementing the Chatbot

The chatbot is a smart feature that lets the user receive a reply in real-time and the hotel staff can get informed about the time and date of arrival.

Use of Social Media Platforms

Social Media usage has become a necessary tool nowadays to get more engagement of customers on the app. You can post attractive videos and images about your hotel rooms and its ambiance to entice more people.

City Tour Guide

It would be an added advantage if you offer the city tour guide wherein you share information about the places worth visiting, shopping destinations, local mode of transport and dishes to relish, etc.

Cab and Flight Booking

You can provide the facility for cab booking and flight reservations as well, which means the user doesn’t have to go to any other app.

The iBeacon Technology

The advanced technology will help in improving your services. Once the customer is in close proximity within the hotel premises you can send him a welcome notification and the staff will be ready with the keys of the room.

Security is Paramount

You need to keep in mind that security is the most important aspect since your app will have some of the most confidential data of the customers.

The backend and cloud computing servers must be strongly encrypted so that data leakage can be prevented. Apart from that, you can urge the users to keep a strong password which is difficult to hack.

The User Interface Design

The user-interface design needs to be simple yet appealing. It should be easily navigable with quick loading speed. The design has to be intuitive where each app feature and functionality are clearly defined.

The images and the videos added in the app should have a realistic view. Choose the app icon and the background colors intelligently as it will help a great deal in engaging the users.

The Cost of Hotel Booking App Development

The cost of developing a hotel booking app will primarily depend on a number of essential parameters. Firstly, you need to decide the particular Operating System i.e. Android, iOS or the cross-platform app.

Besides that, you need to make a selection between Native and Hybrid Platforms. The location of the App Development Company will also largely influence your budget estimate.

But above all, it is difficult to provide an accurate figure for the cost of app development. But in a rough estimate, it would be around $28k to $35k.

Conclusion

The hotel and hospitality industry is also altering its routes and going into a smarter digital way.

The hotel booking applications can prove to be a big asset for skyrocketing your business prospects and look to attract the best pool of digital enthusiast customers, who don’t want to waste their time in making the reservations through conventional methods.

You have to get prepared to face the tough challenge, which is lying ahead.

So, if you are interested in building a hotel booking app; we welcome you to your platform to get the best-in-class experience.

FAQs About Hotel Booking App Development