Month: February 2022

What is Hopper?

Hopper is an artificial intelligence based price predictor for flight and hotel reservations. Hopper uses its state-of-the-art AI engine to predict when flight and hotel prices will be the lowest and prompts the user to book now or to wait for prices to drop.

People can search for flights using Hopper, but they cannot book tickets directly through the app.Air travel pricing can be very complex and confusing, and travelers often do not have the information they need to get the best deals. With an app like Hopper, users can easily book flights at the lowest price.

How does Hopper work?

Hopper asks users to enter their starting location and destinations, the number of travelers, and if the user would like to book a hotel room for their stay. Then the app asks the user about the dates of the trip and whether they will book one-way or round-trip tickets.

After users provide the app with the information it needs, Hopper gets to work looking for tickets and hotels for the selected travel dates in the user’s chosen area. After listing all flights and hotels, Hopper tells the user whether they should book tickets or rooms now or wait for prices to drop. It also predicts if, and by how much, prices will rise after a certain date.

Hopper then allows users to either select “View This Trip”, which will allow Hopper to track  the selected flight and provide push notifications to the user if there are price fluctuations or new fare predictions, or the user can select a flight and book tickets from the app itself. 

Why should you make an app like Hopper?

Improve visitor experience

Almost every smartphone user uses an app to improve their travel experience. Mobile apps provide a great opportunity for travel companies to promote local products and services while allowing visitors to search for landmarks and explore parks and gardens using their phone and tablet.

Create a unique way to attract visitors

The application provides information about destinations, has a great impact on the minds of users, and increases visibility and the number of visitors.

Provide access to timetables, maps, and other information

Through the app, you can provide your visitors with timetables, maps, and other information. Travelers also have real-time access to relevant information and can independently manage their travel plans.You can also change routes in real time, offer promotions, and create a schedule. 

Provide an online booking service

Travelers book hotels, travel packages, show tickets, and other tourism-related services through apps. With an app, travel companies can provide users with the ability to book online, at any time, in a simple and convenient way.

Know your visitors and their preferences

With a mobile travel app, you can get to know your visitors and the market. Your app can provide important reports and statistics such as preferences, demographics and interests while helping you analyze the relevance of your material. You can use these reports in future marketing campaigns to optimize your brand, improve your visitor experience, and more.

Increase your profits

The provision of services and products through an application that creates a new sales channel where the travel business provides exclusive promotions, offers or sales and ultimately increases profits.

Get direct and instant feedback from users

A travel mobile app can give you direct feedback from users. Addressing user feedback and questions will help to avoid unnecessary problems within the app. Some studies show that 69% of tourists like to read reviews on travel sites before choosing a vacation destination. Providing the best travel app for vacation planning will improve user experience and build a large customer base.

Must-have features for an app like Hopper

Registration

The main requirements for registration are simplicity (eliminate unnecessary steps), reliability (make sure user data is protected), and versatility (offer several registration options).

Profile

Creating a user account is the next logical step after registering. A profile includes personal information about the user.

Search

The search option is very important. Hopper has a streamlined search screen that, at first, only asks users how many people are going to travel, their age, and their destination and departure locations. Once users have inputted the initial information, Hopper will take them to the next screen where they enter their travel dates.

Hopper also provides users with several filters. For example, if they want to buy a round-trip or one-way ticket, have a preference for the number of flight connections , etc. After users select the dates, Hopper Bunny will start working and will provide a list of the cheapest flights according to users’ filters.

For hotels, Hopper lets users add information about their stay, location, and the type of hotel they are looking for using a variety of filters.

The app then provides the user  with a list of hotels near  the location and in the price range they specify.

Watch List

Airfare and hotel prices change over time. While those who meticulously track these costs may be well aware of this,  monitoring flight and hotel prices is very difficult. After users have saved a flight or hotel  and have added it to their watchlist, Hopper closely monitors the trip and the price list it provided to users in the past in order to  notify  them if there is any change in current price or future price predictions. .

Filters 

Hopper has several filters for both hotels and flights in the search section. In terms of fares, users can choose whether they want to search for a one-way or a round-trip ticket.Users can also add whether they want to see only the lowest fares or all options, and whether they want to see flights with or without connections. For hotels, Hopper offers filters such as ratings, cost, and amenities.

Maps

The map feature allows users to see the location of hotels and their cost per night on a map. This allows users to learn more about the location of the hotel relative to other lodging options..

Secure payment gateway 

It won’t be a complete travel solution if your users can’t book flights and hotel rooms from the app itself. To do this, you will need a popular and secure payment gateway. People can be wary of online shopping and sharing payment details, so you need to use a payment gateway that people trust. You can also let your customers pay in more than one way; besides credit and debit cards, they can also pay with their e-wallets.

Notification

Push notifications are a great way to interact with users and can serve multiple purposes. While notifications are a great marketing tool for you, it’s an essential feature for users, especially for an app like Hopper.

One of the main benefits of Hopper push notifications is that they inform users of the fluctuations in the fares of the trip they are watching and give them fare predictions . Thus, the user can book tickets and rooms at the right time and at the lowest prices.

Trips

Users can view their travel history using this feature. All of the user’s past trips are listed here.

Prices prediction

What makes Hopper truly unique is its reliable artificial intelligence engine that predicts price fluctuation and tells you the best time to  buy tickets. 

For your own app to help travelers on a budget, you will need a similar forecasting algorithm that will allow your customers to book their flights and hotels at the lowest prices. 

How much does it cost to build an app like Hopper?

The cost of developing an app for flight and hotel booking depends on these factors:

• Product features
• Product design
• Hourly rate of your development team
• Project size and complexity
• Technology stack
• Number of project team members 
• Time frame

The largest factor that influences a project’s cost is the hourly rate of developers, and that often depends on their location. For example, an application that costs $40,000 to build in the US will cost approximately $9,000 if developed by engineers in Ukraine.

Developing your project with a company based in Eastern Europe is cost-effective and gives you access to top talent.

Six steps to develop an app like Hopper 

Below are six steps to simplify the development process of your idea to create an app for flight and hotel booking.

1. Research your app’s target market

When developing a mobile app, the first thing you need to consider is the target audience. Understanding your users’ needs makes development easier and leads to an improved final product. Find out as much as you can about your potential users. You can start your research in the following areas:

• Demographics. Find out the average age of your users, where they live, what devices they use, etc. 
• Behavioral trends. Find out what decreases a user’s desire to download an app, your users’ security expectations, etc..

To develop a successful mobile application, we suggest creating a buyer persona, or a detailed portrait of your ideal user.  

2. Choose a monetization model 

The next step is choosing the right monetization model for your mobile application. Now that you know your users’ needs, you can predict what your users will pay for. Here are three possible monetization models:

• Paid. This monetization model is quite straightforward: users pay once to access your app. 
• Freemium. With this model, users can download your app for free. They can then pay to upgrade their accounts or to use premium features. 
• In-app purchases. Users can pay for different items, features, or content inside the app. 
• Advertising. You can choose one of the following ad options:
  • Cost per click. Charge advertisers every time a user interacts with their ads in your app. 
  • Cost per mille. Charge advertisers for every 1,000 ad impressions in your app.
  • Cost per action. Charge advertisers only when users complete a target action, such as installing an app or signing up for a newsletter.

3. Hire an app development team

The third step is finding a dedicated development team. The first phase of development will include business analysis, developing a technical specification, estimating the development cost, and project planning. Before diving into the actual development of your mobile app, you and your team will create an app development workflow, choose the main features for the app, and design an app concept.

Your development team will then create milestones for the project and start working on the minimum viable product (MVP). 

4. Create an MVP

Creating an app for flight and hotel booking is an extensive and complex project. We recommend launching an MVP first and testing its technical and business performance. By using the MVP approach, you’ll be able to utilize user feedback to improve your app. 

5. Marketing and promotion

Marketing is an important part of building an app like Hopper. You can promote your app in a variety of ways, such as  advertising on existing social networks like Instagram and Facebook as well as email marketing, SEO techniques, blogging, and paid advertising.

6. Ongoing maintenance and support

You also need to know how to maintain your project in order for it to function effectively in the future. Typically, a good web development provider can advise you on this and provide related services.

As you can see, to create a successful app similar to Hopper you also need to keep in mind post-development activities such as promotion, advertising, and maintenance.

Final thoughts

If you want to create an application like Hopper, you need to understand the user’s perspective. They want an app to be well designed, user-friendly, and streamlined. That being said, you need to make sure that your forecasting algorithm works.

You need to design an algorithm that can produce similar results outside of your personality. A mobile app development company can do wonders for your app with the help of their experienced developers and designers, leveraging their first-class IT resources and cutting edge tools to ensure quality.

If you want to create an app for flight and hotel booking but don’t know where to start, contact Mobindustry for a free consultation.