Online travel agency Travel Trolley has launched a fully bookable mobile site enabling on-the-go travelers to search and compare prices as well as book and pay for flights directly from their smartphones.

The British-based company focused on creating a user-friendly interface for the mobile site, which features easy-to-apply filters for choice of airlines, price range, departure time, flight duration, stops and cabin class. The site was also designed to automatically detect the screen size of the mobile device being used and to adjust accordingly.

“As we know, consumers are more and more likely to use their smartphones for functions that were once considered purely desktop-based,” said Bruce Ginsberg, senior vice president at Magnani Caruso Dutton, New York. “It is no longer a bonus to offer a seamless transactional experience designed for mobile, but a requirement.  

“We are at a point at which consumers expect to be able to do anything and everything on the go,” he said. “This is perhaps even more crucial for travelers than the general consumer, as mobile is most likely to be their primary device.”

Travel Trolley is a subsidiary of the Southall Travel Group.

Exclusive inventory
Travel Trolley is among the newest online travel agencies and claims to have an extensive inventory of special deals thanks to the strategic partnerships of its parent company. The mobile site was developed in recognition of the important role that mobile plays in marketing travel to prospective customers.

Browsers can access Travel Trolley’s exclusive inventory of affordable deals on flights to worldwide destinations via the mobile site.

The site has been optimized for touch-screen smartphones but is also operational on all mobile devices that support mobile browsers.

Recognizing that time is of the essence for mobile users, the flight search engine was designed to return search results within seconds.

The site can be found at m.traveltrolley.co.uk.

Window shoppers
The online travel site expects window shoppers and last-minute travelers will find the biggest benefits from the new mobile site. For the latter, the site will make it easy for them to stay up-to-date with the latest deals and make the buying decision at the right time.

By offering a mobile site as well as a mobile app, Travel Trolley is able to able to loyal customers are more likely to use an app as well as reach prospective new customers who may be searching on the Web from their smartphones.

“[From our research] we learned that customers pay attention to a brand’s digital presence, and the quality of sites and apps often influences the decision to make a booking,” Mr. Ginsberg said.

“What we found quite interesting is that, when it comes to mobile specifically, consumers are equally open to using apps and mobile sites,” he said. “As long as the experience is solid, the channel is almost secondary.”

“Consumers have come to expect that when an experience is designed specifically for mobile, it will function beautifully on mobile.  This often means that small details–inputting text, choosing dates, navigating–are the most important.  They can make or break a solid customer experience.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York