Mobile phones already taking £1000s in travel bookings

WTM Special Report: Mobile phones will be a viable medium for booking travel by 2007, with companies such as Lastminute.com already taking purchases as high as £4,000 via mobile phones.

According to figures released during WTM, there are 60 million active phones in the UK, which is more than one to every person living in the UK, and more than 85% of households have one or more mobile phones, compared to around 50% of households that are connected to the internet.

Presenting the figures was Michael Lacy, chief executive of Handy Group, which in August this year launched software to book and pay for travel products via mobile phones.

Lacy, whose company already works with Cosmos, is pragmatic: “It [selling products on mobile phones] hasn’t really delivered and shows no signs of doing so for the moment. WAP just bombed when it came out three or so years ago, but that’s probably due to poor connectivity.”

But Lacy is hopeful for the future. The barriers that stand in the way of selling travel on mobiles are connectivity, coverage and tariffs.

But according to Lacy these issues are gradually being resolved. 2.5g phones are now common (equivalent to conventional household dial-up speed), 3g phones are becoming more widespread, and by the middle of next year, the launch of 3.5g phones (about double the speed of household broadband) will significantly improve download times.

“Coverage is poor outside of motorways and city centres, but that is improving too,” he said.  

Currently spending on mobile phones is dominated by males 15 to 19-year olds who use their phones to download ringtones and explicit material, according to Lacy. “But these boys will grow up eventually,” he said.

Working with Cosmos, Handy Group has launched the Somewheretostay.com product on mobile phones, offering consumers a destination-focussed search, although for the moment, Lacy says most bookings through mobile phones are expected to be ancillary products.

He said: “I don’t think people will make high value transactions, say over £100, over a mobile phone, but I expect we’ll see bookings made en route to the airport, for parking or transfers, or to change a Eurotunnel booking, say, because they’re running late.”

But according to Lastminute.com, people are happy to spend more on mobile phone transactions. Speaking to TravelMole, Matt Jerwood, head of mobile and iDTV, said: “Lastminute.com has been committed to the development of new channels to market for many years, and is arguably the most advanced of all the travel companies when it comes to mobile.

“We have the capability to deliver our mobile site to any phone that has online capability.”

Users can access Lastminute.com product by texting the word “Mobile” to 85959.

Jerwood added: “We have location based applications that allow the customer to find useful products such as hotels, restaurants and theatre near to their current whereabouts, all based on where their phone is at that time.”

According to Lastminute, bookings are already growing: From 2003 to 2004 mobile sales grew over 2000 per cent, with the average sale over £200, although single purchases up to £4000 have been recorded.

Other companies are also exploring the medium. According to Lacy, both Google and Yahoo are investing heavily in mobile search, and will launch their mobile products in the first quarter of 2006.

Report by Ginny McGrath