EyeforTravel is looking for best mobile travel solution that delivers on all fronts, but which one stands out? Let the voting begin

With voting now open for EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards, the heat is on. We’ve already put entrants for the best mobile app award into the den of innovation.

Now it’s time to assess those in line for the best mobile solution. They are: Egencia TripNavigator, Net Affinity, CheckMate, IDeaS Revenue Solutions and Revinate. All believe they have the market leading mobile travel solution but do they have what it takes to walk away with the prize?

In this category, the judges expectations are high and they will be looking at a number of features including: design, usefulness, speed and performance, technology, user experience and more. Judges will also want to see how forward thinking solutions’ providers have been in developing their solution.

Looking back over the past decade and looking forward to the next, one thing is becoming increasingly clear, says Kristin Treat, Egencia’s PR Manager, and that is that “the future of business travel is going to be in the hands of the business travellers”.

One of the most important issues for providers of technology is whether the solution is optimised for mobile users. On this front, Egencia believes it has an edge because of unique insights from their parent company, Expedia.

When it comes to what ‘innovation’, mans for Egencia, Treat says it “is about the power to transform”. Egencia believes it is doing just that with its next generation app TripNavigator, which “dramatically improves the in-trip experience of business travellers”. 

If a long history in travel is the measure then IDeaS - a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry – is worth noting. The company argues that this experience allows it to understand the ever-changing technology landscape that poses challenges for hoteliers everyday. “To us, innovation means not only understanding but also anticipating the intersection of hotel consumer behavior with analytic and technology breakthroughs,” says account manager Tim Nelson, who argues that IDeaS Revenue Management System “makes sophisticated and complex solutions user friendly and accessible, transforming how hoteliers manage their revenue.” The app grants users absolute mobility, by allowing them to deploy pricing decisions anytime, anywhere - all from their phone or tablet.

The developers of a mobile web application from Net Afinnity believe they have taken care to make it simple and intuitive to use. “It makes booking really easy and natural,” says Hollie Faulkner, head of marketing services, Net Affinity. “We are continuously innovating our product to provide a more efficient booking process for customers to complete their e-commerce transactions.”

Faulkner says the app has benefits to both hotels and guests. Among the benefits to the hotel are: a unique branded look based on hotel identity, it works across all platforms and on any device, tracking and full management reports to include visitor/booking conversion rates and so on. For the guest, reservation is simple, promotional codes lead to deeper discounts and it integrates social media with a post-sharing booking function.

For Anthony Maggio, co-founder of CheckMate ‘innovation’ is about changing the status quo by using technology to deliver a better experience for travellers. And in his view, the hotel front desk is ripe for innovation. “Outdated property management systems and decades old processes leave guests frustrated and impact their opinion of a hotel,” he says, CheckMate, he believes, is building tools that deliver a superior experience for both guests and staff at hotels of any size.

Last but not least is Greg Bodenlos, marketing manager at Reinvate who has this perspective: “Innovation in the travel industry signals a transformation in the way that travellers and hotels connect and interact with each other.” Reinvate sees this transformation playing out as hoteliers adopt technologies to collect and analyse guest insights across every phase of the guest lifecycle.

It is going to be a tough call. But voting is now open.

To find out who has taken home the crown join us in San Francisco for the Social Media & Mobile Strategies for Travel (March 17-18)