Why travel websites need responsive design (with examples)

A big journey often starts with a small idea. Travel websites are meant to quench the customers’ inspiration, offer them the desired options, and turn their ideas into plans. And they should be able to do it no matter what devices customers are using.

That’s why you will often hear today that responsive design is important for sites. Let’s now focus specifically on the travel industry and see why travel websites need responsive design. We will also include some beautiful examples of responsive travel websites.

Briefly about responsive web design

Responsive web design is a technology that allows websites to detect the characteristics of devices they are reached from and adapt their layout accordingly.

Images, buttons, columns, and other elements get resized or rearranged. Due to this, users with tablets, smartphones, desktops, laptops, etc. all enjoy optimal viewing, scrolling, and clicking experiences tailored to them.

Why travel websites need responsive design

Travel websites could include those for a travel agency, hotel, booking system, airline company, bus carrier, and so on. Studying the users’ behavior is key to understanding why travel websites need responsive design.

Google devoted a comprehensive study to tendencies in travel website usage. They focus on the need to “be there and be useful” at the moments when users seek travel information.

This study dates to the year 2016. Now that we are in 2019, all the statistics related to mobile users should be increased due to an ongoing mobile boost. But even as they are, these Google’s figures and facts are very convincing. They clearly show why travel websites need responsive design:

• 94% of leisure (non-business) travelers switch between different devices while planning their journey.
• 70% of travelers that have a smartphone have researched travel topics from it.
• 85% of leisure travelers make decisions about activities when they have already arrived where they are going.
• One-third of travelers with a mobile phone say they discovered a new travel company while browsing from it, and for millennials, this figure reaches 50%.
• Mobile phones account for 40% of total visits to travel sites in the US.
• 60% of the searches for “destinations” (e.g. “honeymoon destinations”) are made from smartphones.
• Almost half of Google Flights users reach the service from smartphones.
• 70% of hotel searches with specific requirements (e.g. “with a swimming pool”) are made from smartphones.
• 31% of leisure travelers and 53% of business travelers say that have made travel booking from their smartphone.
• Almost half of Google Hotel Ads clicks are made from mobile devices.

Examples of responsive travel websites

Facts are convincing, but examples are inspiring! We have used the BrowserStack cloud testing platform to show you how some famous travel websites look on mobile devices.

As you can see, their key content is placed within the viewport and their search functionality and main calls-to-action are placed conveniently for every device user.

• Booking

The world-famous hotel booking service offers 660,000+ hotels across the globe. Booking.com team knows for sure how important it is to be there for travelers who book hotels on the go, irrespective of their device.

• Google Flights

The powerful flight booking engine, Google Flights, allows anyone to find cheap flights from hundreds of airlines and travel agencies. Of course, the search giant that introduced mobile-first indexing knows how much travel websites need responsive design.

• Travelocity

Travelocity offers customers to find hotels, flights, cruises, travel packages, and so on. In addition to having a separate mobile app, they made their main website design responsive to all devices.

• Virgin Holidays

The travel agency by Richard Branson offers you to choose holiday destinations and book packages or flights. The starting point of the journey, the Virgin Holidays website, is user-friendly and responsive.

• Expedia

Renting cars, booking airline tickets, hotels, cruises, or vacation packages is all a breeze with Expedia. The team covers all possible ways to meet mobile customers — a mobile app for those who want to download one and, of course, a responsive website.

What about your responsive travel website?

Ready to engage more customers in an amazing journey that starts with your website? Now that it is obvious why travel websites need responsive design, it’s time to make sure you have it:

• Responsive web design can be created for your existing travel website.
• If you are only thinking about a travel website, it can be developed from scratch with responsiveness in mind.

Just contact our expert web development team!