Curious how to start a travel app? Hotel and apartment booking market is growing rapidly, so it can be a great idea to learn more about it. For the sake of example, let's talk about mobile travel apps. What would it take to create an app, that would help the user to book an apartment, or to share his own?
Let's start breaking down the app by sections to understand how to build a travel app. Then we will review each section, one by one. Average booking app will need two parts:
Portfolio: PackPoint
Don't just take our word for it! We've completed some hugely successful applications in the Travel industry. For example, super smart packing list which was featured in App Store, Lifehacker, LA Times, 9to5mac, and more. If you want to start a business in the Travel industry and need an app, write to mail@mova.io
👉 read more...
Login and Registration
Usually, this is a mandatory application section. In our case, we could still allow users to browse listings unauthorized - it would increase engagement a lot. And if a user would like to make a booking or message a host - he would have to sign up.
If you would like to simplify the user's life, you could also add social network integrations so that they could reuse their existing logins.
Booking applications usually need more info to keep users and hosts safe. So we will need to gather some additional info, like a user's personal info, some verifications, and others.
As for hosts - they would not have an option to use the app without registration. For safety concerns, their registration will have more steps - they will need to provide documents, read hosting rules, and more.
Registration: 40h, $1,400 ($35/h)Social Networks integration: 10h or $350 per each platfrom ($35/h)
Travels aren't that good without some music. If you ever thought about making a music streaming app, just let us know. We've also made an article that helps to understand how to create a music app .
Search and Filter
One of the most essential functions of the app - to help the user find a place to stay according to his preferences, budget, dates, and so on. The more options we will give users, the better results he will get. O the other hand, if there will be too many options - it can become frustrating for the user, and he might get lost.
The app should be able to show listings by given parameters:
Location
Price
Dates
Number of people
Additional filters, like the Internet, Parking, Kitchen, and so on.
Besides, it would be beneficial to show listings on a map, so a user can visually see how far from the city center (or from a subway station, or some other places) is the listing. Besides, we could use geolocation services, to show all the distances from user to a listing, and from listing to all the interesting places around.
Whether we are developing an iOS app or Android app, we can choose different maps, from Apple Maps to Google Maps, or their alternatives.
Advanced search and filter screens: ~70h or $2,450 ($35/h)
Listing Info
You can't create travel app without listing info. When user found something interesting user our sophisticated search, he will want to check more info about the place:
Apartment photos
Description
Availability Calendar
Apartment Rules and Cancelation policies
Host's Contact details
The more info user will see - the better. If he will see listing info and won't find an answer to his question - he is most likely to leave. However, we can also add an option to message an owner so that he can answer all the questions.
Average Listing Info screen with all the info needed can take around 60 hours to develop and will cost about $2,100 with a $35 hourly rate.
Messaging
We can't leave an apartment booking app without a chat. Whenever a user has questions, the only message to an owner can resolve the issue. How far is a bus station from the apartment? How to get to the place from an airport? Can user take a pet with him? Also, when booking long-term, a chat will help resolve lots of other issues between hosts and clients.
In most cases, it is okay to have the simplest chat possible. Users won't need any audio-calls or video-calls in most cases. It can take around 60 hours to add a text messaging feature to the app (or $2,200 with $35/h).
Payment details or Earnings
Whenever user found a place where he would like to stay, he will need to book it and pay for it. To do it, we will need to use payment gateways like Stripe or Braintree - they will simplify payments integration, and will make sure we won't have issues with transactions.
Ideally, we will need to add Payment Info page, where a user will be able to add his credit card or bank information. Besides, we will need to add a payment confirmation and invoices screens, to show how much the user will need to pay, and a proof that the transaction went through.
As for a Host, we will need to use that same Payment Info screen, but we will also need an Earning screen, where the Host will be able to see how much did he earn this month.
Payments logic is simple: when a user found an apartment, we will charge him for his stay, and project's commision as well (in case you and your business would like to have some profit from it). At the end of each month, we will transfer the money to the place owner. The payment gateway will have its commission as well, so it is essential to calculate everything well so that nobody will lose money.
Making a bulletproof payment system can take around 40 hours, and would cost $1,400 ($35/h)
One of our other areas of expertise is dating applications. If you would like to build one, send us a message at mail@mova.io or read our article about it: make your own Tinder app .
Booking History
The app will not be completed without booking history. It will help a user to find those nice apartments where he stayed last summer. It will also help to resolve issues if some will arise: whether payment went through, for example. And it is just a nice section to view, to see where have you been over the last couple of years.
Usually booking history has a list of all previous bookings, and actual booking details: hotel or apartment info, its address, photos, payment details, user's review, and more.
Since we will only show existing data, this section is easy to develop. We will only need to request all the previous bookings from the server, and show them in a list. As for details - we will have to show everything that we have related to a selected reservation in one screen.
Average development time for booking history and details: 30h, or $1,050.
Reviews
One of the main parts of the application is a reviews system. It will help users to find the best places to stay, will make the service safer, and will improve the quality of available apartments.
When the user checked out of the apartment (and if the payment went through), we will show him a simple screen where we will ask him to rate his experience. It will help new users to understand if the place is safe, if it looks like on the photo, if there are any hidden issues, and more.
Even though user interface changes will be simple, back-end logic will be slightly more difficult. We will need to make sure that user has to leave a review. For example, if a client did book an apartment but never paid - he should never be able to leave a review because we don't have a proof of staying at the selected apartment. We also have to remind users to leave a review after checkout and show it at the Place Details screen.
On average, review system can take around 30h to develop and can cost about $1,120.
Host: Create and Update a Listing
Whenever new host signs up, he will need to be able to add his place to our database. This is a long and serious process, where we will ask the user about:
place address;
photos;
Detailed description;
additional services;
Prices;
availability Calendar;
And much more. On the admin side, we will also need a mechanism to approve new listings or ask hosts to add some changes to make it available first.
Travel and tourism mobile app development will take at least 140 hours, and will cost around $5,000. However, it can always be simplified.
We are an iOS mobile app development company . Our main goal is to provide full-cycle development services to help you build a successful business from your idea. Say "Hi!" to us at mail@mova.io
Summary
Making a travel application that helps people booking apartments, and allows hosts to create apartments is a complex process. Basically, we will need to make an app that will work for three types of users:
A user, who will search and book apartments
Host, who will list his places in our database
Admin, who can view all the users, hosts, places, transactions, and more.
As with any project, it is a good idea to start only with a minimum viable product. It will help to release faster, only with core features, will save money, and will help to generate very first feedback earlier.
Let's see how much time can it take to make a travel app for one platfrom (iOS or Android), and what would it cost:
Feature
Hours
Costs
Login and Registration
40
$1,400
Search and Filter
70
$2,450
Listing Info
60
$2,100
Messaging
60
$2,200
Payments and Earnings
40
$1,400
Booking History
30
$1,050
Reviews
30
$1,120
Creating and Updating host's Listings
140
$5,000
Total
570 or 4 months
$16,720
This is an estimation for all the main features of a mobile application for traveling. Depending on travel mobile app design and number of screens, the price can be reduced or increased. You can also view a complete interactive estimation for travel mobile app development, where you can select only features that you will need, and then view the timeframes and costs in real-time: Interactive Estimations
Whether you would like to make a similar application, its lighter version, or any other mobile or web project - mova.io team is ready to help you out. Just write to us at mail@mova.io , and we will be ready to help.
Have a question? Just write to us at:
📮 mail@mova.io
