Shifting consumer tastes in travel booking apps recently gave Hopper a boost over Booking.com and other rivals. But can the challenger brand sustain its lead?
Fintech is trending, and likewise for superapps in certain parts of the world. Getting into travel is too delicious to resist, but the world is not ending for incumbent travel competitors.
China's move to ban the Tripadvisor-branded app is somewhat of a head scratcher since the app is actually controlled by China's Trip.com Group. Will other U.S.-branded apps, such as Airbnb's be impacted?
This week in wellness news, the hot springs movement gains traction in the U.S. Meanwhile, mental health apps aim to address the rising tide of anxiety in the U.S. Admirable, yes, but it’s debatable whether apps that gamify the quest toward beating anxiety can really catch on.
Consumers in the West reach almost reflexively for the Google Maps app as the service becomes a nearly ubiquitous utility despite a dearth of messaging and payments. Whether it evolves into the next superapp may depend on whether users really want a do-everything app and the mood of regulators seeking to break up big tech.
Hotels and other brands would welcome a tool that enables them to accurately tally the number of bookings that can be directly attributed to various influencers. But it remains to be seen how effectively Six Travel can deliver on its promises.
When Facebook enabled airlines and hotels to build booking functionality into their Facebook pages years ago, it was a total bust. But Instagram and Whatsapp seem to have an engagement level that was missing last time around, making these e-commerce moves appear to be a lot more feasible.