Must-Have Features in Your Travel Apps

If you look closely under an app, it is nothing without any features.

The feature is like blood or even a heart to an app. When we talk about travel apps, features act as gadgets to the users or a service. Within travel apps, every app is centralized to offer a service in respect to make trips more convenient and simpler.

But the question is “What are the must-have features in a travel app?”

Well, we have discussed it all for you. Let’s begin the journey here.

What is a Travel App?

Let’s proceed with the concept of a travel app for those who are unaware of the same.

A travel app is software that is primarily developed for using it over smartphones, iPhones, and other smaller devices. These apps assist users in booking and managing their travel lists. Additionally, these apps offer various facilities to the users that aid in their travel.

When it comes to evaluating the current travel apps market, let’s examine some of the stats.

• The global revenue of the total travel app market is forecasted to increase between 2023 and 2027 with a total of 0.8 billion U.S. dollars.

• The number of aggregated downloads worldwide has been enhanced over the years. In 2023, the app (Booking.com) recorded around 76.5 million aggregated downloads over iOS and Android.

• Over 850 million people have used travel apps in the year 2023. This shows the growing market for travel apps around the world.

After evaluating these stats, it’s vital to identify the reasons why these apps are essential for modern travelers. Why?

Well, if you want a list of features for attracting the target audience, it’s essential to know the reasons why these apps can be effective.

Let’s discover them all in the following section.

Why Travel Apps Are Essential for Modern Travelers?

There are many reasons to consider before going through an app development process.

Here is the list to discuss if you are wondering to build a travel app.

♦ Provides One-Stop Solution

Through apps, users can easily plan their trips as well as everything available over their palms.

Here the users can be able to book tickets, research places, book hotels, and even go for travel shopping within the app.

They can find all such facilities under one roof that might assist them in every manner. Users can perform the following activities simultaneously.

♦ Seamless Location Tracking

Geolocation assists in making communication for customers more personalized.

Additionally, with interactive and location-aware technology, the users can get an update on location and can decide to travel accordingly.

This amazing feature integration within travel apps assists modern travelers in identifying locations and for businesses to target users successfully.

♦ Accessibility

With a travel app, users can get access to book hotels, manage travel, or build plans.

Through a travel app, the users can get access to discover new places and plan things out wherever and whenever they prefer to do so.

Under an app, several things can be automated which saves time and effort for modern travelers. It includes avoiding barriers to providing a positive experience to the people.

♦ Provides Regular Updates

Travel apps include regular updates that assist the users to successfully know about what’s in trend and also regarding real-time updates.

Through a travel app, the users can be able to grasp important details of the places, weather, and other updates which can be helpful while traveling.

Such as, they can get information about delays in flights, or bookings, price updates, and much more.

These are certain valuable reasons why travel apps can be helpful for modern travelers.

Now, it’s time to evaluate the features to include while creating a travel app.

Let’s identify it all in the following section.

Essential and Advanced Features to Integrate in Your Travel Apps

What are the best features to integrate in a travel app?

Here’s a list of basic and advanced features to proceed with creating a travel app.

Essential Features:-

1. User Profile Creation and Authentication

This is a must-have feature to include in a travel app. After downloading the app, the users can continue with travel bookings. It will help them to fill up all the essential details with regard and then they can see their customized dashboard.

Through two-factor authentication, the users can be able to verify their profile and secure their data network with the business.

Under this feature, the users can register all the important details that will be effective in generating time on their device for generating the MFA code. With this process, you can secure the data of the users. Here’s a way this feature is helpful for travel apps.

• Protects the user data from unauthorized access
• Secure authentication processes
• Provides Regular Security Audits

2. Search Feature

Through the direct search feature within the travel app, the users can filter out diversified options and even make it simpler for the users to find exactly what they are looking for. Here the developers need to ensure that the search feature is fast and accurate.

The users can search for specific destinations by using websites specializing the travel information including review sites, travel guides, as well as travel blogs.

Search is an efficient filter option assisting users to successfully reach out to the feature or option that they want to use. Travel apps offer accessibility via search feature in the following ways.

• Increasing the accessibility of the device
• Enhancing the technology for individuals with disabilities.
• Removing barriers to provide positive experiences for all.

3. Booking

Booking of hotels, trips, flights, taxis, and more can be done through the booking feature. Here the users are required to integrate the platforms accordingly.

Under this feature, the users can fill up their details can attach all the relevant documents for proceeding with the booking of trips.

This all refers to the processes of organizing as well as coordinating diversified elements of a significant trip. Bookings can be of different types as mentioned here.

• Flight booking
• Hotel booking
• Car rental booking
• Activity booking
• Tour booking

4. Payment Feature

Integrating payment features is a basic function, if you end up ending one or two modes. This will be helpful to the users to continue with the payment system.

It is a must-have feature to integrate into a travel app as this will entertain the users to complete the process of booking a trip or managing the transactions.

Here the app can gather data from diversified sources that even presents users with the different options and prices to pay for the service or facility. You can integrate fast and secured payments within the application for operating functions as below.

• Weather Updates
• Currency Converters
• Itinerary generators
• Real-time local transit information

Advanced Features:-

5. Weather Forecast

This is an advanced feature within a travel app that provides detailed insights through real-time monitoring of weather conditions for the regions where the users prefer to visit.

Through the integration of updated technologies and algorithms, the users can evaluate the weather that will be helpful for them to pack for the trip.

This will even be helpful to the businesses to provide updates on weather or any kind of severe climatic possibility to alert the travelers. Other than this, it assists in the following ways.

• Planning better around the weather
• Minimizing the adverse impact of bad weather
• Protects lives and Property

6. Currency Converter

If the traveler is planning for an international trip, the currency converter assists them in a quick currency conversion of any type of currency.

Integrating such a travel app feature can be useful for proceeding with the currency conversion in any type of currency that they want within seconds.

This is a must-have travel app feature that even minimizes errors that might occur while pursuing with manual currency converter. It will be effective for proceeding with currency conversion at the time of purchasing or shopping in an international country. The feature aids travelers in the following ways.

• Easy transfer money option
• Assists in international import and export businesses

7. Offline Access

Adding offline access to the app is among the top travel app features where users can proceed with the app even in the regions where the internet is unavailable.

You can still have access to the user’s information through local storage, caching data as well as providing access to essential features and information.

This feature is useful to the users to check out their booking information, and transactions even without the internet.

• Access to Journey information
• Useful where internet connection is impossible

8. Translator

Through a translator, the users can easily convert their own language into the local language of the region during the trip. This makes their trips and traveling simple.

A built-in translator is a great way that assist the users in communicating with the local people during the trips. Thus, this feature can make their journey more feasible and effective to pursue.

Thus, in this way, this feature assists the users to overcome the language barriers, by facilitating communication as well as enhancing the travel experience. The app can have the following types of language translator features.

• Instant Translation
• Emergency Phrases

9. Real-Time Updates

You need to add real-time updates on flight statuses, weather conditions, as well as local events.

This also enables travelers to get notifications instantly about flight delays, gate changes, cancellations, and baggage claim information.

It enhances the reliability of the app as well as provides the users with peace of mind by providing them with all the essential information about their journey.

• Location Sharing
• Tracking
• Geofencing

10. Push Notifications

Under push notifications, you can inform the users related to any recent updates via a notification. This will enable the audience to know about any types of information that might impact their booking decisions.

Here, you can inform the users to send timely, relevant, and highly targeted messages directly to the users.

It is all about notifying the process that was initiated within the application either by the user or by any system. The travel app feature of push notifications provides information dealing with the following measures.

• Book Tickets
• Sightseeing
• Research Places
• Book Hotels

11. Navigation and Location Services

The location services as well as geolocation APIs utilize the data to pinpoint the locations, suggest the nearby spots, and guide through turn-by-turn navigations. This feature is important to deal with the issues of any location misunderstandings.

With GPS integration, you can assist the users with location issues and help them out to the place that they want to visit. It helps the users to share real-time locations with their family, friends, or any emergency contacts.

Additionally, with this feature, the user’s con process with tracking for safety, where the apps should offer tracking functions so that the travelers can avoid going off-route while traveling. Here is a list that can be looked upon.

• Offline Maps
• GPS Navigation
• Local Attraction Recommendations

12. Social Sharing

Social sharing is a significant feature where the users can successfully share the booking information or any other related data with their friends, family, and relatives.

Through implementing social media integration, users can get multiple platforms to share information. The platforms can be Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or any other.

This helps them to successfully share the information even without shifting to other apps or closing the current travel app. Here are the ways in which social sharing can be utilized in travel apps.

• Competitions and Promotions
• Special offers and Group Deals
• SEO and Boosting Awareness
• Customer Reviews
• Personalization

13. Make a Complete Travel Plan

The travel app has a feature of developing a complete travel plan. Here the users only need to add important information related to their destination and details about the spots they prefer to visit. Then the app with updated technologies such as AI is capable enough to make a travel plan.

Here the app presents users with different options of travel plans among which the users can pick the suitable one of their choice.

It is an effective travel app feature that assists the audience to choose the best travel plan and making a trip. Here the travel apps can organize all the travel details in one place which might comprise itineraries, maps, and even confirmation numbers of the hotels. Here’s a list to consider.

• Itinerary creation
• Personalized recommendations
• Travel Advisories
• Packing list

14. Travel Insurance Integration

Another significant feature to include within the app is travel insurance integration. In this travel app feature, you can offer the users quick insurance access that helps them to purchase and store travel insurance directly in an app, as well as offers instant coverage.

Such mobile app travel features ensure the travelers that assistance is just a few steps away. This feature gives complete protection to the users for unexpected events such as medical emergencies, lost luggage, trip interruptions, flight cancellations, and much more.

The feature provides the users with financial protection against any kind of unexpected events that might occur while proceeding with the trip. Here are the elements you offer to the users including travel insurance.

• Quick Insurance Access
• Claim Assistance
• Medical Evacuation

15. Health and Safety Alerts

Traveling during unpredictable times may enhance the safety risks. A travel app feature should provide health and safety alerts that may assist travelers to stay informed as well as avoid any dangerous situations.

A travel app assists travelers to stay informed as well as avoid any dangerous situations. With the feature of health and safety alerts, travelers can remain informed about any upcoming health situations and updates that might impact their traveling decisions.

The safety alerts within the travel app add major faults that might result in a fatal injury where immediate action is required as per the location. Here is the list to execute.

• Local Alerts
• Health Advisories
• Weather Warnings

16. Travel Documents and Passport Storage

With travel apps, you can provide users with an option to include travel documents and passport storage. This will be effective in assisting the users to add important documents online to the app, therefore they will not be panicked, if they forget any of these at home.

Documents play an important role while traveling especially when it comes to international parameters. It is a must-have travel app feature that helps users to store all the significant documents to enhance their experience with the app.

Storing the travel documents within the app is important for peace of mind among travelers. Here the users can travel freely without carrying the load of physical copies of their documents over the journey. You can cover the points below.

• Document Storage
• Access Anywhere
• Backup Options

17. Feedback and Reviews

Adding feedback and review features in the app is helpful to travelers to include their experience with the app.

These reviews and feedback will further help you to guide improvements, enhance satisfaction, build trust drive innovation, as well as strengthen brand loyalty.

This allows the users to adjust their app’s performances to enhance user’s experience over their journey. Let’s consider the following points to know more.

• Reviews and ratings
• User-generated content
• Community forums

18. World Clock Time Converter

We have discussed features like currency converter, and translator. Now, it’s time to add a feature like a world clock time converter which will be useful to your target audience to convert the timings according to the regions or countries they want to travel or are traveling to.

This feature is important because of the crossing of time zones. It will help the users to clear their confusion about timings and let them search for any other time-converting applications.

It can be useful for users to correct their clock times for diversified time zones across the world. Here’s a brief of its functionality in points.

• Quick Identification of time zones
• Effective for long-distance travel
• Helps to plan trips better

19. Taxi Service Integration

Within a travel app, you can add the feature of taxi services where the users can find nearby taxis even without changing the app.

This will provide them a facility for meeting a variety of needs, comprising basic mobility within emergencies, general transportation for non-drivers, and ultimately a facility for tourists and visitors to access their trips successfully.

You can even ask the taxi service providers to integrate their facility within your app and against this you can pay a commission. However, it will provide you with a vast opportunity to bring traffic to your app and to help the target users with effective service. Integrating taxis can be useful in the following ways for travelers.

• Convenience
• Accessibility to taxies easily
• Saves time

20. Contact Support

Contact support is among the important travel app features that provide users a facility to contact respected people who can help them while traveling.

Such as via the feature of contact support, the users can find the phone numbers of hotel managers where they are staying, taxi drivers (If any associated with the service), bus conductors or even local tiffin providers, medical stores, and much more.

It will be useful to the users to save their efforts and timing in finding the way to hotels or informing them about your arrival delays, etc. Here is the brief of functionality that features like contact support can offer to travelers.

• AI chatbot support
• Ability to contact hotels, flights, etc.

21. Implementation of AI and Other Updated Technologies

If you don’t want to get out of the competition then, it’s important to check for recent technology updates and to implement them continuously to improve the performance of your features in the travel app.

With the implementation of AI in travel apps, you can evaluate the current user behavior, and then provide them recommendations based on their moods, and preferences.

This will help them engage for more hours and they will find your app suitable for managing their travel plans or trips.

• Machine Learning
• Artificial Reality
• Virtual Reality
• Data Analysis and many other trends as per the technology updates.

After discussing these significant travel app features, let’s dive into how you can select the most suitable features for your project. Other than this, you can include the following technologies to make the user experience seamless.

How to Choose the Best Feature Set for Your Travel App?

When you enter the travel app industry as an entrepreneur, evaluating different technologies, selecting developers and even choosing the right features are among the most difficult tasks, right?

Well, here are some of the points you might consider relevant for assisting in selecting suitable features.

➤ Identify the Prime Objective of the Project

Project objective or the reason why you are into building an effective travel app plays a crucial role here. The reason why you will select travel app features lies within what your app aim holds.

➤ Evaluate the Available Alternatives

You should identify and examine diversified alternatives available to include within your travel app. In this step, you need to evaluate the positives and negatives of every feature that can have a valuable impact on your selection process.

➤ Implement Features and Notice User Behavior

After you launch the app and add all required features within the same, then you need to evaluate the response of your target audience and how they are reacting to the features. You can proceed with this step by building an MVP.

➤ Enhance Features or Add New

A perfect within an app is a function that successfully addresses users’ issues while minimizing their efforts. Thus, if your added feature is not perfect, then enhance its functionality by discussing it with your app developers or add a new, more efficient one.

It’s important to select features wisely as overloading an app with too many features can impact the operations and overall performance of the same. You can hire mobile app developers to identify the relevant features for your target app or audience.

How Can Nimble AppGenie Help to Create a Feature-Rich Travel App?

Are you searching to connect with a potential app developer’s team?

Partner with Nimble AppGenie and fly your confusion away. Our developers are ready to discuss every aspect of your dream travel app and its respective features.

We can provide you with the best advice as a leading Travel App Development Company. You can connect with the top developers and we can assist you with every aspect from market analysis to developing and maintaining the app at the end.

Conclusion

Identifying the top travel app features for your dream project can be a more difficult task than it seems at first. Thus, learning about the functionality of all the features is significant to find the topmost.

With the help of features like a world clock time converter, currency converter, or language translator, you can simplify the efforts of travelers during shopping, and dealing with the merchants or local people.

However, when it comes to features like booking, profile creation, or search features, these are the basic features to add to your travel app. If you prefer to know more, connecting to an experienced company might help.

FAQs

Niketan Sharma

Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.