Expedia for iPad... Turning the tablets around travel apps

With over 475,000 apps currently available across the Apple iPad platform, what makes the new Expedia Tablet App oh so special?

Is it too easy to simply say; it’s been designed with tablet browsing in mind?

A blatantly obvious observation to many maybe, but for those keen to exert the maximum offering of a tablet device, whether that be across iOS or Android, the Expedia app excels where others fail.

Designed specifically for the tablet, that’s right the tablet, the Expedia app isn’t your cast off smartphone app, stretched out to a larger screen without consideration of user interface or browsing capabilities.

Fortunately for the user, Expedia acknowledges that tablets and smartphones aren’t created equal. What works well on your iPhone 5S doesn’t always convert in equal measure onto your iPad Air - such is the rule of physics.

But when lounging in your living room, fantasising about your next trip overseas, do so safe in the knowledge that the Expedia tablet app provides a more immersive and rich-media experience.

When browsing travel apps, users should become inspired by the content on offer, excited by the discovering of new destinations and fixated on the curated travel collections within it.

Travel is supposed to be exciting and fun, so why when you’re planning your dream getaway should you have a lame-ass mobile app frustrate the life out of you? It’s just not cricket.

Tapping directly into the heart of the tablet experience, the Expedia app takes advantage of the larger screen size to present a fresh way for travellers to shop destinations: the new search tools enable consumers to shop for both hotels and flights on one screen, simply by entering or selecting a destination.

While starting with one simple search doesn’t exactly scream ‘deal breaker’ to users with little patience or loyalty, Expedia’s ability to showcase beautiful browsing with resourcefulness signals a ground-breaking moment in tablet travel.

Providing a more lean-back experience with the inclusion of “collections”, the hand-curated destinations that appear along the bottom of the app are specific to various regions around the world.

Users can explore them by scrolling right-to-left and select them with a single tap. At present, New Zealand has a collection called, “Marathons around the World” - created by Expedia staff that mix in-demand travel destinations with others that are more obscure.

Over time, maybe users of the app will be able to create and share their own collections? Just a thought.

Delving into the mechanics of the app, Expedia provides users with hotel and flight booking capabilities, as well as itinerary managing features which include instant trip updates, from gate changes to baggage carousel numbers.

An app worthy of your interest and deserving of your time, Expedia may have just cracked the whole tablet browsing conundrum, and in doing so flies sky-high above the competition…

For more information on the Expedia app for tablet, including an overview of all product features, visit www.expedia.com/app.