Nowadays travel has expanded to incorporate several aspects like activities, getaways, and travel gear. This has resulted in dedicated travel marketplaces that offer users more than just a pleasant stay. These platforms are driven by exquisite experience that users get to relive. Websites like Zozi, Vayable, and Peek market themselves as a one-stop gateway to discover and book thousands of activities & travel getaways, and also get the gear for them. They also provide best in class online booking software for activity businesses and inspire people to experience the world.
FATbit analysts believe this two-part platform will be instrumental to businesses that specialize in experiences. Millions of people have been using these services to discover and book activities to do around the globe. Due to this popularity, FATbit technologies did an in-depth analysis of key website features that make for an advanced travel activities portal along with its business and revenue model. This is for entrepreneurs who want to launch a travel planning portal. Before going ahead, let us look at its business and revenue model.
Travel activity marketplace business model is based on providing apparel & gear along with tours & activities. It helps users with discovery and curation of the most authentic experiences and latest gear products. In addition to it, merchants get a channel with large numbers of users who can become repeat buyers and refer their friends.
When users search for activities, they also see advertisements for backpacks, jackets, and sunglasses, and this is where the platforms get additional revenue. In addition to it, the platform can also charge businesses as well as brands a service charge for listing their items.
Suggested Read: Maximize Earnings of Your Travel Booking Marketplace with These Proven Revenue Sources
Travel experience websites which depend wholly on recreation activities and travel need a user engaging website design. In addition to it, making users stay also requires neat information architecture that doesn’t clutter the layout of the web page. During our analysis of several websites, we found various key features that would result in an advanced travel experience clone website. Let us take a closer look at each website feature to get a better understanding.
When it comes to homepage design, you have to be pitch perfect and focus immensely on user engagement. The fact of the matter is that the design of the homepage can make or break a user experience. It is one of the major deciding factors for a user to either ditch or adopt a service. FATbit analysts have some suggestion on how to design the web page for your online travel experience website.
It is essential to note that these websites cater to a niche sector and are different from traditional travel booking websites. They emphasize heavily on activities rather than which hotel room would you sleep in. This is why you must have a dedicated section on the homepage, which list all the top activities. This would help the users in finding all the popular activities in a particular area and avail them accordingly. A drop down menu will let user can change and select their preferred city. FATbit analysts believe this approach is highly fruitful and user engaging.
While the above-mentioned feature addressed the topic of things to do while, in a city, the following feature takes into account things to do when you are traveling. This section can display three of the most popular destinations search by users.
Also Read: Go Mobile First to Make Your Mark in the Saturating Online Travel Industry
Not everyone is inclined toward doing regular things and going to popular destinations. Some people are adventure junkies who seek travel escapes to offbeat places. For them, a section called Travel escapes and adventure can offer various activities, which involves adventure and thrill.
No travel related website is complete without a blog that shares tips and inspires travelers. A well-detailed blog offers in-depth information to travelers on various travel ideas, which helps them make an informed decision. FATbit analysts recommend confirming blog facility in your online travel experience clone script.
Rather than a dedicated page for sign-in and sign up, you can follow the popup approach, which is highly user-friendly. In addition to it, also incorporate the option of one-click sign-in via Facebook/Twitter or another other social media platform. Overall, the login/signup process should not take more than 30 seconds.
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This section houses all the activities undertaken by the users in the selected city. The top banner can display the image of the city and a search bar. To have more pleasing aesthetics the activities can be displayed in a grid and further streamlined based on:
The presence of these filters makes it easy for the users to streamline the results and remove the hassle of going through multiple listings. In addition to it, users can also sort the listing based on relevance and price.
In addition to activities if you also plan of selling gear on your website, then you can follow the same approach as mentioned above.
The Search is one of the critical areas for any platform as it is mainly used for product discovery. Here are the few observations made by us on search functionality of the website:
It is a known fact that an item page is a crucial part of any e-commerce website. When it comes to activity page of your online travel experience portal, one can argue that it has to be user centric. One way of doing it by displaying carousel images in the top fold of the page related to that particular activity. Additionally you can also highlight activity cost and buy button. Users can also have the option to add the particular activity to their bucket list from this page. Other details which add value to this page include:
Rather than just being an online e-commerce portal catering to travel enthusiasts, do ensure that your website aims at becoming a one-stop gateway for all the information related to personalized activities. The above-mentioned approach recommended by FATbit will surely provide an edge to your website in attaining success.
Recommended Read: Things An Entrepreneur Ought To Know Before Planning a Travel Based Start-Up
As discussed above, in order to add a revenue stream you can also sell adventure gear along with the activities. This web page design for this section can be similar to the activities page focusing on interactive information. The top fold would display images of the items as well as buying option. The bottom fold would include:
Most eCommerce platforms ignore this section and do not lay much emphasis on its design. However, the fact of the matter is that platform can increase their sales by properly optimizing the shopping cart. Let us look at the best approach for your online travel experience platform:
While browsing through the website users might find an activity or item interesting. This is where a feature to add that item to favorites would come in handy. This would allow users to bookmark any activity or product easily by adding them to the favorites. Users can access this section by going into their account. They can also have the option to edit the list and share it with others.
Most eCommerce websites incorporate a referral program in order to acquire new users. This is, in fact, one of the most efficient ways to garnering a connected community. You can also have the same on your website to increase your user base. You can also provide options to track the referrals and total earnings via the same.
Although we have covered almost all the key features necessary to create an advanced travel booking portal, still there are certain areas which are needed to be kept in mind as far as UI of the website is concerned. Here are the ones found by our team of analysts:
The travel industry is a tough nut to crack, but with the proper business model and advanced website features as mentioned by us above, profitability can be achieved with ease. If you are an entrepreneur interested in starting your own online travel experience website, then, you must pay heed to the above-mentioned features.
Also Read: How to Connect with Tour Operators for Your Travel Activity Booking Marketplace
Go for a script or collaborate with experienced design and development professionals to develop your travel website with new features. FATbit would be happy to help you create your our own your own travel activity booking website. Get in touch with us to discuss project requirements.
Learn about development cost of an online travel experience website
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