Mobile remains one of the biggest strategic focus areas for OTAs

The U.S. travel market continued its stellar recovery in 2022, with a total gross bookings increase of 51% over the prior year. OTAs comprised just over a fifth of the total U.S. market during this period.

While OTAs like Hopper and HotelTonight have always been app-first or app-only, mobile was just one part of the puzzle for the larger OTAs. But several factors, among them reducing their marketing spend and their reliance on Google, along with their need to acquire first-party data, have made direct customer interaction via their own sites and apps increasingly important.

The larger OTAs like Expedia Group and Booking.com have also emphasized the importance of their apps as a channel to win and retain customers for the long term. Further underlining the importance of apps, according to Expedia its app users drive 2.5 times the gross profit and repeat business over an 18-month period compared to a non-app user. At the end of 2022, Expedia had 60% more active app users than any prior year. Booking saw about 45% of its room nights booked through its app in 2022, a 13-percentage point increase over 2019.

Forty-seven percent of OTA gross bookings were booked via mobile in 2022, nearly ten points higher than in 2019 (see figure below). Mobile share will continue to grow as the large OTAs continue their push to get customers to transact on their apps. In 2023, more than half of OTA gross bookings are projected to come from mobile.

Good news continues with research showing that all segments registered double-digit revenue increases in 2022.

U.S. Online Travel Agency Market Report 2022-2026?provides a comprehensive view of the U.S. online travel agency channel, including detailed market sizing and projections through 2026, distribution trends, key developments and more.

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