How to Optimize Booking Funnels for Travel Businesses

If your travel website looks great, the traffic’s great, but bookings… not so much, it may be time for your booking funnel makeover.

 

Here, you will find tips on how to improve a travel site’s or app’s conversion rate using design best practices, analytics, and innovation. If you are just about to start an online travel business, they’ll still be helpful! 

As experts in building online booking systems and compelling user interfaces for international businesses, we also know how to optimize booking funnels for existing services.

 

For example, when Onix overhauled the 10Adventures website, our technical expertise and meticulous planning helped integrate content from tour operators worldwide into a unified platform and deliver a rich, seamless booking experience.

 

Holistic Approach to a Travel Booking Funnel Makeover

The saturated travel market forces businesses to continuously work on their marketing funnels, from the moment a potential guest first encounters a service to the moment they recommend it to someone else.

Knowledge of consumer psychology, compelling content, and new technologies should support your travel marketing funnel transformation, but only a data-driven approach at each stage will ensure effective, continuous booking funnel conversion optimization.

It’s also essential that the marketing, sales, and operations teams align around shared key performance indicators (KPIs) to prevent silos.

Commercial strategy teams have long adopted data-driven approaches to upper-funnel travel marketing. Unfortunately, the middle of the funnel is often overlooked, whereas it is the decision stage that should culminate in a booking or reservation. 

It is a task for professional travel software developers and forward-looking user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers to craft webpages so appealing, a booking process so intuitive, and a checkout so smooth that they will turn leads into happy customers and advocates of your brand.

This task appears especially daunting in an industry where shopping cart abandonment exceeds 80%. However, online travel businesses and software developers are lucky to have modern analytics tools, often powered by artificial intelligence, that can assist with travel booking funnel conversion optimization.

Before dropping off at checkout or earlier, visitors usually display behaviors indicating struggles with their decision or the interface. Google Analytics, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, and other heat-mapping tools and session recordings can help you identify exact abandonment locations and elements that cause hesitation or confusion.

Next, the team must understand the reasons for drop-offs. Experienced software designers may provide valuable insights, but user feedback, interviews, and direct observation of users interacting with the website or app are indispensable. This information will enable targeted strategies to address the identified UX/UI problems and increase conversion rates.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) requires continuous testing and experiments. For example, Booking.com uses A/B testing to assess whether a change to the website or mobile application improves the customer experience.

 

They randomly assign customers to one of two groups: one sees the change, and the other sees the website or app unchanged. The random assignment enables Booking.com to conclude that the observed difference between the groups was indeed caused by the software change.

 

They analyse the results using a statistical test that leads to one of two possible business decisions: either the software change had a positive effect and will be shipped, or it didn't and won’t be shipped.

Travel businesses must track every step of the traveler journey, from inquiry to booking confirmation, considering

 

• destination performance
• seasonal booking patterns
• traveler segmentation (traveler types and booking preferences)
• traveler persona development
• trip type segmentation (luxury, budget, adventure, etc.)
• seasonal traveler targeting
• personalized destination recommendations, etc.

As a proponent of data-driven design and AI integration that enhances the usability, efficiency, and competitiveness of our clients’ sites and apps, Onix can offer a lot of advice.

This article focuses on the middle part of your data-driven marketing funnel for travel bookings, detailing the tactics, best practices, tools, and metrics to help you smoothly guide prospects to a booking. Let’s start with the interest and consideration stages.

Tips on Early Booking Funnel Optimization

When a potential customer explores your website, it must stimulate their interest, personalize their booking procedure, and instill confidence and trust in your service. Simultaneously, it must capture the visitors’ details to begin building traveler persona profiles and delivering relevant content and offers.

 

Whether you are improving or only building a booking funnel, the things to focus on at this stage are:

 

1. Optimization for mobile devices
2. Ensuring your website’s high speed and performance
3. Convenience
4. Informative and appealing content
5. Personalization
6. Trust signals
7. Transparency

 

Prioritize mobile optimization

Most travel bookings already come from mobile devices, where abandonment rates are traditionally higher than on desktop (often due to poor design). This calls for prioritizing your website’s mobile UX and page speed.

Source

 

Moreover, travelers often switch between desktop and mobile devices when planning and booking a trip. If you enable them to start a booking on one device and complete it on another, you may improve your conversion rates.

 

Mobile-first design implies minimalist copy, thumb-friendly buttons, scrollable galleries, and minimized pop-ups.

 

Make sure that your booking engine is fully responsive and works seamlessly on all screen sizes. Aim for a response time of below 2 seconds for search results. Mobile-optimized APIs (application programming interfaces) and intelligent caching may help.

 

Read also: Travel APIs: Types, Benefits, Best APIs & How to Choose Them

 

For example, when Onix was developing TravelBid, a web platform for booking special deals on hotel rooms, transfers, and car rentals in Cyprus, we used Vue.js to program the front-end application. To make it mobile-friendly, the developers had to use some JavaScript libraries and integrate them into Vue.js.

Onix’s designer properly adopted TravelBid’s web interface for mobile browsers.

 

Enhance website speed and performance

Slow-loading websites and conversions are incompatible. If your web page takes up to 6 seconds to load, the chance of visitors bouncing increases by 106%, and half of mobile users will bounce after 3 seconds.

Moreover, Google prioritizes websites that load quickly in its rankings. Your booking engine must also return search queries as quickly as possible to facilitate bookings.

You can start improving your website’s speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

Some of the ways to reduce load times include

 

• image compression
• browser caching
• minimizing the use of heavy scripts

For example, working on the 10Adventures platform, the Onix team employed image optimization, lazy loading, and caching mechanisms to maintain the integrity of comprehensive adventure reviews while ensuring optimal website performance.

Onix successfully balanced 10Adventures’ rich content and fast loading times.

 

Regularly check your booking engine’s uptime and promptly address any technical issues. Peak-season performance optimization is necessary to prevent lost sales during the period when most bookings are expected.

 

When you are only building a booking funnel, plan for scalability. Your infrastructure must handle high traffic, growing demand, and peak travel seasons. 

For instance, when Onix built a booking platform for Kozystay, an Indonesian apartment booking service, we made sure it was easy to scale, maintain, and manage. We also integrated it with the client’s preferred channel manager software.

 

After launch, the booking platform worked stably for 3 years without any bug fixes or further development, until Onix handed over the project documentation and code to Kozystay’s IT team.

Simplify and enhance the layouts and navigation

Ensure that your website’s user interface (UI) is clean, intuitive, and easy to navigate. A cluttered layout will deter visitors, and confusing navigation leads to page abandonment.

You can evaluate your travel website’s UX/UI by measuring

 

1. Drop-off rates – the percentage of users who abandon the website at each step of the booking process
2. Time-to-booking – the average duration of the booking process, from landing on the website to booking confirmation
3. Step duration – the time users spend on particular pages or steps
4. Conversion rate – the percentage of users who complete the booking process

For example, a long time-to-booking may indicate confusion. By identifying steps that take too long or have the highest drop-off rates, you can identify bottlenecks to focus on.

In any case, try to reduce the number of steps in your travel booking flow without sacrificing clarity. A progress indicator will set users’ expectations.

For instance, Onix’s experts streamlined the customer journey on 10Adventures through region-based content navigation. It enabled travelers to explore content related to specific geographic locations instead of activities. 

Intuitive interfaces that facilitated effortless regional searches were pivotal to the redesign of 10Adventures by Onix.

Minimize the effort required from users at each step, such as clicks, scrolls, or typing (e.g., using auto-fill).

Make it easy for users to find the essential information and booking functionality using prominent “Book Now” buttons.

For example, Onix’s web designers created a user-centric app experience and interfaces for Kozystay that balance aesthetics and functionality across desktop and mobile screens. 

 

The minimalist homepage offers an intuitive search function that lets travelers enter their desired check-in and check-out dates, guests, and preferred location.

 

Yellow, the primary color in the interface palette, evokes a sense of cozy tranquility, and soft beige backgrounds help highlight the buttons and other functional elements.

Along with the booking app UX/UI design, Onix created for Kozystay a brand identity, including the logo, color palette, typography, and iconography.

 

Travel businesses should continuously evaluate and test all elements of their website and apps to identify areas for improvement. Tools like Google Analytics

 can help track user behavior within a booking funnel.

 

It’s also important to experiment with website and booking engine layouts, content and functional element placements, headline and booking form field variations, and call-to-action (CTA) button colors to determine what helps convert leads and what doesn’t.

 

The website developers need to test solutions iteratively, document learnings, and maintain a central repository of test results to inform future CRO efforts.

 

It’s recommended to implement lookback periods of 30-90 days.
 

Leverage content to impress, entice, and convince

Content comes into play long before a traveler decides to look for particular rooms or services. From the moment a traveler opens your website, every piece of content should cultivate their interest, and each interaction with your content should feed your system with information for lead profiles.

 

For example, targeting keywords like "Best family-friendly destinations in France" will enable you to capture your target traveler personas early on, guide them towards relevant destination content, capture their preferences, and start building insights that will help convert them at the decision stage.

 

Take a look at one of Onix’s longest-standing clients – the world’s largest “gay hotelier” misterb&b. The website not only facilitates accommodation bookings but also promotes comfortable, safe, and exciting travel and networking among the LGBTQ+ community. Its blog features the latest gay travel news, travel guides, insider tips, trending destinations, must-attend LGBTQ+ events worldwide, and more.

 

The platform is connected with Vero, a customer engagement platform that facilitates advanced customer segmentation and offers content creation and design tools for personalization. Its A/B testing capabilities allow marketers to see what content and timing works best for different customer groups. 

10Adventures also has a blog, a podcast, and a weekly newsletter that provides inspiration, insider tips, and exclusive travel deals.

 

Many travel websites offer downloadable travel guides, packing lists, local phrasebooks, and similar materials in exchange for email addresses. For example, popular blog posts may be enriched with opt-in CTA forms.   

 

Localization will amplify relevance, ensuring that messaging resonates across cultures and languages. 

It’s helpful to provide content in English and regional languages to reach a broader audience. For instance, among the automation solutions that Onix implemented for misterb&b were

 

• Automated translation of the accommodation descriptions and other texts.
• Image censoring. It was necessary to preclude users from uploading inappropriate profile pictures or property photos, such as images containing nudity, or property photos with contact information, allowing users to arrange stays bypassing the platform. Integration with the Sightengine ensures an automatic identification of such images.
• Fraud detection. Onix also developed a system that discovers illegitimate and high-risk financial activities, such as credit card transactions, theft, cyber hacking, and suspicious messages. This feature enables misterb&b to detect scams in real time.

 

Read also: Online Travel Fraud: Common Types & Prevention Tools

 

When Onix was redesigning the 10Adventures website, its varied content also posed a significant technical challenge. The website offering hikes, ski tours, treks, and other outdoor activities worldwide included interactive maps, user-generated content, and booking systems. 

 

Onix was tasked with integrating content from 10Hikes, 10SkiTours, and 10Treks into a unified platform while maintaining consistency and clarity essential for a good UX.

 

Onix’s experts achieved that through meticulous categorization and tagging. They introduced standardized templates and design elements that supported a unified presentation while accommodating the unique characteristics of each adventure type. This approach ensured a consistent experience for users exploring various activities.

 

Read also: Travel Data Aggregation | How To Build a Travel Website Like Expedia

 

The metrics for measuring travelers’ interest in your content include:

 

1. Lead magnet conversion rate – the percentage of visitors who submit their details
2. Email list growth – net new subscribers per week/month
3. Content engagement: time users spend on a page, scroll depth, and click-through rates (CTRs) on embedded CTAs

 

Track engagements such as newsletter sign-ups and guide downloads, which often predict macro-conversions.

 

Tools like OptinMonster and Typeform can help you measure these indicators. 

 

Cross-stage analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, Looker Studio, or Mixpanel, can be integrated via APIs or a Customer Data Platform (CDP). They will ensure unified data flow and more accurate attribution modeling.

 

Suppose your website has impressed the visitor, or they have come prepared for booking. At this stage, insufficient service/product details, missing customer feedback, or vague policies may trigger page abandonment. The opposite, plus high-quality photos of a hotel room, property, or location, can persuade them to book. 

 

For instance, Kozystay’s website features professional photos of recommended apartments, enticing travelers to explore the best options. Each listing page offers photos and a comprehensive overview, including detailed descriptions, prices, reviews, a map, and booking date selection. Testimonials help build trust.

Onix’s designer meticulously selected ready-made icons to visualize all possible amenities at apartments and houses on the Kozystay platform.

 

Videos showcasing unique features or available activities can be equally effective, and virtual tours of the rooms, event spaces, restaurants, and wellness areas can give potential guests a realistic sense of what to expect. A virtual reality (VR) experience can take it to the next level.

Read also: AR / VR in Travel and Tourism: Trends, Benefits & Use Cases

Many hotel websites offer VR tours, and more hoteliers are developing or considering VR maps of their properties to support them. A VR app can connect clients and hotel sales teams right inside a digital twin of a property.  

 

For example, the boutique GHV hotel in Vicenza, Italy, saw a 37% increase in bookings after enriching its marketing portfolio with a virtual tour. 360-degree views of the key hotel areas not only reflected the luxury offering but also enabled reservations directly from the tour via a dynamic “Book Now” button.

Personalize your customer experience

Travel businesses should use data to tailor the booking experience to each visitor, thereby increasing conversion rates. Customers also appreciate online services that remember their preferences and personalize their bookings with add-ons.

AI-powered engines can help personalize customer journeys and offerings using various data:

 

• Metadata (location, browser, device, referral source, etc.)
• Behavioral data (previous bookings, searches, subscriptions, conversations with chatbots, and other online activities)
• Past purchases and preferences
• Social media data (ratings, customer feedback, shared photos, comments, geo-tagged locations, etc.)

Some of the tools that facilitate personalization and upselling are:

 

• On-site chatbot. AI-powered chatbots can answer questions instantly, suggest ancillaries, and guide visitors throughout the search and booking journey.
• Customized recommendations. Travel websites can suggest add-ons or upgrades, such as spa packages, breakfast packages, room enhancements, airport transfers, car rentals, guided tours, etc., based on previous bookings and browsing data.
• Dynamic pricing. You may use tools like Duetto to adjust pricing strategies based on demand patterns, seasonality, customer segmentation, and guest preferences. Offering exclusive discounts for repeat guests or members can also drive conversions. 
• Price prediction. AI-powered systems can also analyze historical price points, predict where pricing is headed based on current market data, and advise travelers on when to book to get the best deals.

Modern technology also enables user segmentation based on role, location, behavioral patterns, and other factors, as well as the automatic adaptation of interfaces, layouts, feeds, and other website elements to different segments’ needs.

 

Read also: The Tech Advantage: Trends Reshaping Hospitality and Guest Engagement

 

For example, Onix helped develop a Japanese platform that uses customer data, advanced ML algorithms, and geospatial intelligence to facilitate hotel bookings. Some of the solutions include:

 

• Individual preferences. At registration, travelers can select their favorite hotel chains, essential amenities, and desired destinations. The platform gathers real-time data to match accommodations with each customer’s unique interests and requirements.For instance, if they expressed interest in museums, the platform will suggest hotels near such cultural attractions.

 

It tailors the search process and interface elements to the customer’s primary preferences, such as displaying recommended hotels on a map of their chosen location. The platform seamlessly adapts to changing preferences and destinations, offering new personalized recommendations.

 

• Amenities filtering. The platform filters hotels by desired amenities, including swimming pools, parking, free Wi-Fi, and complimentary breakfast.
• Location-based filtering. The platform prioritizes hotels in areas the user has previously visited and hotels with higher review scores and ample customer feedback.

 

Travelers can filter hotels by proximity to specific metro stations, and the platform will calculate distances and present relevant results aligned with travelers’ preferred transportation modes. It customizes location-based promotions and discounts on the homepage according to each user’s preferences.

• Dynamic pricing. Algorithms factor in seasonal variations, special events, and booking lead times to give travelers real-time pricing information. Travelers appreciate the ability to make well-informed decisions and save money during peak seasons or promotional periods.
• Saved searches and preferences. The platform allows users to save their preferred search criteria and hotel preferences in their account. It stores the information locally, ensuring continuity across devices and locations, and utilizes it to enhance query parameters.

 

A unique feature allows users to share their saved search criteria and preferences with others, who can share insights and recommendations. Users can even reset filters for their contacts. Dynamic URLs reflecting saved search criteria facilitate sharing filtered results.

 

• Booking history. The platform intelligently leverages previous bookings to suggest similar options, catering to returning customers' preferences and habits.

 

For instance, if they typically opt for hotels near tourist attractions, the platform highlights relevant promotions in those areas and prioritizes familiar neighborhoods or business districts based on past interactions. Recommendations also consider positive feedback from similar travelers, enriching the selection process.

 

• Special offers and discounts. The platform generates personalized offers and discounts based on prior reservations and user preferences. The homepage can highlight special promotions for those hotels that meet the traveler’s criteria.

 

For example, suppose they frequently select hotels within a specific price range or with specific amenities. In that case, the platform prominently displays relevant offers for similar hotels on the homepage or the user account page.

 

• Favorites and visit history. The user profile section includes a list of previously viewed hotels, which is handy for customers who revisit specific locations.
• Intelligent profiling. The platform dynamically profiles users based on guest-hotel interactions, continuously learning and adapting to individual preferences to ensure that recommendations evolve with the customer.
• Feedback loop. The platform encourages customers to provide insights into their experiences and meticulously collects user feedback and behavior data. 

 

Read also: Hyper-Personalization in Hospitality – a Step beyond Customization

 

Onix has a track record of building AI/ML solutions that can promote personalization. For instance, our team also built an enterprise chatbot based on Rasa. This conversational AI platform facilitates automated customer interactions at scale. The use of SpacyNLP improved the recognition and response to requests. 

 

Read also: Generative AI in Travel: Unlocking Personalized Experiences

 

Implement trust signals

Building trust is crucial, since travelers may be sharing personal and payment information. Positive customer reviews, testimonials, and user-created content on travel websites help build immediate trust with visitors and may encourage bookings.

For example, the homepage of 10Adventures features a “Book with Confidence” video, prominent “10 reasons to book with us” CTAs, and dozens of traveler video reviews.

 

Other trust signals that should reassure your potential customers are:

 

• Industry awards and recognition badges, partner and ambassador logos, media publications, etc.
• Secure payment gateways. Prominently displayed secure payment badges and certifications should indicate that your payment process is safe.
• Contact us. You should reassure travelers that they can easily access support or information by providing multiple communication channels.
• About us. A section that informs travelers about your travel platform’s background, values, and commitment to providing excellent service should also instill trust and confidence.

FAQ and policies. Cancellation, refund, accommodation, safety, privacy, and other policies, terms, and rules should be easily accessible and clearly outlined to eliminate any uncertainties that could prevent a booking.

misterb&b’s footer features links to the Help Center, social media, and media mentions, and payment method icons to build trust and signal secure booking options before checkout.  

For example, misterb&b makes it clear that

 

• All hosts and guests are identity-verified
• Payments are secured via PCI-DSS-compliant systems
• The customer support team is available 24/7
• In the case of a last-minute host cancellation, the customer support will help travelers find a replacement stay or offer alternatives

 

Make sure you comply with GDPR and other applicable regulations, with clear cookie consent and data-use policies.

 

Read also: How to Create a Website Like Airbnb: MisterB&B Case

Ensure transparency

Baymard’s recent study revealed that 39% of American online shoppers have abandoned their carts because the extra costs were too high, and 14% because they couldn’t see or calculate the total cost up-front.

Source

 

Costs popping up only at checkout are not only frustrating for travelers with limited budgets. Concealing extra costs may be viewed as deception that started on the listing page; this will shatter a customer’s trust in your service and make them leave for good.

Travel websites and apps should display complete pricing as early as possible in the booking process, rather than adding taxes, service fees, and processing fees at later stages of checkout. 

Seeing the total cost from the beginning forms realistic expectations and saves time. If an item’s price seems steep, they’ll quickly move on to more affordable offers, raising the chances of booking. Transparent up-front pricing is also mandatory in many countries.

 

It is helpful to display prices, fees, and tax breakdowns in the customer’s currency. Multi-currency displays and dynamic currency conversion will significantly enhance the customer experience.

 

The same is true about dates and times. Having international travelers manually account for time zone differences can lead to confusion and costly errors. A convenient time converter on the website will reduce friction and facilitate bookings.

 

It’s also important to inform travelers about the available payment options in advance, preferably including certified international payment providers and popular local options.

Once a visitor has been convinced your booking platform is trustworthy, reliable, and convenient, has looked through all of the options, and weighed up their pros and cons, they will move on to completing the booking. Now, your task is to remove any friction and hurdles to make the checkout as easy and fast as possible.

 

How to Optimize Booking Funnels’ Checkout Stage

Analytics tools will identify common abandonment locations and struggle points during checkout, as well as early abandonment predictors to monitor, such as

 

• leads spending excessive time on payment pages 
• repeated switching between checkout and listing pages
• opening competitor tabs for price comparisons

 

Regular analysis of checkout drop-off points through analytics, user recordings, and feedback surveys is essential, as is measuring your checkout speed, required steps, form complexity, trust indicators, and transparency against industry leaders.

Tools like Mouseflow can show you exactly how leads interact with your checkout compared to industry standards.

User feedback analysis will not only provide valuable insights into checkout friction. Simple exit surveys appeal to consumers’ desire to speak out, potentially re-engaging them with your brand and increasing the likelihood of return to your platform. Asking why they left can make users reconsider their decisions.

Analysis of their answers and behavior data will inform your strategies for optimizing the checkout process. Understanding percentages of abandonment at different points will help you prioritize the optimization tasks. 

You also need to continuously measure your booking funnel optimization and set thresholds for KPI drops that trigger prompt reviews. The primary metrics are:

 

• Cart abandonment rate – the percentage of bookings that were initiated but not completed
• Booking conversion rate – number of bookings divided by sessions on booking pages
• Average order value (AOV) – total booking revenue divided by the number of bookings

 

To measure ROI and continual improvement of your data-driven marketing funnel for travel bookings, it’s recommended to use Looker Studio or Salesforce’s Tableau to blend data from Google Analytics, your CRM, and ad platforms.

Luckily, most of the abandonment triggers at checkout identified by Baymard’s study can be addressed solely through design adjustments. These include:

 

• mandatory user account creation
• lengthy or complicated checkout process
• reluctance to share personal and credit card details due to a lack of trust
• insufficient payment options

 

Let’s take a look at how you can address these issues and optimize customer experiences, build trust, and increase conversion rates.

 

Allow guest checkout

Mandatory account creation and the absence of guest checkout are major friction points, especially during one-time purchases.

 

The concept of “perceived checkout effort,” i.e. the actions users have to take, is important for conversion. While the goal is to minimize effort and friction, a full registration adds more steps to the booking process and requires more information than leads are willing to provide before they have seen any value.

 

One solution is to offer a guest account that requires no official sign-up or email confirmation, with the option to convert it to a customer account after purchase. You will have a chance to present your membership programs and other benefits of registration on the confirmation page or in follow-up emails.

Although the ability to check out as a “guest” is key to reducing unnecessary abandonments, 62% of websites don’t prioritize it. 

Consider adding a “Checkout as Guest” button next to the “New Customer” section. If you do, make sure it is the most prominent option at the account-selection step of checkout. 

 

Still, since registered customers provide more information and possibly more opportunities for a long-term relationship, you may alternatively highlight membership incentives and rewards as early as checkout. Anticipation of future value may justify immediate efforts.

If you insist on registration, remember that overly strict password rules can lead to a 19% increase in checkout abandonment when existing accounts have trouble signing in on subsequent visits. 65% of websites also require overly complex passwords.

Baymard recommends either requiring a minimum of 6-8 characters for passwords or implementing passwordless security measures, such as two-factor authentication and “magic links.”

Enhance the checkout UX

Users form opinions within seconds. During this brief window, they will evaluate the simplicity, security, speed, trustworthiness, clarity, professional appearance, and convenience of your checkout process.

Security certifications and clear progress indicators will immediately create a positive first impression of your checkout page.

Unexpected pop-ups or payment windows may be perceived as attempted fraud. Make sure your checkout windows look and feel like a part of your business.

Prioritize mobile-first checkout design, including

 

• single-column layouts optimized for small screens
• reduced form fields with auto-complete functionality
• touch-friendly button sizes
• mobile-specific payment integration (Apple Pay and Google Pay)

Regularly test the checkout experience across multiple mobile devices and optimize mobile page load speed.

Another potential issue is the number of form fields. Most sites do not need more than eight.
 
Make sure to denote obligatory fields with asterisks and optional fields with text in parentheses. Marking both required and optional fields in forms will prevent confusion.

Remember that consumers normally don’t like to share their phone numbers, fearing spam and other inconveniences, and prefer service providers to direct communication to their email. 

Incomplete form submissions, excessive time per field, and frequent errors are indicators of  struggles with your checkout form. Users repeatedly clicking between fields without moving on signal a major friction point.

 

Ensure all payment forms are easy to understand; error messages during payment cause frustration and mistrust.

 

The content of error messages is vital to quick recovery from errors. Rather than providing a generic message for all validation errors, they should explain why each error occurred.

For instance, “Your card number is incomplete” is preferable to the generic “Your card number is invalid”. During Baymard’s testing, error messages that provided specific details dramatically reduced the number of participants who had to abandon their purchases.

Start by tracking all validation errors in the checkout flow. Then, implement “Adaptive Error Messages” for the validation errors that

 

1. occur most frequently
2. have the highest checkout abandonment rate after receiving an error

Address trust issues

Baymard’s large-scale UX testing consistently reveals that users are concerned about the security and confidentiality of their personal information online. Customers expect a higher fraud risk when booking international travel.

For example, over 70% reportedly are reluctant to provide a phone number at checkout, citing concerns ranging from receiving unwanted marketing calls to fears of identity theft.

 

During testing, many participants assumed the site would use their numbers for unwanted marketing. Some provided false information or abandoned the checkout process altogether.

Meanwhile, 49% of websites don’t explain why a phone number is required.

To address users’ privacy concerns and avoid problems caused by fake data, sites should clearly explain why some information is required and how it will be used. By providing a clear, concise explanation, making the field optional, or removing it altogether, sites can address the users’ privacy concerns head-on.

Customer service available during checkout also increases users’ confidence and trust.

Provide diverse and safe payment options

Users who don’t find their preferred payment option on the checkout page will leave it immediately. Enhance the payment experience by:

 

• Integrate payment systems, digital wallets, BNPL, and local options in the target markets alongside credit/debit cards. 
• Displaying prices in the customer’s currency with clear tax breakdowns.
• Offering dynamic currency conversion

It’s vital to know your market and target audiences. For example, Visa and Mastercard are by far the most popular non-domestic credit cards in European countries, but their market shares vary widely by country.

Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the UK demonstrate high market shares, whereas consumers in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Norway prefer their domestic and other payment solutions over global leaders.

For example, misterb&b offers a variety of secure payment options to ensure a smooth booking experience. 

 

Read also: Digital Transformation in Travel with Single Payments

 

If you cater to the European market, keep in mind that not all countries use the Euro as their main currency. Make sure that your pricing options are properly localized.

Answer the following questions:

 

• Which payment options do your competitors provide?
• Are regional payment restrictions blocking transactions?
• Does your payment processing experience delays?

Bonus tip: Develop proactive tactics

Users’ exit behavior may trigger pop-ups that present last-chance offers, discount codes, or assistance opportunities. Well-designed exit-intent offers enable immediate help with questions or concerns and can recover fence-sitting customers.

Booking urgency and scarcity tactics, such as a real-time availability indicator (“Only 2 nights left this weekend!”) or a countdown timer for a special offer, can improve your conversion rate.

 

For instance, Booking.com uses urgency notifications that highlight limited room availability and potential price increases. They claim to recover up to 15% of abandoned bookings!

 

Exit-intent surveys can also provide valuable optimization data for your checkout process. 

Wrapping Up

In an increasingly competitive travel market, sustainable growth is driven not by price alone but by the quality, relevance, and ease of a platform’s booking experience.

 

A data-driven marketing funnel for travel bookings allows businesses to continuously align with real customer behavior, reduce friction at critical decision points, and optimize every stage of the customer journey.

 

Brands can significantly improve conversion rates by simplifying their booking flows, addressing cart abandonment through guest checkout and flexible payments, and applying analytics-led CRO.

 

Companies that leverage strategy, technology, creativity, and customer psychology will succeed in creating seamless, high-performing booking experiences across devices, markets, and seasons. 

 

With a systematic approach to booking funnel design, implementation, testing, and optimization, Onix can help you build travel booking systems that convert consistently and scale efficiently. 

 

If you want to know how your travel website or app performs or how to optimize a booking funnel for your unique business, there’s nothing easier than to ask Onix!