Hostelworld, the leading budget travel site, today announced the launch of their brand new native iPad app for the Chinese, Korean & Japanese markets on the Apple App Store. The app was launched on the app store in English in July 2014 and quickly got featured as one of the Best New Apps by Apple in 49 countries around the world.
Speaking at the event, CEO of Hostelworld, Feargal Mooney, acknowledged that Hostelworld recognises the importance that mobile plays for its customers. “Our customers are young, tech savvy and inherently mobile.
“They are increasingly choosing to book with us on tablet and mobile devices so it makes perfect sense for us to focus our attention on mobile and create the best possible experiences on these platforms. Mobile is experiencing triple digit year on year growth for us but up to now there was no localised version of our mobile offering for the key Asian markets. We clearly recognise the growth opportunity these markets present and iPad is a key element in our mobile strategy for Asia.”
Version 2.0 of the Hostelworld iPad app is the first native app launched by Hostelworld. It takes complete advantage of the compelling design and unique user experience iOS offers.
“When we started out designing for iPad, we felt that we could create something really special”, says Breffni Horgan, Head of Mobile at Hostelworld. “Designing for iPad gives us the opportunity to truly immerse our customers in a destination because it provides us with the freedom to present our hostels in an engaging way. With large scale imagery, intuitive maps and easy access to filter results, we think finding the perfect hostel on iPad will be a breeze.”
The release of this new app is just one in a series of launches the company is planning for the Asian markets over the coming months. A new native Android app will be launched this month and that will be followed by a new native iPhone app.
