Feel that? It’s the tug of faraway lands and experiential joy of our collective wanderlust, stifled these past 15 months by horrendous events that made the world a smaller, scarier place.
Forget all that. With pent-up travel demand now getting radically un-pent (pent?), we’re seeing these movements echoed in the PYMNTS Provider Ranking of Travel Apps this month.
Big brands are switching places, tied scores are being smashed, and new entrants are appearing as leisure and business travelers choose their apps, book their destinations and fly away.
Like a jetliner leaving for exotic locales, let’s get this ranking off the ground.
The Top Five
Still there at No. 1 is Booking.com, which teamed with Crypto.com earlier this year on new payment options. Dropping one spot to break last month’s tie at the top is Airbnb at No. 2.
The Vrbo app drops a spot to become our new No. 3, with its recent buy now, pay later (BNPL) deal with Affirm firmly in place since March.
That move caused the Hopper app to hop down one spot as well, taking up the No. 4 chart position after raising another $170 million in March.
For this Provider Ranking of Travel Apps, it’s Hotels.com at No. 5, falling a spot from last month but staying in the top five. As hotels start accepting guests at scale, this will get interesting.
That’s your top five travel apps, delivered faster than a Gulfstream G550. We fly on.
The Top 10
Dropping out of the top five after a brief stay to land at No. 6 this cycle is the Skyscanner app.
KAYAK remains right-side-up at No. 7, touting new app features customized for smaller independent hotels that want to be part of the connected economy.
Falling two spots from last month, we’ve got the popular TripAdvisor app at No. 8. TripAdvisor is experimenting this year with a new travel subscription service priced at $99 annually, and promising members better access to pricing, experiences and sundry exclusives.
Now, for a few last-minute additions that made the flight.
New at No. 9 this month is the FlightAware real-time flight status and tracking app.
Closing out the top 10 for this Provider Ranking of Travel Apps is newcomer AllTrails at No. 10, with its maps, photos and recordings crowdsourced from over 10 million outdoor enthusiasts.
Watch this space in the coming months as travel really gets going again, and apps look to cash in on the 2021 travel bug — since “the germ that must not be named” is finally in retreat.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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