Hopper Like Big-Data and AI-Based Travel Application: Development and Cost Estimation
“Relax — booking travel just got easy.”
This is how Hopper has introduced itself in its website. This mobile-only flight booking application has become one of the most cutting-edge travel apps in the world. “The app has sold more than $600 million worth of flights since its launch in 2015”, said by Fred Lalonde, founder, and CEO of Hopper in one of his interviews with Mitra Sorrells in April 2018.
He also mentioned that Hopper is selling about $1.5 million flights every day in the same interview.
The huge success Hopper has achieved in such a short period making it the most lucrative business start-up idea. The startup that raised $300 million in 2016 has raised another $100 million in funding and set to make nearly $1 billion in sales this year. Many entrepreneurs are looking to develop Hopper like application. Here it is crucial to understand the ‘App’ and how it functions to get a full-fledged app developed and estimate the cost of development.
Let’s first understand “Hopper.”
Hopper — It is a mobile-only flight and hotel booking application co-founded by a former Expedia executive Fred Lalonde. He has found the opportunity for AI in the travel segment and developed Hopper that uses AI to predicts prices with 95% accuracy up to 1 year in advance [ as mentioned in Hopper landing page]. Today, it is the only application available in the world that provides accuracy at such scale and guides people to ‘book at exactly the right time’ and saves.
The app is developed using an AI framework that not only helps people find good deals, but also discover trips they may not have known that they specifically wanted to take.
Let’s take a quick look at the app and identify how Hopper has carved a space for itself.
Instead of pressure selling like booking.com that is using technology and doing things like “only two rooms left,” Hopper is using AI to understand the intent and pattern of booking flights and hotels for travel. Later, it suggests your best days and origin book your trip.
Leveraging AI, the application aims to predict price what a user is looking for not the airlines have to sell. It makes the app different from other online shopping sites.
Additionally, Hopper is a mobile-based travel app. As per its agreements with airlines and travel partners, it allowed booking through the app only. It sends push notifications to users to notify/alter them for the best time to book flights.
You do not need to spend so much time to get the right fare as you spend on the website of Kayak or Travelocity. On Hopper, the flow goes like a user mention where they want to go (it can be an entire country). Being a user, you don’t even need to enter dates anymore — you express what you need, and Hopper starts notifying you.
How did Hopper claim to be 95% Accurate in Fare?
Fred Lalonde is using Artificial Intelligence distinctively, and he means it. The CEO — Hopper said to Mitra Sorrells, “we apply user data to the pricing.”
Hopper leverages its mobile-only presence. Through push notifications, the app manages to welcome back the user to the app on average every four to five days. In the course of trip planning and selecting departure date — so for 120 days, the user comes in on every four to five days. Hopper has that much richness in data that give them a better understanding of what people want to do for the travel that never thought and captured by anyone neither Google nor Facebook.
On such data set, Hopper applied AI layers for over a year and made a prediction that what people will buy.
“What’s fascinating about that is today about 25% of every ticket that we sell on Hopper was a ticket that the person did not look. It’s the AI that sold it.” Fred Lalonde — Hopper”
What’s Your Take Out From It?
The thing that makes Hopper different is the prediction it made. Hopper has its database. They have collected data over the 5–6 years that can be easily looked back to gather insights such as intents and purposes of flight shopping.
Hopper crunches data to understand flight shopping patterns such as user’s search patterns, preferred location, and so much and suggest when the best flight prices are available.
What You Should Consider While Developing Hopper Like Application
The significant thing here is to consider the use of the database. Every application’s base is the data that it utilized and provide search results. The way Hopper predicts fare about flights and give a suggestion, for this they do not depend on database APIs of the third party.
How Development Will Go If You Wish Hopper Like Application?
Ultimate Features Development: Hopper guides its users for a better outcome. Initially, you should focus on developing a mobile-only application with all the ultimate features. Once you decide all prominent features and the list is clear in your mind, you should begin the development. For instance: real-time notifications that let you attract users. You must also address the pain-points a user face while planning travel and that other service providers are not selling or providing.
Custom Database Development: With the help of your mobile application, you can also collect data slowly and steadily in some years. Here you must understand custom database development is a continues process. It also requires continues funding and a dedicated development team for your project. It’s an on-going process where maintenance, support, and management also have a crucial role in delivering excellent results.
AI Integration: AI is the core component in Hopper.
We believe upwards of 75% of all planning in travel is probably going to end up being algorithmic, meaning you will express some vague or specific intent and the algorithms will guide you to a better outcome. — Fred Lalonde — CEO Hopper
You can put AI layers upon layers on your powerful and performant database. It enables predictive models, computer vision and natural language understanding. AI understand context with significant accuracy. It predicts outcomes and improves as more data is available. Like custom data, integrating AI and its development will also be a continues process.
Cost Estimation: Cost of professional application development services depends on a number of factors. Right from the platform you choose like Android or iOS or both to the level of UI, Tech stack requirement to payment integration, features requirements to API integration, analytics, and security and the level of the project’s complexity, each and everything needs to be considered to decide how much it will take to build an app.
Your Approach For The best android applications development: Mobile application development has not just remained writing codes for Android and iOS platforms. Developers with advanced technology are infusing intelligence in the machine. It is a complex and technical process. So to get an app developed as Hopper, you should find an excellence outsourcing company that is technically sound its approach of development. You can discuss all details with the team and get your app developed the way you wish it to be.
Find more top mobile app developers worldwide on AppFutura.
Originally published at www.appfutura.com by OnGraph Technologies.
