New tools to make travel booking easier

New ‘easier’ booking methods were revealed this week by online travel firm Expedia.co.uk.

The company, which is the owner of other major online travel sites including TripAdvisor and Hotels.com, has unveiled a new system that enables customers to book flights on mobile devices without having to download and install a special application.

The new site optimises booking of hotels, car rentals, flights and other travel products for European mobile users. The move follows a similar restructuring of its US site last year.

Alongside Expedia’s improvements comes a set of upgrades to the firm’s new Facebook application, Trip Companion. The app had been launched last year and now boasts new features such as mapping functions, printable itineraries and sharing abilities that allow feedback from Facebook friends. It follows complaints about the previous version that many said heavily spammed the user’s wall.

The news comes as travel firms worldwide continue to work to improve online services for customers. Travel technology site Tnooz reported recently that Expedia would unveil more improvements in the first six months of 2011 than it had in at least the last five years. Meanwhile the majority of buzz at the ITB Berlin show last week  surrounded mobile bookings and travel features intertwined with social networking media.