Sector · Travel

Custom travel app development. For the whole journey, from booking to reminder.

We build custom travel apps for tour operators, hotel chains, OTAs and specialist travel providers. From search and booking to an in-trip assistant, with offline mode, multi-language support and the integrations your operations need, including GDS, PMS and payment. Not a Booking clone, but the part where your brand makes a difference: the whole trip in one app, from first inspiration to the reminder after you return home.

Target groupTour operators

Target groupHotel chains

Target groupOTAs & meta-search

Target groupSpecialist travel

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The Dutch travel sector in figures.

~€26bn

Total Dutch travel market (euro)

~22m

Holidays taken by Dutch residents per year

~75%

Starts their travel research on mobile

~60%

Books online, often via app or mobile web

Source: NBTC Trend Report, CBS Holiday Survey, Travmagazine sector report.

Standard travel platforms rarely cover the whole picture.

Most travel organisations run on a mix: a booking engine from a GDS provider (Amadeus, Sabre or Travelport), a PMS for the hotel (Mews, Cloudbeds, HotelRunner), a payment provider for checkout, a CRM for the customer, and on top of that a channel manager such as SiteMinder or RateGain. All solid tools, but the end user gets four different interfaces, three different logins, and an experience that falls apart as soon as the hotel's Wi-Fi falters.

Tour operators want one app that brings together the itinerary, the group chat with the tour leader and the packing list. Hotel chains want check-in, room key and in-room services on one screen. OTAs want a booking flow on mobile that is as fast as Booking's. Business travel platforms want integration with Egencia or BCD Travel and their own expense flow. No off-the-shelf package solves all of that.

What makes the complexity worse: the Dutch travel sector is in transition. Customers research on mobile, book more often at the last minute, and expect the entire trip — pre-trip, in-trip, post-trip — to sit in one environment. At the same time, compliance requirements are growing: the Package Travel Directive, PSD2, GDPR, DAC7 for digital platforms, and the forthcoming AI Act for recommendation engines. A standard SaaS package does not keep up with that regulation at the pace your market changes.

A custom travel app solves this differently: one brand, one login, one experience that carries through every stage of the trip. We do not replace Booking, Expedia or Amadeus — we build the layer on top of them that works for your customer, with an offline fallback, the loyalty hooks you need, and the compliance flows built in from sprint 1.

Travel apps that suit your type of provider.

Each type of travel company needs its own app flow, integrations and compliance requirements. Below, we outline what we typically build for each audience, from tour operators to specialty travel providers, from hotel chains to OTAs.

Tour operator

Traditional tour operators (package holidays, touring holidays, cruises) face three distinct challenges: the itinerary must be accurate, travellers must be reachable, and the review process must run afterwards. A custom app handles all of this in one environment, with package travel directive compliance built into the design from the outset.

Our tour operator module includes an itinerary viewer (flights, hotels, transfers and activities in one view), a group chat with the tour leader, push notifications for changes, a passport and visa reminder, and an offline mode for destinations without coverage. The back end integrates with Amadeus or Travelport for booking data and with your own CRM for traveller profiles.

For cruise and group travel providers, we also build an excursion marketplace: by port or destination, travellers can book additional activities on the spot, pay via PSD2-compliant checkout, and see them straight away in their itinerary. This is a revenue channel that many tour operators simply don't have in their standard software. For the tour leader, we often build a second app or a dedicated webview: participant list, passport information, dietary requirements, allergies, no-show tracking and compensation queries. This "leader app" makes the difference between managing things manually with spreadsheets and running an operation that can scale.

Hotel chains, OTAs and specialty travel providers each get their own module set. We are happy to send you a brief stack recommendation before we begin, so you know in advance which flows are in the MVP and which will follow later.

Itinerary in one viewFlights, hotels, transfers and excursions on a single timeline.
Group chat with tour leaderIncluding a push message for changes or delays.
Pre-trip remindersPacking list, passport check, visa status, flight status.
Offline modeDocuments, maps and boarding passes available without 4G.

What does a travel app typically include?

A travel app is divided into three moments: pre-trip, in-trip and post-trip. Travellers have different needs at each moment, and your organisation works towards different KPIs at each one (conversion before departure, customer satisfaction during the trip, repeat booking afterwards).

Pre-trip: search-and-book flow, price comparison, last-minute deals, packing suggestions based on destination and season, passport validity check, visa reminder, vaccination information, flight status check, pre-check-in notifications, transfer confirmation. For business travel platforms: integration with expense systems, travel policy checks, manager approval flow.

In-trip: mobile boarding passes via Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, offline map of the destination, currency conversion, translation function (often via a lightweight LLM layer), group chat with the tour leader, in-room services for hotel chains, NFC room keys, restaurant reservations, complaints flow with compensation tracking, push notifications for changes.

Post-trip: automatic photo bundle, review flow (with DSA-compliant moderation), refund tracking if something went wrong during the trip, reminders on calendar dates, making loyalty points visible, repeat booking suggestions. For specialty travel: recommendations for the "next trip in this category", a pattern we draw from our experience with B2C app development in other sectors.

Under the bonnet sits a back-office environment for your own team: an operations dashboard with a live overview of travellers by destination, a support console for handling complaints and compensation, a marketing layer for setting up push campaigns and offers and, for those who want it, a management dashboard with conversion and retention figures. Which part goes into the MVP and which comes later is something we decide together in the scoping phase.

For clients who invest heavily in personalisation, we also build an experimentation layer: A/B tests on the search flow, the onboarding and the price presentation. That runs on a platform we more often deploy for B2C apps (think analytics, feature flags and segment targeting). For OTA-style use cases, that is the difference between a gamble and a data-driven conversion roadmap. For the AI layer, such as smart destination suggestions or a natural-language trip assistant, we rely on our custom LLM integration stack.

Building travel software within the regulations that matter to your customer.

Travel organisations operate in a tightly regulated landscape, from the Package Travel Directive to PSD2 and DAC7. We work within that framework from the very first sprint.

EU 2015/2302 — Package Travel Directive

Protecting the traveller

The Package Travel Directive sets out which information you must show before booking, which changes trigger compensation, and how refunds work when a trip does not go ahead. We build that flow in as standard for tour operators and package travel providers, with SGR-compliant insolvency protection displays, automatic compensation calculations for major changes, and an audit log per booking so that, during an inspection by the Netherlands Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, the evidence is on one screen. For trips from the UK, we also integrate with ATOL.

PSD2 & SCA

Secure payments

Travel bookings are often paid in instalments (deposit, balance, on-site upsells). Our checkouts use PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication and integrate with Mollie, Adyen or Stripe, so that both deposit and balance payment flows are compliant.

GDPR

Traveller data and retention

Passport numbers, dates of birth and health information are sensitive data. We encrypt data at rest and in transit, define retention periods per field (so that passport information is automatically anonymised after the trip), and deliver a DPIA on handover that your DPO can sign off straight away. Subject access requests are built in as standard: a traveller can view, export and delete their data within the app itself. For international transfers (US cloud providers) we work in line with the current SCC model clauses.

DAC7

Reporting for digital platforms

For OTA-style platforms that offer accommodation or activities through third-party partners, the DAC7 reporting obligation has applied since 2023. We build the transaction export flow so that your accounts team can submit the annual return to the Dutch Tax Authority without any extra work.

EU AI Act & DSA

AI recommendations and content moderation

When we build in AI-driven destination suggestions, price personalisation or hotel matching, we classify the risk, document the governance and make sure users can understand why they are shown a particular recommendation. For user-generated content (reviews, photos, question-and-answer sections) we build DSA-compliant moderation and notice-and-action flows: rapid takedown on reports, transparency report export, and an appeal route for travellers who feel wrongly moderated. Read more about our custom LLM integrations.

Seamlessly connected to the travel ecosystem.

We integrate with the booking engines, PMS systems, payment providers and content sources your organisation already uses. Our app does not replace those systems; it sits alongside them.

Amadeus

GDS — flights & hotels

Sabre

GDS alternative

Travelport

GDS & content

Booking.com

OTA content

Mews / Cloudbeds

Hotel PMS

SiteMinder

Channel manager

Mollie / Adyen

PSD2 payments

Google & Mapbox

Maps & offline routing

One hub, not another silo.

Experience has taught us that travel organisations are not waiting for yet another system they have to manage separately. That is why we build our travel apps as a hub architecture by default: a single API layer that talks to your existing GDS, PMS, payment and CRM, with the mobile experience built on top. For building that layer, we draw on our experience with marketplace architectures and payment platforms.

Concretely, that hub looks like this: a service layer with an adapter for each integration (Amadeus adapter, Mews adapter, Mollie adapter, in-house CRM adapter), a simple contract model that the mobile app calls (search trip, book trip, fetch itinerary, pay balance), and monitoring so you can see which integrations are slowing down or failing. If a GDS goes down, the app falls back to the last known cache instead of breaking the entire user experience, which in the travel industry can be the difference between a satisfied customer and a complaint process.

Do you have your own middleware or a legacy reservation system in place? No problem, we'll build the integration for each case. It takes a bit more time in the planning phase, but it prevents a pile of integration debt later on. It also means your own IT team can maintain it independently in the future, as the adapter layer is clearly separated from the mobile experience.

From first conversation to going live, in clear steps.

When we build a travel app for a tour operator, hotel chain or OTA, we follow a fixed rhythm. Five phases that are identical for every project.

01 · Discovery

Mapping the travel flows

A day with you, your product manager and a tour leader or front-desk employee. Outcome: current flows mapped, integration inventory, pain points identified, and a first sketch of the mobile experience.

02 · Design

Scope per phase

Which flows make it into the MVP (pre-trip, in-trip, post-trip), which integrations are needed immediately, and which can come later. A fixed sprint budget after this phase, and a set of wireframes validated by your team.

03 · Build

Two-week sprints

Each sprint delivers one working flow. Tour leaders and end customers test along as we go. The first clickable flow is live within a few sprints, with a TestFlight and internal Play Store build for your own team.

04 · Pilot

Phased rollout

First one destination or one hotel location, then the rest. With each rollout: training, documentation, handover to your own support team, and a feedback loop with early adopters for the next round.

05 · Maintenance

Ongoing

iOS and Android updates, GDS API changes, new legislation (AI Act, DSA, DAC7). Fixed monthly fee, first-line support agreed in an SLA, and transparent release notes for each release so your team knows what is changing.

Answers for travel organisations going digital.

The questions we hear most often from product managers, tour operator directors and hotel IT teams.

What is the difference between a travel app and a travel booking engine?

A booking engine (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport, or, for OTAs, the in-house platforms of Booking or Expedia) is the engine that searches, checks availability and books. A travel app is the mobile experience you brand yourself: search and book, but also itinerary, in-trip assistant, loyalty and post-trip. Many clients keep the engine as it is and have us build the app on top of it. For niche providers where the standard engines are too heavy or too expensive, we also build the booking layer ourselves, for example for campervan hire, cycling holidays or religious travel where the product structure does not fit the GDS model.

Do you replace Booking, Expedia or a GDS system?

No, and that's almost never a good idea. Booking.com, Expedia and the GDSs (Amadeus, Sabre, Travelport) have been mature for twenty years, carry millions in distribution and compliance investment, and remain nearly unbeatable for commodity bookings. We build alongside them: a brand-owned app or platform that connects to those systems via API. For specialty travel or niche providers where no suitable package exists, such as adventure travel, MICE, faith-based travel or campervan rental, we do build an end-to-end solution, including your own booking layer.

How exactly does offline mode work?

When travelling, data connectivity is unreliable - roaming charges, poor Wi-Fi in hotel rooms, aeroplane mode, or destinations where 4G simply doesn't exist. We store boarding passes, tickets, itineraries, hotel vouchers, transfer confirmations and local tips on the device. When connectivity returns, the app syncs delta updates without the user having to do anything. For walking or cycling routes, we use Mapbox offline tiles or similar libraries that can be downloaded per destination before departure.

What is the difference between a hotel app and a tour operator app?

A hotel app focuses on the stay itself: check-in and check-out, NFC room keys via Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, ordering in-room services, reserving hotel facilities (spa, restaurant, gym) and possibly loyalty points. A tour operator app focuses on the entire trip: pre-trip reminders, an in-trip itinerary with group chat and tour leader, post-trip reviews and repeat booking. The architecture differs: a hotel app needs PMS integrations (Mews, Cloudbeds, Oracle Opera) and NFC requirements, while a tour operator app needs GDS integrations, channel manager data and heavy push notification infrastructure.

Can you build AI recommendations for destinations or hotels?

Yes. We work with LLM-based recommenders that generate a list of suggestions from travel history, preferences, seasonal data and, where appropriate, external content sources. Applications include "next destination" for returning customers, "similar hotels" when the preferred one is full, and "what to do on site" based on weather forecasts and interests. Importantly, the EU AI Act requires documentation of risk classification and governance for AI used in personalisation; for consumer-facing recommenders this often falls within the limited-risk category. We document this as standard. For more context on this stack, see our page on custom LLM integrations.

How do you handle multi-language and multi-currency?

Travel apps standardly need multiple languages and currencies - a Dutch tour operator customer books in euros, but the app must also work in English and Spanish for local support, and display local prices when the user prefers. We set up the app with an i18n framework (i18next, FormatJS or similar), ensure all copy sits in resource bundles, and route currency conversion through a reliable source (ECB rate or a commercial FX API) with a caching layer. For RTL languages (Arabic, Hebrew) we also handle the layout - relevant for pilgrimage or MICE travel.

What determines the cost of a travel app?

The biggest cost drivers are integrations (an Amadeus integration is different from an in-house PMS integration, and a SiteMinder channel manager different again), the number of user types (traveller only, or also tour guide, hotel front desk, back office and management dashboard), offline requirements (which flows really must work without a network), the number of languages and currencies, and compliance scope (DAC7, Package Travel Directive, PSD2, AI Act). We work with a fixed sprint budget per phase: after the discovery phase you know exactly what the build will cost up to go-live, with no open-ended costs and no surprises halfway.

Do we need both iOS and Android, or does cross-platform work?

In almost all cases we work cross-platform: one codebase for iOS and Android, built with React Native or Flutter. For travel apps that is the right choice, because the feature set should be identical across both platforms (boarding passes in Wallet work on iOS and Android, NFC room keys work on both, push notifications work on both). We only build natively when there is a specific reason: very demanding AR features, hyper-local performance requirements, or deep integration with a platform-specific service such as Apple's CarPlay for route guidance.

Talk to us about your travel app.

A thirty-minute introductory call with your product manager and, if relevant, someone from operations. We listen, ask questions and suggest an initial direction. No obligation. You can also look at our pages on app development and B2C apps.

Schedule an introductory call Email fabian.vandijk@appfront.nl