Apple Watch was at the centre of conversations of the tech industry last year. It wasn’t the first smart watch, far from that. But it was certainly the first one to attract not only the tech enthusiasts but also the masses. Its entry was seen as a defining moment for the future of wearables in travel industry. OTAs explored ways to use it, airlines pushed flight alerts on them, cab aggregators simplified booking process and this was just the start.

However, more than a year later, there isn’t much progress to be seen. It was expected that the wearables will become a natural extension of the user but things look different. People are losing interest, primarily because the potential rewards are not balancing the added cost or inconvenience of having and keeping powered up another device. A large number of people don’t see pulling out their phones as an inconvenience. In fact we are spending most of our time with our phones either in our hands or sitting right in front of us on a desk.

Another challenge to the wearables comes from the brands who can find a spot on your wrist. It is easy for a brand like Uber or Skyscanner to put some resources towards the wearables but it won’t be the case with every brand. Why would they? According to some estimates, Apple sold close to 12 million units of the watch. The number of iPhones sold was considerably higher. If people are already using your service through your app and enjoying it, why would you consider developing another app for a much smaller set of users who have your app, an apple watch and are willing to download your watch app. Not to mention the limited usability that app will find.

Wearables could have given a nudge towards the voice age but then, is your car audio or bluetooth headset any less capable of fetching the audio command than a wearable?

Some brands have found good use of Apple Watch or other smartwatches to complement their mobile apps but the number is small. It is a large circle and some elements don’t fit in well yet. They are probably better being limited to fitness applications. Maybe a lot has to be done before wearables find mainstream use in travel. Maybe we were too early to claim that 2016 will be the year of wearables. We would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you actively use any smartwatch, we would also like to know your favourite travel utilities.

The post Did we overestimate the role of wearables in travel? appeared first on TravHQ.

Brands have been exploring the use cases of wearables like Apple Watch in travel and hospitality industry. We saw some useful apps for travellers like TripAdvisor, TripCase and Uber. However, all these apps were finding the use of the Watch for the consumer. Danny Meyer, the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group has been in news on and off for his movements in the hospitality industry and he is in the headlines again for an interesting development his company announced with Apple Watch.

At the TechTable Summit yesterday, the representatives of Union Square Hospitality confirmed integration of Apple Watch in front-of-house restaurant service along with the partnership with digital reservation startup Resy. The Union Square Café will reopen next month in Manhattan and every floor manager and sommelier will be wearing an Apple Watch. The Watch will be used to keep them updated on the status of café. Notifications will be sent when VIPs walk in, a table is occupied, menu items run out and other similar scenarios.

Many cafes and restaurants use iPads and Android tablets running various POS applications to take and place orders but this is probably the first time a wearable is being introduced into the chain. However, it won’t replace the communication between servers and managers. Of course the café won’t want the servers to be staring into a tiny screen while dealing with the guests. As the manager and sommelier will don the watch and the manager can simply request a wine for a guest using the watch instead of printing a ticket for it.

The ResyOS will carry many other features. It would allow the diners to invite their friends into the reservation and update their status. Along with this, the Union Square Café will introduce a new payment method Resy Pay allowing the diners from a group to split the check and pay individually on their phones.

While at this point Union Square Café is the only major name to adopt these technological developments, the response and adoption could drive it into other restaurants of the chain. This could also serve as inspiration for other restaurant chains and maybe even hotels to explore similar applications of wearable in the industry. For now, Union Square Café appears to be leading the restaurants from the front.

Source: Eater

The post This restaurateur found the best use of Apple Watch in hospitality industry appeared first on TravHQ.

There is no denying the fact that Apple Watch is a great accessory for travellers. Over time it has gained more features as more travel brands come up with their apps and find use of the tiny screen. While it is a very well designed product and less invasive than using a phone all the time, it has its own share of shortcomings. It will work only with an iPhone and the battery life is really nothing to talk about. The pricing isn’t its strong point either. There are many smartwatches available that make a strong case as an Apple Watch alternative. Here are some of them:

#1. LG Watch Urbane

The LG Watch Urbane looks like an expensive watch with its full metal casing and round face. The watch comes with leather straps that can be swapped out for any strap with 22 mm pins. It has IP67 rating making it waterproof upto 1 metre and 30 minutes.

(Image: LG Watch Urbane by janitors/CC BY 2.0)

It comes with a 1.3 inch 320 x 320 P-OLED display which is crisp and bright. Powering the device is a reasonably powerful Snapdragon 400 chipset and it comes with the usual sensors like heart rate monitor, barometer and compass. It also gets Wi-Fi which allows some features to be used without a mobile device. If you can do away without the metal, G Watch R offers similar features at a lower price. You can find more details here.

Price- INR 25,000 (Flipkart)

#2. Sony Smartwatch 3

The Smartwatch 3 is another impressive wearable running Android Wear. While it doesn’t look as stylish as a watch with circular face, it doesn’t disappoint either. It has a 1.6 inch display which is bigger compared to most watches in the market. Instead of the usual OLED or IPS displays, they have used transflective display which can be used without backlight if there is sufficient ambient light. It can help in saving battery as people spend most of the time outdoors while travelling.

(Image: Sony Smartwatch 3 by pestoverde/CC BY 2.0)

Another feature that makes it a good choice for travellers is the micro USB port. This allows for it to be charged using any charger saving the need to carry a dock. The hardware is similar to other android watches out there and it gets on-board GPS too, to log your hikes and runs. You can find more details here.

Price- INR 17,890 (Amazon)

#3. Moto 360 2

The first generation Moto 360 was a beautiful smartwatch and the second generation device is even better. Now it comes in two size options and more customisation options. Just like the previous version, it looks like a traditional watch with the stainless steel body and not a mini smartphone strapped to your wrist. It comes with Gorilla Glass display and IP 67 dust & water resistance.

(Image: Motorola Moto 360 by janitors/CC BY 2.0)

Similar to the Sony watch, it comes with Wi-Fi making it usable without the phone. It lacks GPS but soon there will be a Moto 360 Sport for the cycling and running enthusiasts among us. The battery life is pretty good and can last couple of days under light use. You can find out more about it here.

Price- INR 19,999 (Flipkart)

#4. Pebble Time

This smartwatch doesn’t look pretty by any standards and there is a possibility that it lacks some of the features you will find on other smartwatches but we have a very strong reason for putting it on the list. It offers a promise of 7 day battery life and delivers very close to that. This means you don’t have to worry about charging it and won’t have to carry the dock while travelling. It is also very light at just 42.5 Gms making it comfortable to wear for long.

(Image: Pebble Time by ravi-shah/CC BY 2.0)

It has a coloured e-ink display which makes it so power efficient. Sadly the display quality isn’t great to show graphics and it is more functional than fancy. Just like all the other smartwatches on this list, it is compatible with both iOS and Android. If you are willing to overlook some shortcomings, the Pebble Time is a good option. Find more details here.

Price- INR 9,950 (USD 149.99 Pebble)

#5. Tag Heuer Connected

If you have been staying away from the smartwatches until now because they aren’t as premium as your conventional watch, this is the watch for you. The Tag Heuer Connected looks very much like any other Tag Heuer and you don’t immediately notice that it is a smartwatch. This is the kind of watch you won’t mind wearing to your business meeting. It is big but light, thanks to the use of premium materials like titanium.

The display on Connected is transreflective so it is usable even in bright sunlight without burning power on battery. The watch faces are superb with great attention to detail. All the Android Wear features are present here but less intrusive as the focus is on displaying the time more than anything. It runs an Intel chipset unlike the Qualcomm on most other watches. This watch of course comes with a hefty price tag (USD 1500). You can find more details here.

Price- INR 99,500 (USD 1500) Unavailable online in India

What other smartwatches do you think work best? Would you pick any of these over an Apple Watch?

The post Planning to get a smartwatch? Here are 5 awesome alternatives to the Apple Watch appeared first on TravHQ.

Jet Airways, the second largest Indian airline based in Mumbai, has unveiled an app developed exclusively for Apple Watch to allow passengers access travel information seamlessly on their wrists.

The application with watchOS 2 support will offer real-time information on the status of any flight, plus receive alerts for the upcoming trips and updates on special deals and offers. It has user-friendly features for a convenient, personalised and smooth travel experience.

It displays a convenient option for the travellers to check their flight status on the day of departure. The users can obtain this information by entering the flight number on the keypad of the watch. For more details, they can click ‘More on iPhone’ option.

Gaurang Shetty, the director of Jet Airways, quoted:

“At Jet Airways we constantly endeavour to be in step with evolving developments in technology and communication to enhance guest experience across touch points. The Jet Airways app for Apple Watch incorporates latest trends in user experience design, personalisation and technology to provide a unique experience and access to relevant travel information on the go. The app symbolises our continued commitment to our customer focused ‘Guest First’ service philosophy, which is at the core of our business.”

To access it, the users will have to download the application for the iPhone and switch on the ‘Show App on Apple Watch’ option within the ‘My Watch’ tab.

For more details and downloading the app click here.

Also Read: Apple Watch is out in India, don’t forget to read this before you buy

The post Jet Airways launches a new app exclusively for Apple Watch appeared first on TravHQ.

If there is one thing we don’t like about the Apple Watch, it has to be its battery life. Under average usage, a fully charged Apple Watch won’t last even a weekend getaway and often you will have to carry the charger. But just like any other device, there are a large number of factors at play here.

You can follow these simple tricks to give the battery life a boost while you travel:

#1. Go black

Have you noticed that the Apple Watch display has got an amazing contrast ratio! Thanks to the OLED display, the blacks on Apple Watch are pure blacks and not just some sort of dark grey like on LCDs. OLED displays show black by completely cutting off power to the particular pixel. So you can just switch to a simple black watch face and go for longer.

#2. Lose the apps

Any Apple Watch app that you are not using should go away. No we’re not recommending you to delete your favorite apps. Similar to iPhone, every app takes toll on your battery, be it the background activity or unnecessary notifications. Extra processes simply translate into more power consumption.

#3. Force kill unused apps

Email and social media apps are constantly running in the background to keep the data synced. While they are required to run in background, you can force kill them if you are taking desperate power saving measures. It is likely that you won’t need your emails all the them when you are travelling. .

#4. Goodbye animations

You can always get more out of the battery by reducing work for the processor. If you enable ‘Reduce Motion’ on your watch, the animations will be limited and thus the tiny GPU will have less work to do. This will translate into slightly better battery life.

#5. Disable Heartbeat

Your watch keeps tracking your steps and heart rate all the time. While you are travelling, you can ditch this feature and save battery. Simply head to the privacy settings and disable Heart Rate and Fitness Tracking under Motion & Fitness.

#6. Reduce Haptic Feedback

The vibration mechanism on any device consumes a large amount of power. Turning down the haptic feedback means the vibration alerts won’t consume as much power as they normally do. Of course you can choose to disable it altogether but that sort of defeats the purpose of having the Apple Watch.

#7. Disable Wrist raise

The Watch screen turns on every time you lift your hand. Both the sensors as well as display consume power in the process. Disable ‘Activate on Wrist Raise’ to minimise the battery usage. Of course you can still wake it up by tapping on it.

#8. Filter notifications

People check their watch more often to check notifications than time. You might have many apps sending you unnecessary notifications that you won’t need while travelling, or even otherwise. You can simply disable the notification for all the apps that aren’t important to save power.

#9. Goodbye transparency

Sure the translucent layers look great on that amazing display but they take more processing power. You can reduce the transparency similar to the animations and save on some of that precious battery life.

#10. Go nuclear

This is a killer feature if you need your Apple Watch to act as a normal watch only. If you are sure that the battery won’t last by the time you reach home, enable the Power Reserve feature. It will disable everything except the time feature so at least you won’t go back home wearing a useless dead screen on your wrist.

Bonus Tip: Enable Airplane mode

Here is one bonus tip for all frequent flyers. Enable the airplane mode in your Apple Watch to save your battery while you’re flying. The watch will sync automatically with your iPhone once the Airplane mode is switched-off.

You can also check out our list of Top 5 Apple Watch apps for travellers.

The post 10 secret hacks to keep your Apple Watch charged while travelling appeared first on TravHQ.

Apple took its own sweet time in bringing the Apple Watch to India and by the time it was officially launched, many enthusiasts had already brought the device from other countries. Now that the device is officially here, there will be more users adopting the wearable. Even before it came in, some Indian travel brands were ready with their Apple watch apps so that they are ready when the users are. Whether you have recently bought one or have been using the Apple Watch for months, here are five apps that you need to have on your Apple Watch when you travel:

#1. Uber

This one is a no brainer. Once at your destination, you will have to travel locally and that is when nothing is able to match Uber. Of course there are local cab options everywhere but then you can’t always count on them to be reliable. Using the Uber Apple Watch app, you can request a ride and get notified once your cab arrives. In order to keep it simple, some features like uberPOOL and Split Fare aren’t available which is fair considering the use case of Apple Watch.

#2. TripCase

If you like to plan everything before you head out on a trip, it is very likely that you use a trip planning or itinerary management app. TripCase is one of the best tools you can pick to manage your travel and its Apple Watch app complements the mobile app very well. It shows the upcoming trips on the watch display. It also offers the option to access the TripTime widget on the watch.

#3. TripAdvisor

Another one that goes without saying. You don’t have to look any further than TripAdvisor for reviews about places. Using location data, the glance screen can quickly offer nearby recommendation. It considers the time of day while recommending places so at lunch time, it will recommend restaurants near you. The app also offers walking directions without you having to pull out your phone all the time.

#4. Cleartrip

If we talk about Indian OTAs, Cleartrip was the first one to come up with Apple Watch app. They have always been at the forefront when it comes to adopting new technologies, be it a mobile website or a mobile app. The Cleartrip Apple watch app shows you a short list of your upcoming flights and in the last 24 hours of your trip, the glance screen shows the flight details including flight number, status and departure time.

#5. Wunderlist

Travelling for leisure or business, there are always a dozen things to take care of before you leave for your trip. An itinerary planning app will only help you plan your trip but Wunderlist will remind you to pick the backpack you let your friend borrow or to book a cab to airport. It will help you manage your agenda and easily check items off the to-do list. The glance screen offers a quick view of your day ahead when you are travelling making it a good companion for your trip.

What other Apple Watch apps you use while travelling? Do share with us. You can read our experience of using the Apple Watch here.

The post Here are the five apps every traveller needs on his Apple Watch appeared first on TravHQ.

Present in 4 countries, Red Planet hotels chain claims to provide a premium stay experience at affordable prices. Recently, they  announced the launch of a significant content upgrade to its app and guest reward options.

To mark this distinctive launch, Red Planet is giving away Apple Watches to its lucky guests. The guests need to book the hotel rooms through Red Planet’s official app and stay in any of the 25 hotels across Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Phillipines between now and 30th September, 2015.

Ryan Chua was the first lucky guest to win an Apple Watch, Image Source: Red Planet Twitter Feed

‘Red Planet Hotels’ app is relatively new and with great user interface. Through it guests can:

• Find hotel facilities information
• Book hotel and pay by credit card
• Gain access to the brand’s social media pages
• Have a direct chat line for hotel staff and guests
• Search the distances of the tourist destinations from your hotel
• Receive information of the local events etc.

Although the app is relatively new, it has received a rating of 4.6/5 by its users.

Coinciding with this upgrade is Red Planet’s Referred programme. The members will be requested to promote the hotels to their family, friends and colleagues and for each paid reservation the members will earn cash commissions. This is open for firms, associations and  any website wishing to participate and be a part of it.

Another lucky winner of the Apple Watch. Image Credit: Red Planet Twitter Feed

According to their official website, Tim Hansing, the Chief Executive Officer of the Red Planet Ltd., said “This positions us as the true market leader in our segment. There is no one else in the region that comes close to offering this level of innovation.”

Red Planet claims that it provides ‘5-star sleeping experience at a 1-star price’ accommodation. The firm operates 24 hotels in Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and Thailand. It’s still expanding and acquiring existing hotels and and developing new ones. Its hotels are all centrally located  and have hi-speed WiFi. The hotel is even listed on the Japanese and Indonesian stock exchanges.

The post Red Planet Hotels wants to give you an Apple Watch if you stay at any of their properties appeared first on TravHQ.

I must admit that I was caught in two minds whether I should really purchase an Apple Watch with all the backlash it had received since its initial launch. Critics had labelled it as a device which was lifeless without an iPhone. There have been a bunch of viral tweets and posts where users have actually thrown the watch into their trash can after failing to find its true utility. Despite all this, the Apple fan within me still wanted to have a look at it.

Back in July, I finally stepped into the Apple store at the IFC Mall in Hong Kong where I purchased the 42mm space gray variant with a black sport band. 42mm watch fits my wrist size perfectly and I thought it was fair to start off with a budget buy in a wearable category which was going to evolve with time. While going back to my hotel in MTR, I was thinking if I had made the correct purchase decision and whether I really needed to spend approximately Rs 24,000+ INR on a normal looking watch which to most others appeared nothing more than a toy. Comparisons with the much cheaper Moto 360 by Motorola started looming in my mind. I thought it was enough, I went back to the mall and returned the watch to the smiling executive, who happily refunded the entire amount.

The next morning turned out to be exactly opposite! I was convinced by friends that I should buy an Apple Watch, as I was contemplating a replacement for my regular watch and it was a nice idea to pick up something which was going to be in demand in our home country in sometime. Back then, it hadn’t launched in India and as I write this, the Apple Watch isn’t still available for sale here.

So, should you really care about Apple Watch as a Traveller?

I knew it wasn’t going to change my life and create a significant impact over and above the existing line-up of gadgets I use. I knew it would be more about convenience than actual usage. I have been using Apple Watch as my everyday watch for about two months now and have found it to be particularly useful during travelling.

#1. It’s your backup boarding pass

While passbook hasn’t really picked up in India there are places such as movie halls where I have used it to gain entry into the theater. While entering the airports and railway stations, people are now increasingly showing their tickets on the mobile devices. Having said that, I was once told by the security guard to present a paper based ticket as the email was barely readable. Under such circumstances, the flight notifications on Passbook in Apple Watch can provide an easy verification mechanism without the need to carry paper print-outs. For situations, where you need a paper print-out a boarding pass on Apple Watch will always act as your backup.

#2. Convenient Travel Itinerary

This isn’t a real utility but certainly a cool feature to have. ClearTrip was one of the first OTAs in India to make an app for Apple Watch and MakeMyTrip followed soon with their own version. I like the way you can see your upcoming hotel-stays with quick ease on the watch when the app is launched. This is particularly great when you need to quickly recall the hotel address on reaching the destination.

#3. Keep Track of the distance travelled during your trips

Travelling to any destination means intensive walking. Especially, if you are travelling abroad when you are exploring new places, you ask people for directions and end-up walking quite a bit. While you can use third party-apps to track the distance travelled via your smartphone, you won’t be doing that every single time you walk out of your hotel room.

Your watch monitors your activity and you can see how much you have travelled during your trip

#4. Handy Feature for Business Travellers

I haven’t played around much with the watch faces honestly. But one of the things that I do like is what you can see on your watch face. If you are travelling for business purposes you can view your next meeting time at the raise of a wrist. You can also see the temperature at the bottom left and little things that you can customise as per your need.

#5. The Need to Carry your Charger if you are on a 3 day trip

Here is perhaps the most irritating thing about the Apple Watch. You need to charge it almost every second day. I must also admit that the charging cable is terribly long and makes you think twice whether you should really pack it with all those other things. So, I wanted to see how long does the battery of Apple watch last if you don’t carry its charger along.

I took my fully charged Apple Watch for a 3 day trip and left for the airport early on in the morning. I knew this was going to be the ultimate survival test as it had to support me for almost 72 hours as I was only coming back by midnight on the 3rd day.

Well, I did end up returning with a switched-on watch with about 9% remaining battery but that was only because I had used the ‘Power Reserve’ mode. Also, I had to turn off the Apple Watch on both the nights to save some power.

I must admit, that the battery leaves a lot to be desired. The much fancied ‘Power Reserve’ mode does extend your battery life but at the expense of limiting down all other features. You can’t use anything other than just checking out the time. So during my trip, I was always looking at the remaining battery in my Apple Watch and switching modes to extend the life.

#6. Feature which is irrelevant as a Traveller and perhaps otherwise too

There is a call feature with which you can call people around you using the watch’s microphone, but I don’t think anyone would ever use that. Why would you want to use a speakerphone while travelling when it’s barely audible. Apple Watch’s call feature works in quieter places but I don’t think that’s of any use too.

Unlike the Garmin Fenix 3, Apple Watch doesn’t have its own GPS which really limits down its ability to work without an iPhone.

Bonus Traveller Tip that comes with a Catch

There’s one feature which is less talked about as I think people are still trying to find it’s real utility while travelling. The Apple Watch has a camera app which essentially mirrors the camera on your iPhone. So you can use it as a remote device to click beautiful pictures by positioning your iPhone the way you want.

.

But here’s the catch! In most cases, you would a need a tripod on which you can mount your iPhone. This actually means you can also use the timer on the iPhone making this utility a little redundant unless you want to take your own sweet time before snapping a picture.

To finish it up, I have had a decent experience with the Apple Watch so far. I won’t say, it’s been a completely transformational one to an extent that I have stopped using my iPhone. However, if you are looking for a regular watch that does a couple of fancied things then this might be a handy purchase. I am not sure about the India pricing but the word is that it should be atleast 5k higher than the Singapore or Hong Kong prices. These are still very early days for Apple Watch in the travel industry. Internationally, Air Canada has launched an update where flyers can view the status of flights departing within 24 hours on their Apple Watch. It will be really interesting to see equivalent apps by Airlines in India. The much hyped, OS 2 update was supposed to be released earlier this week but that has been delayed for now due to a critical bug. The new version should hopefully bring in more enhancements for the travel community.

If you have been using a smartwatch for travelling, I would love to hear your experience

The post Apple Watch is out in India, don’t forget to read this before you buy appeared first on TravHQ.

With our gadgets shrinking in size everyday, a new category of devices is taking shape.  This new breed of devices is known as smartwatches. A lot of big names in the mobile industry (and a couple of unheard ones) joined the game and came up with their versions of smartwatches. The concept isn’t exactly very new but it has started to make sense only for the past couple of years. Before that, wearable devices were more like downsized PDAs with a band fixed onto them. Now however they look like a watch (well, if you look from a distance) and claim to handle lot more jobs in conjunction with your smartphone.

(Image: Apple- Watch Sport by clockmaker-jp/ CC BY-SA 2.0)

The Cupertino giant Apple announced its entry into the segment and is taking pre orders at the time of writing this post (and probably delivering by the time you read this). It is very likely that their entry into the segment would stir things up and increase the rate of adoption of wearables. Now just like with any other device, a whole new army of developers is rising to cater to the smartwatches. Brands have put on their thinking caps to figure out how they can make good use of what this new platform has to offer. Until now we have seen a large number of health and fitness apps make it to these devices but the travel industry is following closely. So if you haven’t done it yet, now is a good time to consider this new platform.

(Read: Experience of using Apple Watch while travelling)

If you have given it a thought and done some research already, you must have found a dozen reasons to make an early entry on the platform. We won’t deny the fact that it is tempting. People will be curious to see how they can use the watch to unlock their hotel room or check their flight status. Remember the bowling and dice rolling motion games we all used to have when the first iPhone came in? They were annoying and nobody would play them for more than a couple of minutes but still they were something new. You would keep them in your phone because there were very few apps (or games) making use of the motion sensor. The Apple watch could do something similar to your app but is it really worth making an immediate move? We tell you why you should slow down with your watch plans.

How are you going to use it?

Before you ask your team of developers if they can develop a watch app, ask yourself if you have a strong use case. You don’t just need to come up with a use of the application but also think about the user scenario. You have to keep in mind that the Apple watch (or any other smartwatch) has got limited screen space and suits jobs that involve less steps (exactly why the developer kit won’t allow you to add many features). You have to try and find entirely new applications as redesigning your existing app for the watch won’t exactly be the best course of action in most cases.

How many will use it?

Android wear devices have been around for a while now but the numbers haven’t been very impressive. This is expected to change with the Apple watch which, as experts suggest, is going to sell in big numbers. But the Apple Watch requires an iPhone to work and the number would still be a small fraction when compared to the number of iPhone that will be sold over the same period of time. On top of that, you can be very sure that not everyone with a smartwatch would download your app. So clearly you are catering to limited audience here for now. Try to weigh the effort against the reach you will get and then decide if you still want to do it.

Is your mobile app good?

See what people have to say about your app

How good is your mobile phone app? Is it working seamlessly across all devices? How do people rate your app on App Store and Google Play? If you are doubtful about any of these, you should probably focus on the mobile app first before you jump on a new platform. If your mobile app isn’t good, people might not even bother trying your watch app. Take the reviews seriously, respond to comments and use the feedback to build a better app if it isn’t good enough.

Who will bear the costs?

Just developing a watch app might not do the job. If you are an hotelier, you might be tempted to add keyless entry that can make use of Apple Watch. The idea is pretty good but the costs involved are a bit steep. Will the costs be transmitted to the customers? It makes perfect sense for high end luxury hotel chains like Hilton or Marriott where the cost of each room is very high and the setup cost would just be a fraction of it. The same number could make a huge difference in the cost of room of a budget hotel and there is a possibility that it might not even boost the number of incoming customers.

So before you jump on this bandwagon, take these factors into account. The wearables aren’t going out anytime soon and might make more sense sometime in future.

Update (Sept 18, 2015): Added link to our long term review of Apple Watch

The post Why your travel brand shouldn’t join the wearable race appeared first on TravHQ.

Apple recently introduced the Apple Watch and it has caused quite a stir in the market. The wearable hasn’t been made available in the Indian market yet. Many international travel brands have introduced apps for this new device and now Cleartrip has done the same. This makes them the first Indian travel brand to have an Apple Watch app.

The Apple Watch will be reaching customers’ hands (or wrists) soon and brands are working fast to make sure they use the newfound medium in best possible way. After the fitness apps, travel brands are the ones most eager to use this medium and many of the major players already have an Apple Watch app. Cleartrip has been quick in serving its offerings like Passbook support and iOS 7 tailored app to Apple users and now it is the first Indian OTA to have an app for Apple Watch.

The app will show you your upcoming trips

The objective of a watch app is to provide a simple interface and just the right amount of data that can be consumed using the small screen. Cleartrip has taken care of this very well and the app displays a concise list of your flight bookings. It also uses the glance feature and the Cleartrip glance would show you your next trip till 24 hours before departure. In the last 24 hours, it will add more details like the flight number and its status. The app also supports notifications so you can choose to be notified on your watch if your flight is rescheduled or cancelled.

You will get updates through notifications

Wearable devices like Pebble and Moto 360 haven’t seen much adoption until now but Apple’s entry in the segment will surely turn up the heat. Experts suggest that the Apple Watches will contribute to over half of the total sales of wearables. Apple Watch is not on sale in India and it is going to be a while (at least 2-3 months according to sources) before it arrives. So at this moment, this is more about making the PRs than serving an offering to users. Cleartrip says that with the watch app, they are preparing for the future and we agree. The app is surely going to be useful once the wearable is available in India.

Cleartrip is a major player in the scene and has taken a head start with this move. We still think that many brands need to get other things in order before they start with the wearables. (Read:Why your travel brand shouldn’t join the wearable race)

We are yet to try the Cleartrip Apple Watch app. If you have tried it already, please share your reviews with us.

The post Cleartrip becomes first Indian OTA to have an Apple Watch app appeared first on TravHQ.