DUBAI – Mobile booking tools are moving from a back-up channel to a routine part of agency work in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. B2B booking platform Rate Hawk says its app has now been downloaded more than 130,000 times worldwide, 45% more than a year earlier. In the DACH region, one in three of the company’s partners that regularly book accommodation now use the app, according to internal data.

The figures point to a broader change in travel distribution. Advisers are expected to compare a growing number of rates, respond quickly to enquiries and manage bookings after office hours or while away from a desktop. Mobile access does not remove that workload, but it can shorten the gap between a client request and an actionable proposal.

“With increasingly hectic lifestyles, clients expect rapid responses to travel enquiries. Mobile technology allows travel advisers to meet those expectations efficiently and work directly from their smartphones when needed,” said Christopher Bowers, RateHawk’s Head of Business Development for DACH.

RateHawk’s free iOS and Android app mirrors the main functions of its web platform, including hotel, flight and transfer bookings, order management and access to customer support. The company says advisers most commonly use it to search, compare and monitor options while on the move.

Search remains a major drain on agency time

The case for automation extends beyond mobile booking. In a 2025 survey of more than 1,300 travel professionals across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and the Gulf region, RateHawk found that 40% of European respondents regarded the search for competitive offers as their most time-consuming task. The figure rose to 49% in Asia.

Half of the European respondents and 47% of those in Asia said they wanted more automation, including booking tools, customer relationship management systems and mid- or back-office technology. Demand for better mobile booking capabilities was especially high in Asia, at 44%, compared with 33% globally.

Those results come from a company-commissioned survey, but the direction of travel is consistent with the region’s wider market development. The World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that Asia-Pacific recorded the strongest regional growth in travel and tourism GDP in 2025, rising 8.1% to US$3.29 trillion.

In Southeast Asia alone, research by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company projected online travel gross merchandise value of US$51 billion and revenue of US$24 billion for 2025. As booking volumes and cross-border itineraries increase, platforms that consolidate inventory and reduce manual comparison work are likely to become more important to both online and traditional agencies.

From rate search to client-ready proposal

One of the tools designed to reduce manual work is RateHawk’s Quotes function. Advisers can assemble a tailored list of accommodation options, add more than one city or country, and share the proposal by link or PDF. Clients see a curated set of choices rather than a raw list of rates and can proceed with the selected booking from the proposal.

The tool also allows agencies to add their commission to the net rate while displaying only the final price to the traveller. That feature is commercially relevant in a sector where margins remain tight and advisers often have to balance price transparency with the cost of providing a personalized service.

RateHawk says its wider platform currently aggregates more than 3.2 million accommodation options from over 350 suppliers, alongside air and rail tickets, transfers and car hire. DACH partners can pay by invoice or credit card, or use an agreed credit line.

These inventory and adoption figures are company-reported and do not by themselves show how much time advisers save or how many app searches convert into completed bookings. They do, however, suggest that mobile access and automated proposal creation are becoming standard components of the travel-advisory workflow rather than optional extras.

RateHawk was launched in 2016 and is part of Emerging Travel Group. The B2B platform provides accommodation, flights, transfers, car rental and related travel services, as well as API access and 24-hour customer support.

Sources: RateHawk, WTTC, Temasek,