How to Develop a Travel Booking App Like Hopper in 2025: Features, Trends & Costs
In 2025, mobile travel apps have revolutionized the way Americans book flights, hotels, and rental cars. With platforms like Hopper gaining millions of downloads and billions in transactions, now is the perfect time to develop a travel booking app that leverages predictive technology, personalized recommendations, and seamless user experiences. Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise travel agency, entering the digital travel market with a Hopper-like app for Android and iOS can deliver substantial ROI and user engagement.
Why Build a Travel App Like Hopper in 2025?
As of 2025, the U.S. travel industry is projected to surpass $2 trillion in annual revenue, with over 80% of travelers using mobile apps to plan and book their trips. Hopper has set the standard by integrating AI-driven price prediction, flexible booking options, and real-time deals. Travelers today demand intelligent, mobile-first travel apps that reduce hassle, compare prices, and offer exclusive discounts—all in one place.
Building an app like Hopper provides access to:
AI-powered flight and hotel price forecasting
Real-time travel deals and alerts
Mobile-first personalization and user journeys
Seamless integration with payment and loyalty programs
Key Features to Include in a Hopper-Like Travel App
1. AI-Powered Price Prediction
Use machine learning algorithms to forecast the best time to book flights and hotels.
2. Multi-Mode Booking Engine
Allow users to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and even vacation homes in one seamless flow.
3. In-App Travel Deals & Flash Sales
Highlight time-sensitive promotions with push notifications and smart UX banners.
4. Personalized User Recommendations
Leverage AI to suggest destinations, hotels, or experiences based on search history and behavior.
5. Interactive Calendar View
Offer a flexible date calendar that visually displays price variations.
6. Payment Gateway Integration
Support Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit cards, and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options.
7. Travel Protection & Cancellation Policies
Give users flexibility with refundable bookings and travel insurance integration.
8. Push Notification Alerts
Keep users informed of flight price drops, gate changes, or travel advisories.
9. Rewards and Loyalty Program
Implement points-based or cashback incentives for repeat bookings.
10. Voice and Chatbot Assistance
Add smart virtual assistants to help users with bookings or travel FAQs via voice or text.
Modern Tech Stack for Travel App Development in 2025
Frontend: Flutter, React Native for cross-platform support (iOS and Android)
Backend: Node.js, Python (Django), or Firebase
Database: MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Firebase Firestore
AI/ML: TensorFlow, Amazon SageMaker
API Integration: Skyscanner, Booking.com, Amadeus, Expedia, Google Maps
Cloud: AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
Security: OAuth 2.0, SSL encryption, PCI-DSS for payments
Estimated Cost to Build a Travel Booking App Like Hopper in 2025
The cost of developing a Hopper-like travel app ranges based on features, platform, and region of the development team:
App Version | Estimated Cost | Development Time |
---|---|---|
MVP (Basic Features) | $40,000 – $60,000 | 3 – 4 months |
Full-Featured App | $70,000 – $120,000 | 4 – 6 months |
Enterprise-Grade App | $130,000+ | 6+ months |
Monetization Strategies for Travel Apps
Commission on bookings (flights, hotels, cars)
In-app advertisements
Freemium features with paid travel insights
Affiliate programs (TripAdvisor, Expedia, etc.)
Subscription plans for premium members
USA Travel App Market Trends in 2025
AI Travel Advisors: Bots that handle full travel planning via chat
Voice Search Integration: “Book me a flight to Miami this weekend”
Sustainable Travel Options: Highlight eco-friendly hotels or flights
Wearable Integration: Apple Watch alerts and boarding pass scanning
Web3 Travel Tokens & NFTs: Digital loyalty assets and collectibles
Hyper-Personalization: Tailored promotions using big data and user analytics
Final Thoughts
Developing a mobile travel app like Hopper in 2025 is a strategic move to capture the growing market of tech-savvy travelers in the United States. With rising consumer expectations and mobile-first behavior, success hinges on intuitive UX, predictive AI, multi-platform compatibility, and seamless booking flows. By integrating modern features and leveraging expert Android and iOS app development, businesses can offer standout user experiences that drive engagement and revenue.
If you work in the travel or hotels industry, you’ve probably seen the latest trends in how people book flights and hotels. Unless your customer wants to do things the old way, most of them now book hotels or flights online. Most flights and hotels booking app development is based on having standard features like price, pictures of the hotels, reviews, rating recommendations, and more. Today, we are going to talk about travel app like Hopper. Budget travelers are always looking for deals that will help them save money on their trips. They use smartphone apps like Hopper to plan their trips and make reservations ahead of time.
What Is Hopper?
Develop flights and hotels booking app like Hoppers allows you to browse for flights, but you can also order tickets from inside the app. The cost of air travel is tremendously complicated and perplexing, and passengers sometimes lack the knowledge necessary to book the cheapest tickets. Hopper utilizes a vast data repository of billions of individual flight prices and fare forecasts to determine when ticket costs will rise and fall. We immediately notify app users when flight costs are anticipated to be at their lowest, allowing them to buy tickets directly from their smartphones. Develop flights and hotels booking app like Hopper so that tourists can select the ideal place for their budget and feel certain that they are receiving the greatest bargain possible.
How Does It Work?
Hopper’s method is straightforward. You are not required to log in with Facebook. Simply access your location and tell it where you want to travel to begin exploring. The agenda is shown underneath a bar displaying a range of the least and most costly pricing.
- Once your trip dates and destination are entered into the app, Hopper will generate a map of your destination city.
- Using the Hopper app, you may book a hotel stay.You will be able to see all available hotels, which are color-coded similarly to Hopper’s airfare booking calendar: from green for inexpensive to red for really opulent.
- If you pick one of the hotels, you will be able to see pricing information, such as how it compares to other nearby hotels and if Hopper believes now is the best time to book.
- Hopper chooses each hotel separately and then dispatches a team of photographers to collect images and movies of the hotels, its rooms, and its surroundings.
- You get hotels-related information via Instagram stories. This, according to Hopper, provides a more accurate depiction of the size of the rooms, the hotel’s facilities, and its cleanliness.
- Hopper will store your credit card information for flights and hotels, so you can pay with a single click.
- After booking, you can see all of your forthcoming trips, including travel dates and confirmation numbers, in a single location inside the app.
Business Model For Hopper
Business model for Hopper has a strategy that generates revenue in two ways: via commissions on reservations and Hopper Cloud.
Commissions on Reservations (from Travel Partners)
The bulk of Hopper’s revenue comes from commissions paid by its travel partners. Hopper generates revenue whenever a user plans a trip via the Hopper platform with a travel partner (airlines, hotels, auto rentals).
Hopper Cloud (B2B)
Hopper entered the B2B (business to business) market in 2021 with the release of Hopper Cloud, a B2B solution. Hopper Cloud generates income by licensing or selling its own travel fintech software to companies so they may use it to enhance revenue in their own travel enterprises. Among their commercial clientele are well-known companies such as KAYAK, Trip.com, Capital One, and others.
Reasons For Flights And Hotels Booking App Development
Improve the guest’s experience
Almost all smartphone users use the application to improve their trip experience. Mobile apps provide travel firms an ideal chance to market local goods and services.
Provides Access to Schedules, Maps, and Additional Information
Through an application, you give visitors with schedules, maps, and other information. In addition, you may provide real-time route diversions, make promotions available, and create a timetable. The passengers also get access to pertinent information in real time and may independently manage or organize their trip arrangements.
Offer an online reservation service
Through applications, travelers are reserving hotel rooms, buying trip packages, and acquiring show tickets, among other tourism-related activities. Travel firms enable customers to book online anything, at any time, in a straightforward and easy way.
Save money on bookings
Hopper’s only purpose is to assist consumers in saving money on travel reservations. Using the power of artificial intelligence, the Hopper-like application can estimate costs and assist customers in booking trips at the lowest possible cost.
Understand Your Visitors’ Preferences
By using vacation rental booking apps, you may learn more about your visitors and market, since it provides you with vital insights and statistics, such as preferences, demographics, and hobbies.
Steps For Flights And Hotels Booking App Development
Now that we have a good knowledge about what is Hopper and its importance associated with producing a Hopper-like app, let’s examine the procedures to develop flights and hotels booking app.
Determine your app’s target audience
To develop flights and hotels booking app, you must first assess the intended audience. Addressing your consumers’ requirements facilitates the development and improves the end product. Learn as much as possible about your prospective consumers.
Developing an Enterprise Model
This will help you decide how your software will generate revenue. Here are potential Hopper business models: Paid, Freemium, Advertisementand In-app purchase.
Employ an App Development Team
This is a necessary stage, since you will need to employ a team of skilled app developers that can assist you in creating the desired application. Ensure that you take your time and do extensive study to identify the best team for the task. The development team will then set project milestones and begin work on the minimal viable product (MVP).
Develop an MVP
Flights and hotels booking app development is a lengthy and intricate undertaking. We advocate creating a minimum viable product (MVP) initially and evaluating its technical and commercial success. By using the MVP methodology, you will be able to leverage user input to enhance your application.
App Testing & Deployment
After the application has been constructed, a team of quality assurance engineers will test it for faults and problems. After the software has been properly tested, it will be made available for download on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Ongoing upkeep and support
You must give continuing maintenance and support to your users after the launch of your app. This includes the addition of new features, issue fixes, and customer support.
Develop Flights & Hotels Booking App With The Following Must-Have Features
The Hopper clone market is vast enough to accommodate everyone. However, if you want to develop flights and hotels booking app that stand out from the competition in this area, it is essential to include distinctive features.
Sign up
The primary registration criteria are simplicity, dependability, and adaptability.
Profile
After registering, the next obvious step is to create a user account. The user’s profile includes personal information.
Search
The search function is crucial. Once the basic information has been entered, Hopper will direct the user to the next page where they may enter their trip dates. Hopper also offers customers a variety of filters.
Provide Personalized Suggestions:
You may enhance the user’s trip booking experience by offering tailored suggestions through push notifications based on their search history.
In-App Messaging Capability:
Permit your users to interact with you straight through the app in order to ask any questions they may have about their trip arrangements.
Maps
The map function enables users to see hotels locations and nightly rates on a map. This enables customers to discover more about the hotel’s location compared to other accommodations.
Payment gateway
People might be skeptical about online buying and disclosing payment information, so you must utilize a trusted payment gateway. In addition to accepting credit and debit cards, you may now accept e-wallets as payment from your consumers.
Encrypting Information
Ensure that all user information is encrypted to prevent malicious attacks.
24-Hour Customer Service:
Lastly, but most importantly, provide your users support around-the-clock so they may contact you whenever they need assistance.
Cost To Develop An App Like Hopper
While it is not feasible to provide you with a precise estimate of the cost to develop an app like Hopper, we can provide you with a ballpark figure. The amount of money you spend relies on a number of variables; let’s examine the most significant ones.
- Count of App platforms
- App Design (Simple, Medium, Complex)
- App size
- Developers required
The hourly rate of developers has the greatest impact on the cost to develop an app like Hopper, and this is often dependent on their location.
- India –$10 to $80 per hour
- Australia – $50 and $150 per hour
- Eastern Europe – $20-$150 per hour
- United States of America and Canada-based development teams – $50 to $250 per hour
- Eastern Europe – $20 and $150 per hour.
Before beginning the flights and hotels booking app development like Hopper, we recommend completing relevant market research, and confirming your travel ideas with industry professionals for the most accurate cost estimate.
To Sum It Up…
To develop flights and hotels booking app like Hopper is not rocket science, but it is also not a simple process. It needs much thought and work to achieve success. We are the top travel app development company; thus, if you are ready to put out the work and follow the methods outlined above, you may effectively develop flights and hotels booking app that people will like and that will produce cash for your company. On the technical side, you must have a thorough comprehension of how algorithms function and how to execute them.
The development team that you employ should be well-versed in the most recent technologies and trends so that they can assist you in creating a responsive and scalable app. If you have a travel app ideas that you want to test and create, you may discuss it with us. If you still have questions, you may contact us using our contact form. Echoinnovate IT is always available for assistance.
FAQs
What is the business model for Hopper?
Hopper is an intelligent travel application that utilizes an aggregator approach and is powered by AI.
How does Hopper work?
Hopper requires customers to provide their origin and destination, the number of passengers, and whether or not they want to reserve a hotel accommodation. The software then requests the user’s travel dates and whether one-way or round-trip tickets will be booked.
Whom should I include in my team to develop flights and hotels booking app like Hopper?
For a functional and feature-rich Hopper replica, you will need the following resources and equipment:
What is Hopper and how does it work?
Hopper is a travel booking app that uses AI to predict flight and hotel prices, helping users find the best deals and book at the right time.
How do I build a travel booking app like Hopper?
You’ll need a development team, a user-friendly UI/UX, API integrations, a secure backend, and AI-powered features like price prediction and personalization.
How much does it cost to develop a Hopper-like app in 2025?
Development can cost between $40,000 and $130,000 depending on features, platforms (iOS/Android), and project scope.
Which APIs are best for integrating flight and hotel data?
Popular APIs include Amadeus, Skyscanner, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor.
Is Flutter a good choice for building a travel app?
Yes, Flutter is ideal for cross-platform development, offering fast performance and a single codebase for both Android and iOS.
How does AI help in travel apps?
AI can forecast prices, personalize recommendations, automate travel planning, and improve customer support via chatbots.
What are must-have features for a modern travel app?
Smart search, AI price prediction, in-app booking, payment integration, travel alerts, loyalty programs, and user reviews.