Red Funnel Isle of Wight Ferries Offers a Smarter Way to Book

Red Funnel, the Isle of Wight specialist, has launched a fully transactional mobile website for customers with Smartphones.

The new Red Funnel mobile site is one of only a handful in the industry to offer iPhone, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry users the ability to make vehicle and foot passenger ferry bookings online.

Visitors to and from the Isle of Wight travelling via Southampton can now quickly book their ferry online up to an hour before departure from any location in the world as long as they have a mobile or WiFi connection.

It is also possible to buy tickets to a wide range of events and festivals such as vDub Island, Rhythmtree and the legendary Isle of Wight Festival together with admission to premier attractions such as Osborne House. All of these items can be purchased in a single transaction using payment methods which include PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

The new functionality also gives customers the ability to retrieve and view unused bookings and display a barcode on the device which can be scanned at check-in, making printing etickets a thing of the past for mobile users.

Furthermore, functionality has been provided to allow customers to securely manage their Travel Card accounts and maintain their user preferences and notification options such as free SMS service alerts.

Jonathan Green, Red Funnel sales & marketing director commented “Red Funnel’s previous mobile offering has proved extremely popular for checking sailing times, viewing live vessel position information and for keeping up-to-date with service news. The new transactional functionality makes the site a unique one-stop-shop for Smartphone users wishing to travel to or from the Isle of Wight for business or pleasure”.

Users of Smartphones are automatically redirected to the new mobile site when they visit http://www.redfunnel.co.uk (bookmark: http://mobile.redfunnel.co.uk).

Background:

Red Funnel Isle of Wight Ferries operates ro-ro passenger vehicle ferry services between Southampton on the UK south coast and East Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The Company also operates Red Jet Hi-Speed passenger only ferry services between Southampton and West Cowes. Red Funnel carries in excss of 3.5 million passengers per annum and is currently celebrating its 150th anniversary.

The Company has reputation for IT innovation and was one of the first ferry companies in the late 90s to offer a travel and destination based website with full online booking arriving just a few years later. Today, well over 80% of ferry bookings are made online and Red Funnel’s previous mobile optimized website has served over 200,000 visitors since July 2010. Red Funnel was also first cross-Solent ferry operator to install FREE Wi-Fi for customers across its ro-ro fleet of ferries and at its four terminals.