Mobile madness sweeps the Middle East
I have an admission to make; I own neither a Blackberry nor an iPhone. The Android community sounds more like an alien life-form than a group of mobile users and I’ve yet to use an iPad to do anymore than play Angry Birds.
But, it seems I better hope Santa will be putting one of these items in my stocking, otherwise I look set to get left behind in 2012. According to the professionals, this looks likely to be the year that mobile guest interaction and mobile hotel bookings become a dominant force in the Middle East hotel industry.
As part of the research for Hotelier’s 2012 forecast cover story, I asked the hoteliers in charge of leading hotel operations in the region for their views on what has now been dubbed “m-commerce”. I was overwhelmed by their responses.
Sofitel Middle East, Africa and Indian Ocean senior vice president Sami Nasser stated that “mobile commerce was the next big thing”. Jumeirah Group has recently launched its first full mobile site, while Rotana, Accor, Hospitality Management Holdings and Millennium and Copthorne Middle East are all planning investment into enhanced mobile services in 2012.
The benefits of growing your mobile services are many; from the guest perspective, mobile connection is convenient and easy. People expect to be able to access information when they want to wherever they are, and this applies just as much to their travel plans as anything else. M-commerce also brings guests directly to your hotel’s website, thus cutting out those pesky online travel agency commissions.
By their very nature, mobile bookings are made on the move, often for a hotel reservation that same day or the following day. These m-commerce savvy guests are, therefore, a vital audience to tap into as they offer a means of filling inventory at short notice. With the trends for very short booking lead times and the perceived value of a last-minute bargain expected to continue into 2012, no-one can afford to miss this target segment.
The question is, however, how is it best to approach this market? As Sami Nasser warns, building systems for each mobile device on the market is costly, especially considering the rapid pace at which technology is developing, which puts pressure on hotels to constantly update their own apps or programmes.
As mentioned, Jumeirah has solved this problem by launching a multi-platform enabled mobile site, rather than going app specific, and other chains are busily researching similar projects. And while I look forward to eventually accessing these ‘m-sites’ with my own smartphone, please don’t forget the technophobes among us, who like using our ancient PCs and dare I say it, even visiting the trusty travel agent.