The hotelier's guide to mobile marketing

Four Seasons Hotel Doha

Define your strategy
While there are some disadvantages to mobile marketing such as privacy issues and the need to create different campaigns for different devices, the experts are in agreement that the pros outweigh the cons.

Indeed, the real advantage lies in its measurability, which can be done in a variety of ways, as Garg explains: “The true success of the mobile approach comes from the activation of the offering. If a hotel generates an X amount of reservations and bookings from a mobile user base, the success of the medium is already quantifying itself.

“However, if you can now attach the value of the product or services paid for and the guest’s feedback, you can add further layers and quality to how you assess the success”.

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The mobile strategy of The Peninsula Hotels, which includes the use of advertising on selected magazines’ and third parties’ mobile apps, is measured quantifiably.

Simon Yip, vice president, sales reports: “Our strategy places focus on both smart phones and tablet devices, hence in addition to the booking channel on the website, we have also launched a mobile and tablet-friendly site at the end of 2010. We don’t expect high volume of bookings to immediately flow, so traffic volume to the mobile site as well as redirected to the main website, will be key metrics.”

At Four Seasons, the use of consumer testing means the measuring process starts before the campaign has even launched.

“The most important input is consumer testing. We do it Doha, Shanghai and different places in the US, so we’ve created a culture of product management, whether it’s web or mobile, that’s about being really consumer-centric,” explains Simon.

The Ritz-Carlton takes a slightly different approach and when reviewing the results of the World Concierge, Humler explains what success means to them: “The media value of the PR launch was fantastic because at the time there was so little coming out from iconic institutions.

In terms of the service industry, we were the first to come out with something so that’s always a big driver; how does it re-cement our position in the market place and how do we want to be known. The motivation lies in deepening our engagement levels.”

The power of mobile marketing cannot be ignored; the numbers simply speak for themselves.

Ogilvy’s Hart concludes: “In a recent survey of MENA mobile internet users by Spot on PR and Effective Measure, 85% of users have downloaded apps, 57% plan to buy a tablet device, 70% of smartphone users are likely to upgrade within 12 months and 41% of respondents in the GCC own two or more smartphones.

“All telecommunication companies in the GCC report increased profits due to increased data traffic (people accessing the internet from their mobile) specifically video, social networks and games. This shows there is still a large opportunity gap that is not being exploited,” asserts Hart. What are you waiting for?

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