Last minute bookings
Ramada Downtown Dubai has realised the importance of separating desktop and mobile platforms, and is on the verge of launching its first mobile app. Roshna Raj, marketing executive, says: “The biggest advantage is mobility, especially with last minute plans and instant bookings.
Guests today have changed the traditional mode of travel and it is an advantage to book while you go. Just having a standard desktop site might limit your options to having last moment bookings via FIT.”
“When people are looking for a hotel, what we have seen in some Middle East markets, the bookings that are made on mobile phones are for the same day or the next day,” agrees Google’s head of travel for the Gulf, Maria de Ducla.
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“It’s really people booking hotels when they’re on the go, and when they’re on the go, they only have phones or tablets with them. If you’re not present on mobile, you’ll lose a lot of business to your competitors, so it is very important that they also optimise their mobile sites.”
Gregory offers a great piece of advice for hotels about to break into mobile or updating their current site. “A simple acid test is when reviewing a mobile site, stand outside in the daylight, walk and try to use it with your right thumb.
That’s it — if you can do that, it passes the test, but most don’t. You need to think about high contrast colours, using buttons rather than pull down menus and putting things on the right hand side.”
Devices
Just one mobile site nowadays, however, is becoming an outdated concept — hotels should have dedicated campaigns for desktop, smartphone and tablet. “Even then, break out to a device and operating system — one for iOS, one for Android — the experiences are different. You need to separate them out, as they’re all worth different amounts to you,” says Gregory.
At Ritz-Carlton, a new mobile app was launched in May which utilises the GPS functions on a smartphone — on the road or out in a city, the app will include information about any selected Ritz-Carlton property, and the ability to book a room.
However, when a guest enters one of its hotels and opens the app, users are offered highly specific information, as well as tips from the property’s concierges and special offers that are accessible only when in the hotel.
Christoph Heyn, senior manager, global e-commerce and mobile strategy at Ritz-Carlton, says: “We see this customised experience as being part of our brand promise to deliver personalised service. As a result, the usage of our app provides direct benefits to our guests, which will then increase the likelihood that they will also use our mobile platforms to book their next Ritz-Carlton stay”.
As much as some companies go all out on a global mobile app, many hotels simply don’t have the resources. In that case, all is not lost, says Gregory: “When you look at people’s experiences on mobile sites, they don’t go as deep into a site as they might on tablet or desktop.
They don’t have the time to look around. You only look at one or two pages. Just get the landing page right and really focus on getting the action out of them there and then. And if you can’t do it — don’t forget, these things started out as phones. You can still make a call with them. Instead of sending them to a page, put a link on there to call you.”
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