Hotelier Middle East collaborates with Arabian Travel Market 2016 to find out how hotels can capitalise on the new digital era of sales
Oscar: As you say, on the booking process, people have to be attracted. We try to do it as fast as possible.
James: Most bookings are still taking place on desktop. Searches are on mobile.
Ali: It’s really interesting. The number of transactions have historically lagged because advertisers have been behind the trend. How do you get conversion rates up? Desktop is really undersold. We did a UIUX audit for one local advertiser. You’re trying to understand the steps of the journey and simplify as much as possible. When you land on a landing page, how many steps does it take to get from there to your booking? If you look at a brand which has figured it out, it’s about three steps. You don’t have to even use your keypad. Understand the value of mobile. People start on one device and continue somewhere else. Part of the reasons why mobile’s value is under-indexed is because we don’t fully have our attribution models figured out. Within the world of universal analytics, how to bring all of these touch points into a single platform? If someone was exposed to your ad on mobile, how did that play a part in conversion? Right now it’s under-reported. People buying these products, are mobile first, incredibly sophisticated. Our advertisers are catching up. Many of them have had a bad experience over the past couple of years with mobile. They say, ‘Conversions don’t come.’ Even in some of the more developed markets, that is improving. I would say, ‘Relook at it. Now is a good time.’ The asset quality is significant.
Some of the clients are concerned. ‘We don’t have an app’ — which is sometimes missing the point. There is a lot you can do with personalisation even within mobile web. Imitation is the best form of flattery. Figure out what works with these people and carry it into your own business.
Farooq: We use Amazon as a benchmark. Your travel should not be any more complicated than Amazon.
James: I think all innovation comes from looking at other categories and stealing with pride and reapplying vigorously. There is an awful lot hotels could do to take good ideas from Booking.com. You shouldn’t even have to take the credit card details from someone on a phone. You should send them a booking confirmation and they should be able to do it later. Then you’ve got their email.
Kevin T: Switching from mobile to web is interesting. Part of it is simplicity. If you’re working on your mobile, you put in your basics on your holiday. If you come to a website or call centre, if they have that information; something that really frustrates people is being asked for their details twice.
Ali: One of the folks we work with, Atlantis, doesn’t have a mobile app. What do they do when you try to book on their website? If you leave off at a certain point, they send you a personalised email: ‘We understand you tried to book. Click here to continue on.’ Fantastic. Non-intrusive. Not forcing you to make a booking. Even in a non-app environment. ‘That person did enter their email.’ When you’re on your work email, you might go onto your desktop and do it. We literally shouldn’t have to make a choice between mobile and desktop.
James: Enchantment messaging should be very big in 2016. That’s what we call it. Friendly towards guests.
Kevin C: The opportunity for that to happen on a mobile is so much higher. You’re booking, someone calls you. You run out of service on a tunnel on a train.
Kevin T: You receive that email and you find it highly relevant. Problem is, that company will be sending you campaigns. One of those emails will come through, ‘Would you like to come on a cruise with us?’ Only five minutes ago you sent me something relevant and now it’s this.
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