Did you know?
73% of hotel guests want local recommendations when surveyed for the Monscierge Guest Experience Management (GEM) Report.
"With a love for all things travel and technology, Mandy Green is the Social Media Director and hospitality industry blogger at Monscierge."
Contact: mandy.green@monscierge.com
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Mobile Strategy: Is it Really that Important?
How important is it to have a mobile presence in today's market?
Let’s look at these figures:
- Smartphones have reached 50% of the mobile population in the US, and over 50% in the U.K. and Spain, with other European markets trailing closely. (stats from comScore)
- This percentage increases in the travel sector.
- Four Seasons reported an increase of 200% tablet bookings over the last year, and 86% of mobile bookings are via tablet.
- People are more likely to interact with a brand’s app over mobile website.
- According to Nielson, the average number of apps on a phone has grown 28% in the last year., and time spent on mobile apps vs. mobile web is 81%.
- comScore says that 51% of users view travel information from their smartphone.
- There is a 10:1 deficit between time consumers spend on mobile vs. marketing dollars put into mobile. Compare this to the fact that consumers spend only 7% of their time with print media, but advertisers are spending 25% of their budget in that area. (For more insight into advertising budgets, check out "Why Mobile Will Dominate the Future of Media and Advertising.")
How will these percentages change over the next 2 years? And think of the tech-savvy generation that will be making purchases in the next 5 years.
I had the opportunity to ask Mr. Larry Mogelonsky how he felt about mobile strategy in the hospitality industry, and he had this to say, "Mobile is a critical component to a hotel’s communications plans. Web sites have to function on tablets, and if necessary, have a dedicated mobile presence.
"Mobile should be looked at for a number of items: guest reservations, in-room concierge, management coordination and social marketing."
If we combine all of this data with, as Mr. Mogelonsky pointed out, the many revenue-generating uses for mobile in hospitality, perhaps taking those print dollars in the advertising budget and applying them to a mobile strategy is just what your hotel needs to stay ahead of the curve.
