At the recent HSMAI Europe Revenue Management conference, a series of workshops were delivered – one of which was from us at Revenue by Design on some of the new developments in mobile for hotel. We looked briefly at four aspects of mobile-
1) The growth of mobile use, and how consumers are increasingly looking to search and book hotels using their mobile – we talked to some new mobile-only sites such as Blink and Hotel Tonight who offer last minute hotel exclusive deals on hotel bookings via a mobile app.
Download the presentation here:
2) The pro’s and con’s of developing a mobile app vs. building a mobile friendly site. This covered the need to build apps to each mobile platform such as Google Android, Apple’s iOS platform, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry, the user requirement to download, and the associated ongoing support required for each platform, vs. the creation of a mobile friendly site, that is ultimately easier to manage and market.
3)Mobile usage in hotels today. Here we covered the use of mobile in a customer acquisition and transactional mode, including the use of mobile booking platforms, and methods of communication and promotion to potential guests through QR codes. Mobile is increasingly being used for guest communications and guest stay management such as on site- text messaging for guest promotions, and mobile technology for check in and check out, mobile room keys, and the ability to order room service, and re-stock the mini bar. We also covered the development of mobile apps by Property Management System providers such as Protel and Micros Fidelio. These apps provide PMS functionality through mobile devices including both Phone and Tablet, allowing remote management of functions such as guest arrivals, departures and in house status, housekeeping status, and availability status (and much more – well worth a look).
Finally we looked at the revenue and management implications these include:
- Managing booking windows
- Integration into marketing & social media
- Optimising search patterns- from desktop to mobile at weekends and evenings
- Optimising pricing
- Gaining customer ownership
- Understanding customer profitability
What are your experiences of the managing your mobile strategy? Do you have a mobile booking capability and if so, are you experiencing shorter booking windows? Are rates achieved through mobile lower or higher than other channels? Have you launched a mobile app and had some success with it?- we’d love to hear from you….
