Mobile Travel Trends that Hotelier need to know

This is a summary of the 2018 report released by Travelport Digital for hotelier.

  • Going mobile is NOT an option BUT a must
    • 90% of travel brands said the mobile strategy is critical to the future success of their organization
    • 84% of travel brands intent to increase their investment in mobile
  • The travel industry is adopting blockchain technologies for
    • 35% for payment
    • 26% for loyalty
    • 20% for supply chain
    • 17% for contracts
  • Sharing personal information for a personalized experience
    • 84% of millennials said they would let travel brands track their digital patterns if this would provide them with a more personalized experience
  • Mobile payment going mainstream

Diving Deeper into the Opportunities for Hotels

In the report, search and book a flight /accommodation is the main reason (62%) why travellers download a mobile app. BUT what’s interesting is that 19% of the travellers download a mobile app to get the updated notifications. What this could imply for a hotel?

What Notifications Could Possibly Hotel Offer to Travellers?

  • Room status notification. e.g. notify arriving guest on the availability of their room for check-in and even provide mobile check-in
  • Room access notification. e.g. notify guest on entries to their room for cleaning activity etc
  • Bill notification. e.g. notify guest on new entries added to their bill
  • Activities notification e.g. notify guest on the shows available today or interesting events of the day
  • Room cleaning status e.g. notify guest on the room cleaning progress
  • Hotel private offer notifications might be a good idea to keep the app installed on the travellers’ phone post their stay

My Thoughts

The mobile experience is a double-edged sword: It’s a win or lose, nothing in between. “61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% will visit a competitor’s site instead” – Google.

Instead of building your hotel mobile booking app, for sales, I suggest hotels go where the customer is. e.g. selling on WeChat

Instead of building your hotel mobile guest engagement app, for engagement, I suggest hotels go for vendors who provide off-the-shelf mobile guest engagement experience (like the notifications mentioned above).

As travellers get more tech-savvy, they expect hotels to be more tech-enabled. Travellers will bring the requirement of the convenience they enjoy now to the destinations and hotels as they travel. Imagine their expectation to get ride-hailing service wherever they travel, the convenience of mobile payment (Chinese tourists favour store who accept mobile payment), the need to continue the latest drama on Netflix in the hotel room etc. Not to mention their expectation to get “notified” when something happens as like their social media app.

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