The rise of smartphones and tablets has given way to an undeniable truth: The internet is mobile. We don’t sit down in front of a computer to “go online;” we simply are online, all the time: on the couch, in the kitchen, at work, around town and abroad.

1. Six Critical Mobile Optimization Tactics
Every Hotelier Should Know
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2. Welcome to the mobile internet
2
Optimization is critical
3
Six things every hotelier should do to optimize for smartphones
and tablets
4
1. Think about interface and screen size
4
2. Add eye-pleasing visuals
5
3. Make booking easy
6
4. Take advantage of the platform
7
5. Make your mobile site social-ready
8
6. Display redeemable special offers
9
Bringing it all together
10
One last mobile marketing tip: Measure!
11
Next steps
12
About VFM Leonardo
13
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3. Welcome to the mobile internet
The rise of smartphones and tablets has given way to an undeniable truth: The
internet is mobile. We don’t sit down in front of a computer to “go online;” we
simply are online, all the time: on the couch, in the kitchen, at work, around town
and abroad.
This paradigm shift has led to a simple reality for businesses in their efforts to
attract new clients. A mobile presence is no longer an option; it’s an absolute
necessity.
The travel industry is certainly not immune to the mobile shift. 2012 was a banner
year for travel research, planning and purchasing on mobile devices:
Nineteen percent of all travel queries in 2012 came from a mobile device (up
from 11 percent in 2011 1)
Approximately 36 million Americans used a smartphone to research travel
and plan their vacation 2.
Sixteen million U.S. travelers booked a trip via their smartphone – four times
as many as in 2011 3.
Two-thirds of tablet owners made a travel purchase on their device in the
first half of 2012.
Ninety percent of tablet owners said they would book on their device in the
future4.
Perhaps most importantly, almost half of all travel searches on a mobile
device result in a purchase5.
The news only gets better in 2013: January saw an all-time high of 27.1 percent
of all travel queries come from a mobile device6. When you consider that the
smartphone market was merely a blip before 2007 (and the tablet market nonexistent before 2010), the
rate of growth is impressive.
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With this in mind, there’s a
clear opportunity for you to
reach out to potential mobile
visitors and tell your hotel’s
story. While different devices
and screen sizes might
call for slightly different
storytelling methods, the
capabilities of these smallbut-formidable devices, the
“personal feel” they provide
and the clarity of their
screens combine to offer
powerful visual storytelling
opportunities.
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4. Optimization is critical
As a hotel marketer, when it comes to your website, you can’t be satisfied with
a “one-size-fits-all” strategy. Even if you already have an effective website that
works well on standard computer screens, simply presenting the same site on
mobile devices isn’t an effective method of telling your hotel’s story to capture
mobile visitors. Your site needs to be optimized for mobile devices, ensuring
that your hotel’s story is properly communicated and shared effectively with the
mobile website visitor.
With that in mind, we compiled six critical
tips for mobile optimization. We’ll cover
best practices for both smartphones
and tablets, including the top strategies
expert marketers use to capture mobile
clicks and leads.
Before we get started, keep this
fundamental tip in mind: No matter what
platform a user finds your property on
– desktop, smartphone or tablet – it’s
critical to maintain your hotel’s story
and identity. Even though each site is
optimized for its respective platform, it’s
important to ensure visitors recognize
who you are immediately. By ensuring
your logos and branding elements,
as well the tone of your writing, are
consistent across the board, you’ll make
a strong impression on new visitors
and add a sense of familiarity to repeat
customers.
Go Figure!
Three smartphone-optimized
statistics
1. Approximately 75 percent of
all smartphone owners use
their smartphones to surf the
web19.
2. The average smartphone user
makes up to 24 website visits
per day20.
3. Over one-third of U.S.
smartphone owners have
used their device to make a
purchase21.
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5. Six things every hotelier should do to optimize for smartphones
and tablets
With mobile usage surging, now is the time to leverage these devices to tell your
hotel’s story. Here are the top six things you need to do to build a great online
experience for your mobile visitors.
1. Think about interface and screen size
Since the majority of smartphones and tablets are touchscreen devices,
remember the user’s fingertip is the primary input device; clearly marked,
reasonably large buttons are generally far better than tiny hotspots, clickable
images, or embedded text links. In addition, minimize the amount of typing and
data entry your visitors need to do. Use location services to learn where they are
and use cookies to recall previously-entered data, and make items “fingertipfriendly” – ensure links are easily tap-able, allow swiping to move through tabs
or photos, offer drop downs for selections and include “Previous” and “Next”
buttons to help guide users through the booking process.
Small and simple for smartphones. When developing your smartphoneoptimized site, always keep in mind the size of the device your visitors are
using. Although smartphones are generally trending upward in size, they are still
pocket-sized devices. That small screen size demands a different approach to
user design, with a focus on clean, simple navigation. Display information in a
single column (so users can avoid scrolling horizontally), and avoid cluttering
pages with too much information.
Take it up a notch on tablets. Tablets offer a lot more room to play with. You
can add tabs and more buttons to navigate deeper into your site; you can also
include larger visuals to tell your story, which we’ll talk about in more detail later
on.
Still, keep in mind that although tablets
offer larger screens than smartphones,
these screens are still not as large as a
desktop’s. As such, it’s important to be
clear on exactly what each tab or button
on your site does. Ensure links and callsto-action look tap-able, keeping in mind
that “hover states” and mouse-over
actions (that indicate where a link goes
on a desktop) do not exist on a tablet.
When buttons aren’t appropriate, use clear
contrasting colors or underlines in text
links.
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Keep your fonts large and crisp, and
ensure a decent amount of padding around
different elements (buttons, links, text
paragraphs) to avoid clutter. Increased
“white space” can help give your site a
clean, visually pleasing look.
Go Figure!
Three tablet-optimized
statistics
1. There are nearly 70 million
tablet users in the U.S.
alone22.
2. Tablet traffic worldwide is
expected to exceed that of
smartphones this year23.
3. In 2012, the number of
mobile-connected tablets
more than doubled – and
each tablet generated 2.4
times more traffic than the
average smartphone24.
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6. 2. Add eye-pleasing visuals
High-resolution smartphone screens and larger tablet screens are ideal for
viewing videos, virtual tours and high resolutions photographs – all the tools you
need to tell your hotel’s story with rich, engaging visuals. Recent figures suggest
watching video is one of the most popular things people do on their mobile
devices: More than half of all mobile web traffic in 2012 was video content7.
Smartphone users want speed. While watching a movie on a four-inch screen
may not be ideal, people are still watching video on their phones; one-quarter
of all smartphone data consumed is in the form of video. But a recent survey of
smartphone users found speed was still key: 64 percent of users in the U.S. said
they wanted a site to load within four seconds, with 16 percent of respondents
saying they would abandon a site completely and never return if it didn’t load
promptly.8
This makes optimization critical to your smartphone site. While you want to tell
your story with great videos and beautiful photographs, you definitely don’t want
to drive visitors away before they get to see them! With this in mind, ensure
that animation, video, and high-resolution photographs are properly sized and
optimized for speed.
Tablets users want video.
More than 50 percent more
video viewing takes place on
tablets than on smartphones9,
and mobile video overall is
expected to grow 75 per cent
by 2017 10. When it comes to
travel, 89 percent of leisure
travelers (and a whopping 93
per cent of business travelers)
use online video in their travel
planning11.
With these facts in mind, the value of adding video to your tablet site is a clear
one. Options to consider include everything from promotional videos of your
property to videos of events and things to do around town.
Don’t stop at just video, though. Add virtual tours of your rooms and facilities,
and provide tablet-optimized photographs showing off your property and the
surrounding area. In other words, take advantage of the tablet screen’s size and
clarity to show your property off!
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7. 3. Make booking easy
Mobile commerce is surging ($163 billion worldwide by 2015 12), and the travel
market is certainly no exception: Mobile travel bookings are projected to exceed
$8 billion this year13.
Smartphone users are ready to buy – right now. Smartphone users aren’t afraid
to use their phones to book travel online. Some 16 million U.S. smartphone
users made a travel purchase with their device last year, and it’s expected that
28 percent of all online travel bookings will be made by smartphone by 201514.
Notably, most smartphone users are making same-day travel purchases – a
last-minute flight or room. With that in mind, keep your “book now” button
clearly visible on all pages of your optimized site, and make sure the check-out
process is as simple and streamlined as possible. Your booking engine should
be smartphone optimized because a visitor in a rush won’t have time to enter a
great deal of text or mull over a lot of options.
Tablet users are ready to spend even
more. Tablet visitors spend twice as
much per purchase (and are nearly
three times more likely to purchase)
than smartphone visitors15. It’s also
worth noting that both leisure and
business travelers are more than twice
as likely to book via a mobile site than
through a mobile app, but that a bad
mobile website is the number one
deterrent to mobile booking16.
Pro marketing tip
Understand your customers
“Your mobile site will differ
from your desktop site not just
because of the size of the device,
but because the mobile context
reveals a different mindset for
your consumers… Define your
value proposition by determining
what your consumer wants to
do with your business in mobile.
Benchmark against others in your
industry for ideas.”
As with your smartphone site, make the
process simple and easy. Your “book
now” button should be clearly visible on
every page, and linked directly to your
hotel’s (or your chain’s) mobile booking
engine. The booking path – picking
- Google Mobile Playbook
dates, rooms and options – should be
straightforward, with drop-down menus
and easily tap-able buttons for selections. And of course, your booking process
needs to be safe and secure, including confirmation screens to maintain the
purchaser’s confidence in the process.
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8. 4. Take advantage of the platform
Smartphones and tablets are incredibly powerful multifunction devices, so it
makes sense for your mobile-optimized site to take advantage of those functions
as much as possible.
Leverage the smartphone’s telephone
capabilities. It’s easy to forget that
mini-computer in your pocket is a
phone, and sometimes, simply making
a call is the best way to go. So don’t
make your users copy your phone
number into the phone app – make sure
the phone app launches when a user
taps your number!
Pro tech tip
Don’t build an app when a site
will do
“Mobile apps lock development
and design into specific
ecosystems, require significant
redundant development to cross
platforms, add a vast amount of
management complexity… Mobile
sites avoid all of these things and
allow for a much faster path to
execution.”
Make use of maps and more. Along
the same lines as the phone app, tablet
(and smartphone) users shouldn’t have
to copy your address into the map
app; take advantage of the device’s
map capabilities on your “location”
- Adobe Insights: Best practices
page. You can also take advantage
for designing mobile websites
of calendar, e-mail and camera app
integration where applicable. Many
phones also offer integration to social
media apps, which brings us to our next tip...
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9. 5. Make your mobile site social-ready
Transform your visitors into brand ambassadors through social sharing features.
Travelers definitely like to share their vacation plans and activities with their
followers: 55 per cent of travelers “like” Facebook pages specific to their
vacation, with 70 per cent updating their Facebook status while on vacation17.
Smartphone users like to share on-the-go. Look for smartphone users to
share that they’re staying with you when they check in, when they’re by the pool
or when they’re in the bar.
Tablet users like to share from the couch. Tablet users tend to connect with
social media from more comfortable locations, which makes them ideal for
writing reviews or sharing photos after their trip.
Regardless of device, word-of-mouth remains as important as ever in the travel
sector, and social media allows that word to travel farther and faster than ever
before. Adding Twitter, Facebook and “share-by-email” buttons to your mobile
site is an easy way to encourage visitors to share their travel plans and to build
digital word-of-mouth for your property.
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10. 6. Display redeemable special offers
Everyone loves a good deal – and mobile shoppers are no different. In fact, the
number of active mobile coupon users is expected to grow from 2.7 million in
2010 to nearly 35 million by 2014 18. Promoting value-added special offers on
smartphones and tablets not only grabs consumer interest and attention, but it
also encourages them to book.
To appeal to smartphone and tablet users wherever they are in their travel
journeys (early research phase to booking to during their stay), ensure you have
the offers available that will appeal to them. Even if they’re not ready to book on
the spot, they may come back to take advantage of an offer for a spa package or
dinner and theater at a local establishment that caught their interest.
Feature promotions that add
value such as free parking,
complimentary breakfast, bonus
loyalty points or happy hour
specials at your restaurant as well
as special offers for tickets to local
attractions and upcoming events.
Ensure they are easy to redeem
your offers by linking directly
to your mobile booking engine
with the appropriate offer code
populated.
Draw attention to your offers
making them easy to find and
click through to from your main
navigation.
Pro tech tip
Mobile is highly local
“We use our mobile devices all
the time to navigate throughout
the physical world: Where’s the
closest parking garage? What’s
the best breakfast place around
here? Where can I post this
package for my nephew? If you’ve
got local content or content that
can be localized, optimize it for
mobile.”
- MarketingProfs: Mobile
Marketing Best Practices
Enhance the way your offers are
displayed by using large and
relevant visuals.
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11. Bringing it all together
Mobile optimization isn’t just an option anymore; it’s an absolute necessity.
Keep these essentials in mind when developing and deploying your mobile
strategy:
SMARTPHONE
TABLET
Manage smaller screen sizes
with single-column layouts
Take advantage of the larger screens
with tabs, buttons and “white space”
Offer clear, straightforward booking options
Include video and high-resolution photography
Leverage device phone capabilities
Take full advantage of device capabilities
like email and maps
Offer value added deals and promotions
Add social sharing features
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12. One last mobile marketing tip: Measure!
Even after you’ve spent your time and resources developing your mobile strategy
and building your mobile-optimized site, your job isn’t quite done. Now it’s time
to measure what’s happening on your site – after all, if you don’t analyze what’s
happening, how will you know if all of your efforts have been successful, and
how will you know what and where you need to improve?
Take a look at your web traffic and find out how consumers are interacting with
the content you’ve offered. Are they watching your videos, and how much time
did they spend doing so? Are they sharing your content on social media and
clicking through to local attractions? Are they looking at photos of your rooms or
facilities?
Perhaps most importantly, look at those users who left your site and try and
determine why:
Was your property simply not what they were looking for; or was your site
too difficult to navigate?
Were your pictures not high-resolution enough; or too high-resolution and
too slow to load?
Were you fully booked on the visitor’s preferred dates; or were your booking
options confusing?
And don’t forget to compare your mobile traffic to your desktop traffic. Doing
so will help you determine not only the different types of customers that are
using different devices, but also what you’re doing correctly on the desktop and
incorrectly on mobile – or vice versa.
Analyzing visitor behavior to your mobile site will help determine if your mobile
sites are meeting your objectives, and if not, will help guide the steps you need
to take to get there.
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13. Next steps
Are you ready to transform your mobile presence into an optimized online
experience for your visitors, but not quite sure where to begin? VFM Leonardo
helps hotels like yours develop and deploy optimized, multiplatform web
experiences, enabling properties to tell their story in a compelling manner no
matter what platform a visitor is using.
With powerful visual storytelling features and an easy-to-use web interface, VFM
Leonardo’s VBrochure™ Online Merchandising System is an ideal solution for
hotels looking to deliver consistent, visually rich, optimized online experiences to
travel shoppers.
Visit VFM Leonardo online to view a demo or contact us today to learn more
about how VBrochure™ can help you reach prospects with smartphone- and
tablet-optimized experiences.
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14. About VFM Leonardo
VFM Leonardo is a technology and online media company for the global
hospitality industry. We provide e-marketers at hotel brands, management
companies and hotel properties with technology, sales conversion tools and a
global travel media network that enables them to better visually merchandise
their hotels to millions of in-market travel shoppers monthly. Our core products,
the VScape® Digital Asset Management System and VBrochure™ Online
Merchandising System, leverage the VNetwork™ - the largest media syndication
network in the industry. It includes all major search engines, Global Distribution
Systems, online travel agencies, travel research and supplier websites, search
portals, review, travel editorial, local directories and major social media and
video sharing sites. Taking advantage of VBrochure’s mobile and social media
platforms, hotels can ensure that their rich visual presentations reach consumers
on their mobile devices and through their social graphs.
For more information about VFM Leonardo, visit www.vfmleonardo.com.
@VFMLeonardo
www.facebook.com/vfmleonardo
blog.vfmleonardo.com
www.vfmleonardo.com
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15. 1. GPMD: 2012 Mobile Internet Usage Statistics (http://www.gpmd.co.uk/blog/2012-mobileinternet-statistics/)
2. GPMD: 2012 Mobile Internet Usage Statistics (http://www.gpmd.co.uk/blog/2012-mobileinternet-statistics/)
3. NewMedia Trendwatch: More than 60% of hotel bookings made on mobile phones were for
the same day (http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/news/1085-mobile-travel-bookers-willcontinue-to-trail-mobile-researchers-by-about-12)
4. Expedia Media Solutions: The rise of mobile (http://www.advertising.expedia.com/en-us/
about-ems/press-room/NewsletterPDFs/PhoCusWright-2012.pdf)
5. Tnooz: Nielsen study shows travel usage trends for mobile devices (http://www.tnooz.
com/2012/08/09/news/nielsen-study-shows-travel-usage-trends-for-mobile-devices-infogra
phic/#UOWS839bq3X9cBFM.99)
6. Travelution: Mobile penetration in travel accelerates, finds Nucleus research (http://www.
travolution.co.uk/articles/2013/02/19/6480/mobile-penetration-in-travel-accelerates-findsnucleus-research.html)
7. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast (http://www.cisco.com/
en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html)
8. Internet Retailer: Mobile consumers expect speed greater than many retailers are providing
(http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/08/07/mobile-consumers-expect-greater-speed)
9. Streamingmedia.com: The State of mobile video 2013 (http://www.streamingmedia.com/
Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/The-State-of-Mobile-Video-2013-87931.aspx)
10. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast (http://www.cisco.com/
en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.html)
11. Think with Google: The 2012 traveler (http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/
studies/the-2012-traveler/)
12. Tnooz: Yeah, take note remaining mobile travel naysayers (http://www.tnooz.
com/2012/08/01/mobile/yeah-take-note-remaining-mobile-travel-naysayers-infographic/#C1
w3tMlh7YrZ1mXS.99)
13. PhoCusWright research, January 2012
14. NewMedia Trendwatch: More than 60% of hotel bookings made on mobile phones were for
the same day (http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com/news/1085-mobile-travel-bookers-willcontinue-to-trail-mobile-researchers-by-about-12)
15. Gigaom: Tablets now drive more ecommerce traffic than smartphones (http://gigaom.
com/2012/06/29/report-tablets-now-drive-more-ecommerce-traffic-than-smartphones/)
16. Think with Google: The 2012 traveler (http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/
studies/the-2012-traveler/)
17. IGM: Online travel statistics 2012 (http://infographicsmania.com/online-travelstatistics-2012/)
18. Expedia Media Solutions: The rise of mobile (http://www.advertising.expedia.com/en-us/
about-ems/press-room/NewsletterPDFs/PhoCusWright-2012.pdf)
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16. 19. Think with Google: Our Mobile Planet (http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet)
20. O’Rourke Hospitality: Using responsive website design to stay connected with guests (http://
www.orourkehospitality.com/blog/using-responsive-website-design-to-stay-connected/)
21. Think with Google: Our Mobile Planet (http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet
22. Online Media Daily: U.S. Tablet Users to Double to 70 million (http://www.mediapost.
com/publications/article/176545/us-tablet-users-double-to-70-million-in-2012.
html#axzz2N542zpxf)
23. Adobe: How tablets are catalyzing brand website engagement (http://success.adobe.com/
assets/en/downloads/whitepaper/13926.tablets-brand-engagement-v5.pdf)
24. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast (http://www.cisco.com/
en/US/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c11-520862.
html)
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