How mobile is shaping a new standard in the hotel guest experience
With 2.6 billion smartphone users in the world and counting, mobile is quickly changing the way we travel. In today’s mobile age, travelers expect immediacy, personalization, and seamlessness from their digital devices, and these evolving expectations are setting a new standard in the way that travel brands communicate and engage with their customers.
For the hotel industry, mobile is not just a big and fast-growing distribution channel; mobile has become a lynchpin in the guest experience. From mobile check-in and check-out to guest messaging and real-time service alerts, hotels can now tap into new mobile technologies that improve overall guest satisfaction and drive customer loyalty.
This presentation shares some key statistics and trends on mobile technologies in the hospitality sector.
3. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Agenda
Why hotels need to invest in mobile
Delighting guests from search to stay: how mobile is being used to improve the guest
experience
Challenges and opportunities in mobile technology
Audience Q&A
4. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Why hotels need to invest in mobile
Nearly 2/3s of U.S. adults own smartphones now
(Source: Pew Research)
60% of travelers globally are unwilling to go on vacation without a
mobile device
(Source: Egencia)
Mobile now represents 65% of digital media time, while desktop is
becoming a secondary touchpoint
(Source: Marketing Land)
5. Audience Poll #1
Mobile in the Guest Experience
How well does your hotel employ mobile technology in the guest experience?
A. Excellent — we are completely optimized for mobile users!
B. Good — we have started investing seriously in mobile
C.Fair — we have some mobile technologies, but could do better
D.Poor — we have not yet invested in mobile
6. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Search & Book
Mobile website traffic high, but mobile direct
bookings need to catch up
• Hotel searches on mobile are up 49% in 2015 (Source: Google)
• In 2015, for the first time, just over half (51%) of all traffic to hotel
websites came through a touchscreen device (mobile + tablet)
• 1 out of 5 direct bookings is now done on a mobile device, up 50%
from 2014
• OTAs generate 40% of mobile bookings, while hotel suppliers only
generate about 20% (Source: Criteo)
7. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Search & Book
Find and capture your guests on mobile:
• Optimize user experience on your mobile website
• Enhance your mobile-specific marketing strategies
• Adapt pricing and revenue strategies for mobile
• Make the mobile booking flow quick and painless
8. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Check-in & Check-Out
Allow the guest to be in control!
• 84% of guests would take advantage of it
• 60% would be more likely to stay
• 76% of travelers have checked in using
automated kiosk and would do so again to
avoid waiting in line at the front desk
• 63% of travelers prefer hotels with tech-
enabled lobby
9. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Check-in & Check-Out
Improve guest experience from the moment they walk through the
door
• Front desk check-in is a transaction… NOT
a service!
• Choice of Service: self, staff, or mobile —
the guest should decide!
• Self-serve check-in/out and key pickup
stations
• Mobile door keys to complete a smooth
experience
10. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Stay
Guests prefer message-based interaction
• 78% of consumers wish they could text message with a
business
• Text messages have a 98% open rate
• Text messages have 8x the response rate of email
11. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Delighting guests with mobile: Stay
Messaging raises hotels’ service
levels
• Tackle service recovery in the moment not on
TripAdvisor
• Welcome guests with timely, relevant
information throughout their stay
• Engage each guest in a one-to-one dialogue
• Empower your team with searchable record of
every guest interaction
12. “Mobile is not the future, it is the now.
Meet your customers in the
environment of their choice, not where
it's convenient for you.”
—Cyndie Shaffstall, Spider Trainers
13. Audience Poll #2
Integrating Mobile
What is the biggest challenge to implementing mobile technology in your
hotel?
A. Costs are too high
B. Training the staff
C.Choosing the right technology provider
D.Justifying the ROI
E. None of the above
14. Hotels on the Mobile Frontier | July 14, 2016
Challenges & Opportunities
Myths vs. Facts: What are the biggest challenges to
investing in mobile technology?
The Hype Tech Cycle: Is mobile technology truly
transformational and revolutionary?
The Hotel of the Future: What does the hotel look like in
5-10 years? How does mobile impact it?
16. Thank you!
Please send questions and comments to
marketing@traveltripper.com.
Replay and presentation will be made available on
LinkedIn and respective company websites.
Notas do Editor
Slide shown when attendees are all logging in
Presenters slide (3 min)
Steffan to introduce guests and then himself (3 min)
Gautam Lulla, President of Travel Tripper
Jos Schaap, CEO and founder from StayNTouch
Drew Patterson, CEO and co-founder from Checkmate
Agenda (2 min)
Introduce agenda — remind listeners that:
Webinar will take approximately 1 hour
Participants will be able access the recording and slides later
Why hotels need to invest in mobile (5-7 min)
Moderator will lead this slide and state some of the points; will ask a few questions at the end that everyone can comment on.
Discussion points:
What do you think about this growing trend of mobile in travel? Is it still a “trend” anymore?
Expand on any of the statistics above with other interesting facts about mobile in travel
Talk about the general crossover of consumers on mobile device vs. desktop, especially for leisure
Audience Poll #1: Mobile in the Guest Experience (2 min)
Moderator takes a quick break and asks the audience to participate in a poll
Moderator will then transition to next speaker after poll is complete.
Delighting guests with mobile: Search + Book (5-7 min)
Primary speaker: Gautam
Discussion points:
Web traffic and booking data from Travel Tripper’s own numbers
The main thing to emphasize from this data:
Mobile usage is up across the board; people are integrating mobile into the way they search and book hotels
Hotel websites are capturing a large percentage of the traffic on mobile, but NOT the bookings!!
OTAs are beating hotels when it comes to mobile bookings; they have twice the market share as hotels
Delighting guests with mobile: Search + Book (5-7 min)
Primary speaker: Gautam
Discussion points:
Optimize user experience on your mobile website
Responsive web design is important for this
“Future-proofing” your website (responsive design means that no matter how many times Apple changes the screen of its iPhone, you’ll be protected)
Enhance your mobile-specific marketing strategies
Cross-device journey in travel (see Google); users research across multiple devices before booking and for many months prior to booking
This means you want your hotel to be where mobile users are — this includes investing in marketing strategies such as social media, local SEO, mobile search ads, etc.
Adapt pricing and revenue strategies for mobile
The way travelers use mobile is quite different than the context on desktop
Most mobile bookings are last-minute bookings, thus that can drive pricing strategies
Use dynamic pricing to compete with OTAs specifically on the mobile channel
Make the mobile booking flow quick and painless
Simplified booking flow
OTAs: “It only takes two minutes”
Delighting guests with mobile: Check-in and Check-out (5-7 min)
Primary speaker: Jos
INSERT TALKING POINTS HERE
Discussion points:
Should all hotels offer choice of service to check-in, and why?
How important is it to link mobile guest checkin with staff enabled back of house mobile devices to respond quickly to guest checkin’s or outs…?
Will mobile keys become mainstream?
What to do with the classic hotel manager who prefers to meet and greet all his guests in person?
(STAYNTOUCH TO FILL IN HERE)
Delighting guests with mobile: Stay (5-7 min)
Speaker: Drew
Slide content part 2:
Why communicating via mobile can transform the guest experience
Create a personalized connection via messaging
In-room tech vs. smartphone controls
Manage guest expectations and address complaints before reviews
Discussion points:
It seems that there’s a lot more talk in the industry about these technologies and that implementation of real-world solutions lag. Have you been delighted by any mobile experiences? If so, what delighted you? Have you had any bad experiences with these early technologies where things didn’t work as promised?
(CHECKMATE CAN FILL IN HERE)
Delighting guests with mobile: Stay (5-7 min)
Speaker: Drew
Discussion points:
It seems that there’s a lot more talk in the industry about these technologies and that implementation of real-world solutions lag. Have you been delighted by any mobile experiences? If so, what delighted you? Have you had any bad experiences with these early technologies where things didn’t work as promised?
(CHECKMATE CAN FILL IN HERE)
Group Discussion on the previous slides (5 min)
Audience Poll #2: Integrating Mobile (2 min)
Moderator takes a quick break and asks the audience to participate in second poll:
Moderator will then transition to next speaker after poll is complete.
Opportunities & Challenges (10-13 min)
Moderator will host an open-ended discussion here
Discussion points:
Myth or fact? What are the biggest challenges to mobile? Are they really challenges?
Where are we in the Hype Tech Cycle? Is this transformational? Is this really a revolution? (8-9 years since bookings)
What does the hotel look like in 5-10 years? How does mobile impact it?
Thank you (2 min)
Moderator will close the webinar and instruct everyone to submit additional questions via email.