Your potential guests look for the right hotels on their mobile phones whenever they plan a leisure or business trip. Most of the time, people rely on the mobile applications of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). Today’s customers like to use mobile applications for booking hotels rather than surfing the website. So, if you don’t have a mobile application to promote direct bookings, then you will possibly lose the opportunity and might have to pay commissions to OTAs for processing the bookings for you. So, do you have a mobile application for your hotel business? If not, then now is the time to understand its importance and get going with creating a responsive one. Below are a few reasons to help you understand why mobile applications for hotels are an important asset.
7 Reasons That Explain the Importance of Mobile Applications for Hotels
Below are the reasons to help you understand the necessity for a mobile application to increase your reservations and sales rate:
1. Optimized Booking Experience
Once your marketing approach has convinced potential hotel guests to download your direct booking application on their mobile phones, they will get instant access to all information, offers, and direct booking incentives.
It will be convenient for your guests to select and book their stay with you in just a few clicks. Booking through websites is also a converting approach but has a lot of clutter from different plug-ins and ads. Mobile applications seem more organized and free from clutter.
In this way, both customers and hotel management will save time in booking the rooms and processing respectively. Moreover, it will give a positive experience to your guests, and they will surely come back to experience this ease of booking your services.
2. Tracking Guest Data
By introducing a mobile application for your hotel business, you will easily access guest information. Using this, you can track their behavioural traits throughout their journey of booking rooms and services with you. You can also monitor these traits throughout their period of stay with you.
Data is the most impactful tool today to help you make accurate predictions. Moreover, the right data can give you the necessary information to make productive decisions. Ultimately, you can use this guest data to help your hotel business with impactful marketing and pricing strategies.
3. Increase Brand Awareness
A lot of people rely on applications of various types to meet their needs. So, if your hotel business application is downloaded on the mobile phones of your potential guests, then most likely, they will go through it once in a while.
Anytime they have a travel plan, they will always have your brand on top of their minds while choosing accommodation. In this way, you are creating an awareness for your brand and making your services accessible to more people.
4. Get a Competitive Edge
There are very few hotels with mobile applications for receiving reservation requests. Most small businesses list their brand with OTAs to save money on building an application. They assume people will rely on OTA applications over their own, which is a proven statistic but not ideal for maximizing profits.
You need to market your brand in a way so that people will prefer booking from your direct channels rather than OTAs. When they land on your social media page or website, let them know that you have offers on direct bookings from your mobile application. Get them to install your hotel application, and you will eventually have more direct bookings.
As only a few hotels are running their business applications, you can take a leap and make your initiative stand out. The only thing you need to focus on is to market your direct sales channels more than OTAs.
5. Increases In-Stay Spend of Guests
Mobile applications will allow customers to easily check your upselling and cross-selling services. Even when they are staying with you, they will have the flexibility to book other associated services of your hotel through the application.
For instance, if your hotel hosts a Happy Hour discount on alcohol and beverages, you can flash an advertisement on your application to urge customers to book a table. Similarly, room upgrades, meal facilities, recreational activities, and other such service bookings can also be booked by your customers during their stay.
Customers don’t feel like calling reception at all times to proceed with bookings and other information. They will find it convenient to skim through your mobile application and proceed with the reservations all by themselves. In this way, your profitability will multiply exponentially.
6. Bind All Guest-Facing Technology with Hotel Application
As a modern-day hotel business, it is common for you to use technological implementations to seamlessly manage your business operations. For instance, your hotel will need a booking engine, property management system, channel manager, and other solutions to ease the manual management tasks.
So, binding the functionalities of all those technologies with your mobile application will help increase the rate of direct bookings for your hotel. Moreover, you can also include:
- Digital door keys
- Guest review links
- Loyalty program benefits
- Other such facilities on your mobile application
As a result, your mobile application will keep a tab on your business operations and update the necessary details, such as room availability, discounted costs, added amenities, and others, for customers to see and act.
7. Acts as a Tour Guide
Mobile applications for hotels act as tour guides for the customers and help them navigate all the facilities and amenities you offer. You can implement your Virtual Reality (VR) media files to select rooms for your guests to experience remotely before they book them.
Suppose your guest is on a vacation trip and wants to have a relaxed stay after the outdoor tours and adventures. In that case, they need to know what rejuvenation and recreational activities you have to offer to meet their leisure expectations.
The list of restaurants, bars, swimming pools, game centres, and other such activities in the mobile application will catch the attention of your potential guests. If such activities are their priority, then your application will help them make a decision.
Mobile Applications for Hotels Can Improve Overall Guest Experience
Hotels work to ensure a good experience for customers. And the journey to achieve it begins right from the first interaction of a potential guest with your hotel brand. You don’t have to wait until the guest books with you and reaches the physical destination for a check-in.
Instead, your sales channels can catch their attention from the first interaction. A mobile application that rewards on being downloaded will be the preference for potential guests while they are on their next trip. Just like that, you can plan out other possibilities and direct your marketing approach accordingly for direct booking channels.
So, if you haven’t started using a mobile application for your hotel business yet, then now is the time you hire a developer and get the job done.
Believe it or not, you will cut short the commissions and enjoy full profitability through direct bookings. And a mobile application is one of the most preferred direct booking channels.
This article was originally published on partner sites.