Last month, I hosted a webinar on “How to Build a Mobile Website That Converts.” It’s a topic that Leonardo is passionate about educating hoteliers on, especially since Google’s algorithm update earlier this year. In case you missed it, hotels that have a mobile-friendly website will now move higher up in Google search results than hotels that don’t.
However, pressure from Google shouldn’t be the only motivating factor for hotels to launch a mobile website. There’s a ton of other data that points to the fact that mobility is significantly changing the way people book travel. And if you don’t have a mobile website, it’s most certainly impacting your bottom line.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at some of the facts.
A Mobile Website is Not a Trend, It’s Here to Stay
According to Google, 40% of US travel site visits are now coming from mobile devices. And by the end of 2016, Skift predicts over half (51.8%) of online travel bookings in the US will be done on a mobile device. That’s up from 43.8% in 2015 and is expected to be almost 60% next year.
More broadly, outside of the US, Skift found that in 2015 mobile bookings in North America accounted for 27% of all hotel bookings. In Asia Pacific, it was 27% and in Europe it was 21%.
It’s clear that mobility is no longer a trend. It’s changing the way people research and book travel and hotels that don’t have a mobile website are missing out on huge revenue potential.
“Micro-Moments” Changing the Travel Shopping Journey
What’s interesting is how the rise of mobile is reshaping consumer habits, including the travel-shopping journey. A new study from Google, titled “How Micro-Moments Are Reshaping the Travel Customer Journey,” suggests that mobile has created “micro moments” in the consumer journey – instances where people go onto their phones to complete a small task immediately, making them intent-rich.
Read rest of the article at Leonardo
