At a time when mobile phones had already made deep inroads into the lives of the people, the advent of mobile internet started creating revolutionary ripples worldwide. The hospitality industry is also experiencing this change, gradually adjusting to it and now reaping benefits from it.
As the traveller in large numbers took to these tiny devices for booking their travel, hotels worldwide responded to this trend by reinventing their business strategies and resorting to various innovative marketing tactics to tap the mobile hooked traveller.
Hotel Revenue Managers have introduced various special schemes with discounted rates and promotions specifically targeted to the smartphone users to encourage mobile bookings via mobile app, which promotes the use of these devices even more. One of the most common ways adopted by the hotels and OTAs is offering discounted rates of up to 10% (or even more) on booking accommodation through their brand mobile app, which works as an absolute delight for the consumers as well.
Let us take a quick catch up on this evolving trend – the emergence of desktop and laptop bookings gradually took over the role of the traditional travel agent way back, which marked the beginning of a hospitality industry revolution with digitisation taking over majorly. It opened the doors for the traveller to experience an altogether new way of booking travel, bringing leaps of convenience at their fingertips.
The next breeze came in with mobile bookings, which offered abundant flexibility to the traveller of indulging in various activities like reviewing hotel properties, comparing rates, booking, etc. anytime, anywhere, on the go. Enabling them to book their travel last minute with mobile apps.
Various studies conducted on the subject clearly indicate that hotels are the most prominent sector where smartphone bookings are more common, when it comes to travel, with a recent report pointing out that hotels generated one in five online bookings (mobile) in the second quarter of 2016.
