Mobile continues to see dramatic growth and change. We’ve analysed the latest data on which devices are being used, which are growing and which are declining. The verdict? Hotel website visits are now dominated by mobile, and hotels as a whole lag slightly behind most online retailers in terms of mobile visits.
However, mobile revenue and transactions lag behind mobile visits, both in the hotel industry and for online retailers as a whole. We’re going to quickly explore why that’s happening, and what will need to change for mobile revenue to catch up.
From hotel website traffic to a look at the broader shift to mobile for online retailers, here’s a quick snapshot of what’s happening today, and what hotels need to do to get the most from mobile in 2017 and beyond:
Mobile Still Growing Strongly for Hotels:
What We’re Seeing
- Website Visits: Now dominated by mobile. As of December 2016, mobile contributes to over 58% of total visits, with both desktop and tablet in decline.*
- Revenue: Desktop remains the largest source of revenue. Desktop is in decline and mobile is taking that growth – but it’s not there just yet!
- Transactions (Bookings): Desktop remains the largest source of bookings. However, it is in decline and mobile is taking the share of this.
How significant is this growth?
It’s very significant. In the span of just two years, we’ve seen mobile traffic shoot up by 46%, from 39.7% in December 2014 to 58% in December 2016. Mobile traffic officially outstripped desktop traffic in July 2015, and has only continued to grow.
Check it out in the graph below:
For the travel industry as a whole, Criteo finds that airline and hotel mobile bookings made up 27% of all online bookings during the second quarter of 2016.
Mobile revenue and transactions are still behind desktop, but they’re catching up quickly! What mobile patterns is your hotel website seeing? Are your mobile website and booking engine ready for your mobile users?
