Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 43 – 5 Things Hoteliers Must Know About Mobile Behaviors

Name: TravelBoom Marketing
Address: 1101 Johnson Avenue Suite 300A, Myrtle Beach, SC, 29577, US
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Mobile is all the rage and it has been for many years. In fact, your friends at the Fuel hotel Marketing Podcast believe that the hype should have gone away by now. Mobile is no longer a trend, it’s the foundation of your marketing initiatives. In this episode, we discuss this great article from Hotel News Now that give some great advice about how hotels should approach mobile.

Before we get started, let’s establish something:
“Mobile Tipping Point” in 2014 – More searches now take place on mobile devices versus non-mobile devices.

Here’s the original article from Hotel News Now
http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/113622/5-things-hoteliers-must-know-about-mobile-behaviors

CLICK THE PLAY BUTTON BELOW TO START LISTENING.

If you like what you hear, please leave a comment below, share it with your friends, and also leave a review.

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Show Notes:
1. Mobile Is Not Emerging, It Is Omnipresent

There are now more connected devices in the world than people → There are currently 4 devices per person.

That number is expected to grow by 7 by 2027

Facebook reaches more than 1 Billion people per day

20% of people’s time is spent on mobile devices
71% of internet activity originates on mobile devices

Hotels simply cannot ignore mobile! → If you do not have a mobile first approach you are BEHIND the curve.

Website: Is your hotel website mobile friendly? Was your website designed with mobile users top of mind? Is it optimized for speed on both desktop and mobile?
SEO: Is your content mobile friendly? Was your content designed with mobile users top of mind?
PPC: Are you running ads on both desktop and mobile? Were your landing pages designed with mobile users top of mind?
Email: Are your emails responsive? Are they designed with mobile users top of mind?

2. There Is A Sea Of Data Available To Be Used

Everything can be tracked → Information can be segmented several ways

Compare behaviors by device type throughout the customer journey

Combine proprietary data with available online data from analytics (Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, etc.) to build out guest profiles – “personas”

Know your analytics!
Know what % of your traffic is coming in through mobile
Know what % of your sales are coming in through mobile
Know what % of your revenue is coming in through mobile
Know the mobile breakdown & performance by channel

Biggest challenges = lack of a single platform to unify add data simply

Fuel Gauge Dashboard

3. There’s A Line Between Being “Helpful” and “Creepy”

Collecting data can be very helpful & create a more personalized guest experience → Can also feel invasive

Establish trust, communicate privacy, & provide a clear value proposition

Use available information for good, not evil

Remarketing (Cross Platform)
Personalization (Different CTAs on desktop vs mobile; mobile messaging)
Beacon Technology (Location based alerts & notifications)

4. hink of Your End Goal When Developing Apps

A lot of hotels have mobile apps – Not all of them are great.

Marriott revamping mobile app post-acquisition

Questions to consider:

What are hotel brands using their apps for?
Is it driving bookings?
Does it allow for a better guest experience?
Who is the intended audience?

Your mobile app should have clear goals in mind prior to design.

Guest Express Mobile App is one of the not-terrible app solutions for hotels.

5. Mobile Can Bring Staff Closer To Guests

Messaging functionality to communicate with guests can vastly improve guest experience.

People hate talking to / having to deal with other people
Messaging capabilities take the hassle out of guest communications

If you do have an on-property or customer service based messaging system, make sure you have the necessary resources to handle requests.

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In The News

Airbnb Acquires Luxury Retreats (Meisha)
https://www.luxurydaily.com/airbnb-to-disrupt-luxury-travel-further-with-acquisition/

What Marriott Learned From Starwood About Loyalty & Digital Expertise (Extra)
https://skift.com/2017/02/13/what-marriott-learned-from-starwoods-loyalty-and-digital-expertise/

HomeAway.com begins showing Expedia Inventory (Pete)

Expedia Acquired HomeAway in November 2015
Expedia began integrating HomeAway inventory on the Expedia results in October 2016
HomeAway is NOW showing over 800,000 Expedia based listings

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Download the Fuel & Flip.to Website Behavior Study at www.fueltravel.com/websitestudy/

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@_travelboom
@stuartbutler
@marketingmeisha
@pdimaio

Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom. Download our leisure travel study at www.fueltravel.com/study/.

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