Captain’s Quarters Resort
How to Improve Mobile Performance by Putting Mobile First
A TravelBoom Case Study on Captain’s Quarters Resort.
With mobile use growing faster than Google’s predictions, Captain’s Quarters Resort was in need of an improved user experience on their website and booking engine.
TravelBoom Marketing stepped in to enhance the mobile user experience from entry-point through the booking process in an effort to increase direct bookings from mobile visitors.
You can probably guess what happened next.
Situation and Background
TravelBoom Marketing analyzed website behavior to determine points of friction throughout the booking process. It was determined that 62% of site traffic came from a mobile phone, yet only 33% of bookings came from a mobile device – with desktop significantly outperforming mobile.
A new mobile-first website was built on WordPress, including changes to the booking engine to reduce friction in the mobile booking process. The website and booking engine were built to be fully responsive, including simple navigation, enticing photography, and iconography to convey information more efficiently on a smaller screen.
Booking engine changes were intended to reduce friction on a mobile device and included:
- Keeping the experience within the same domain
- Not opening the process in a new window
- Maintaining a consistent look and feel throughout the booking journey
We also added room comparison, filters, and favorite features, as well as availability calendars for each room type.
Methodology
TravelBoom Marketing focused on highlighting the family-friendly resort amenities, and leveraged high-quality photography to generate an emotional connection with the guest.
We encouraged guests to book direct by offering exclusive perks and a lowest rate guarantee.
TravelBoom Marketing also employed psychology to increase the liklihood of a quick conversion. We did this by:
- Introducing social proof by using messaging like “1000 people have booked this room within the past 30 days”
- Integrating reviews of satisfied guests
- Applying urgency messaging by displaying messages like “only 2 rooms left for your selected dates,” as well as a countdown feature online
Want to learn how to further increase your hotel website’s conversion rate? Check out our blog post on improving hotel website conversion rates with A/B testing.
“The trend has been that mobile was winning. It’s now won.”
Eric Schmidt
Results
The new website and booking engine exceeded expectations. Overall conversions, visitors, bookings, and mobile reservations increased post-launch.
146%
Increase in Mobile
Conversion Rate
23%
Increase in
Room Searches
58%
Increase in
Mobile Bookings
Summary
Remembering that ‘if people aren’t connected, they’re asleep’ is imperative in digital marketing. Mobile is no longer the future – it’s right now. With many hotel websites seeing upwards of 75% of traffic come from a mobile device (updated for 2022), putting mobile first is key in driving online revenue.