This new opportunity has just been launched by Appy Hotel as more travelers use their devices for reservations.
The latest statistics are indicating that 65 percent of consumers who make same day hotel reservations do so from their smartphones, indicating that mobile marketing could play an important role in the competition in this industry.
That said, a new app has just been launched to provide hotels with the opportunity to do just that.
The Appy Hotel application is cost free and allows hotels in the United Kingdom to take part in mobile marketing to keep up their competitive edge. The app is available both on iOS and Android systems and gives the ability for hotels to create their own apps that can be accessed on smartphones and tablets. The platform is designed to boost brand awareness, improve guest experience, enhance the relationships formed with customers, and generate more revenue.
The mobile marketing app is available to many different types of properties, large and small, in the U.K.
This includes boutique brands, independently owned properties, and even massive global chains of hotels. Guests are able to download the app to their own devices, for free, in order to learn about the accommodations and services at the hotel, as well as the sightseeing and attractions that are available nearby to the locations. Moreover, they can also use the application to leave feedback for the management.
Once the customer has arrived at the hotel and has checked in, the mobile marketing opportunity turns into a practical room companion for that person. He or she can then book reservations at restaurants, in-house services, and other amenities, and can even make a room reservation for a future stay.
Beyond the launch of Appy Hotel in the United Kingdom, the company behind the app is also currently offering hoteliers the opportunity to create smartphone optimized websites as a part of their overall mobile marketing experience, using the same backend as the app. This gives the hotelier the opportunity to make universal changes across the app and the website in terms of service and menu alterations, and new promotions and deals being offered.
This is designed to enhance the overall Foursquare check-in experience for customers.
Customers at Fairmont Hotels using Foursquare to check-in are being provided with geotargeted offers as a part of a broader mcommerce campaign.
These promotions are offered to customers who check in to any of the Fairmont Hotel locations.
This mcommerce strategy is focused on using the new Shoutlet platform (a cloud based social marketing platform) integration by Foursquare, which allows marketers to use a single dashboard to plan location based promotions and track the check-ins that occur. From Fairmont’s side, the campaign indicates that both mobile and social are becoming vitally important as a combined effort.
Mcommerce company Shoutlet CEO, Jason Weaver said “Today’s customers are everywhere at any given moment.”
Weaver went on to explain that “It’s up to brands to provide relevant content to customers, wherever that may be.” He later added that “Managing and monitoring the activity on hundreds of venues in one dashboard means marketers can do more in less time – all while improving the quality of the outreach they’re doing on foursquare.”
As Shoutlet will be providing Foursquare reports from its dashboard, it will provide Fairmont Hotels with the ability to witness the interaction with people in their brick and mortar locations within real time. This will give them a better idea of who their customers actually are and will provide them with a better concept of the behaviors and preferences of those customers. This type of information is vital to being able to strengthen mcommerce strategies for greater efficacy.
This type of capability makes a great deal of practical sense for hotels and other venues such as festival grounds, concert locations and sports arenas, as it provides them with a much more effective way to interact with the customers who are at their locations, so that they are better capable to provide an enriched and engaging experience to their guests. Overall, the hope is to be able to solidify the connection that is formed with the customer.
The hotel company will be able to use this new mcommerce tool to better understand their demographics, and gather and share statistics in order to improve their decision making for specials that will be offered in the future.
