TECHNOLOGY : MOBILE
Luxury challenges In the luxury segment , while enthusiasm about mobile development is strong , ROI is more challenging , likely due to the price points of the brands .
The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels , Hong Kong , has developed a mobile website and an iPhone application , iPeninsula , for its luxury brand , The Peninsula Hotels . However , the bookings remain a relative trickle . “ We have very little bookings coming through our mobile site at the moment ,” says Simon Yip , vice president of sales at Peninsula . “ The development cost of the mobile site is about 15 % of the entire website .”
It ’ s a similar situation for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group , Hong Kong , which offers a mobile-optimized website , iPhone app and iPad app . “ I think we , as a company , over-invested in the mobile channel and have not calculated the hardcore ROI ,” says Christoph Oberli , vice president of e-commerce and interactive at Mandarin Oriental . “ In our segment with a relatively high price point , I don ’ t think customers are going to switch completely to mobile .”
However , each company is continuing to invest in its mobile offerings both because more consumers are expected to utilize the mobile Internet
The
future looks
PERSONAL
The outlook for hotel mobile website and app design will include more personalization and be more personable in the form of offering live video customer service .
Starwood has already implemented the latter with its FaceTime feature , and other hotel companies are working on developing this as well . “ In January 2011 we launched that feature ,” says Chris Holdren , senior vice president of Starwood Preferred Guest and global web at Starwood for travel and , more importantly , because of the digital branding and customer relationship management possibilities mobile offers .
Mandarin Oriental is rolling out a new digital strategy via third-party developers , as it does no development in-house . “ Our current desktop site is roughly seven to eight years old . It has a slightly dated look ,” Oberli says . “ The first part of the strategy is to come out with a fresh , more contemporary look that is more true to how the brand has developed over the past years . We ’ ll definitely make maximum
Hotels and Resorts Worldwide . “ We had heard that some people wanted to see the person behind the voice . In the past year we ’ ve seen moderate adoption of this . Those who use it love to use it .”
Another personalization feature may be offering various versions of the same hotel ’ s app page or mobile website page designated for different customers , such as a family version , a foodie version or a clubbing version integrated into the virtual concierge . “ That personalization doesn ’ t really exist yet ,” says Robert Cole , the founder of hotel technology consultancy RockCheetah , Menomonee Falls , Wisconsin . “ The big challenge , similar with social media , is the scalability of it .”
“ We wanted to create something that someone could use with ONE THUMB WHILE WALKING TO THE AIRPORT .”
— Chris Holdren , Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
use of photography and use more and more video content . With apps , I foresee room service ordering , check-in and check-out and concierge messaging features being added .”
Oberli also expects the amount of bookings via mobile — which was about 8 % of Mandarin Oriental ’ s total bookings in 2011 — to increase . “ Our investments in mobile will pay off over time because being there early will give you presence , like early websites have ,” he says . “ Hopefully this will increase the conversion rate .”
Peninsula is focusing on expanding the functionality and content of its mobile site with its corporate e-commerce team of five working with a digital agency on development . “ We
Screenshot of the Starwood Preferred Guest app
Screenshot of the iPeninsula app on the iPhone
54 HOTELS May 2012 www . hotelsmag . com