Mobile and iPhone development for hospitality
by Anthony Green - Digital Director (10 March 2010)
Everyone loves their smartphone, whether it's a BlackBerry, iPhone or Android. The size of the market (172 million smartphones sold in 2009), the amount of time people spend on these things, as well as the realisation that mobile internet is a new battleground for (often wealthy) customers, has inevitably lead to clients asking about mobile development — should they do it, how to do it, how much would it cost.
Developing for mobile devices at the moment means 3 things.
The glamour approach is iPhone app development. iPhone users are passionate about their apps, and even those who don't own an iPhone have been bowled over by the magic of seeing a really cool iPhone app. The reality is that this is really quite an expensive undertaking, which is why we've only really seen the chains and OTAs doing it at the moment. Accor, Hilton, Starwood and others all have apps, but even these are really flag-waving, positioning statements, with chains touting the number of times the app has been downloaded rather than the number of bookings that have been made. The problem is not the technology (although having an integrated booking engine is a prerequisite), it's the simple fact that only the most dedicated road warrior — think George Clooney in Up in the Air — would stick so religiously to a brand that they keep the app on their phone.
If iPhone/BlackBerry/Android app development is out of reach for standalone properties and small chains, what are more practical options? Well, secondly, there is the mobile web. These days, smartphones have great browsers, sometimes better and more modern than the browser on their main computer (this is particularly the case in corporate environments, as those of you still suffering with IE6 can testify). Hospitality sites produced using web standards will display fine on smartphones — shameless plug — check out Anantara.com and Pata.org to see modern sites in your mobile browser. All of you should encourage your web developers or ecommerce team to follow web standards so that sites display well on all platforms.
Thirdly, you can develop special low-graphics versions of your website for smartphones. This shouldn't involve too much extra work if you're using web standards with CSS based code, or a modern MVC framework — a different 'skin' can be out on the site for mobile devices, making it much easier to access the information on your site.
However, most hospitality clients are not selling rooms as commodities, they are more interested in selling the USPs and the brand promise, so a low-graphics approach may not work well, and could be a waste of focus. One situation where a low-graphics version of the site can be worthwhile, is for those of you who have an integrated booking engine — having the ability to check rates and availability from the smartphone will be a plus for many people.
One thing's for sure, the mobile space is getting more and more important, and as a marketer or revenue manager, it's important to keep up with trends and look for opportunities in this area.
Comment on this post.
Comment 2: Anthony
Thanks Amelia, great article. I think one of the solutions to the issue raised in that article is that sticking to web standards will make your site or service accessible to the widest selection of devices and users, so that's where initial efforts can be targetted.
Splinternet is a great word...
Comment 3: Ron Edwards - Strategy Director
Really useful summary. I've never seen the topic broken down so simply.
And great point about the apps. We both essentially work in the hospitality industry, but I've never downloaded a hotel app. Thought about it a few times, have almost clicked that download button, and then was like, 'Wait, when am I ever going to use this?'
I do visit hospitality and travel websites on my phone though and when a company has taken the time to create a good mobile browser version, I remember.
Comment 4: Ron Edwards - Strategy Director
Amelia, just read the article you suggested. This line at the end really hit it home for me: "Rather than look at each new gadget as a silly toy, your business must start thinking about how to fit into each device's content portal."
Surely, first line of attack, absolute-must, is to build your main site to web standards as Anthony urges.
Second line of attack may be a specific mobile version of the site (case by case basis I suppose).
Third line of attack is marketing initiatives that target each gadget. I wrote this blog entry on online communities last year but I think it's equally relevant to gadgets: http://www.discoverkeen.com/idea/Digital-Ethnography.php
Basic argument is that just as you can't throw your French marketing plan on a Hong Kong market, you can't throw your print advertising campaign into a Facebook outreach. Likewise, you can't throw your computer browser e-marketing initiatives directly onto your phone browsers. The cultural behaviours of how you use the internet on your phone can be widely different from the cultural behaviours of how you use the internet at your desk.
Maybe it's a bit early for many companies to go full-steam into the third line of attack, but if you are going after the often-wealthy customers, a category most travellers would fit into, it is certainly worthwhile to consider it. And in the near future, it probably won't just be a good idea or something that will give you a competitive advantage, but a necessity.
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Comment 1: Amelia Salyers - Concept Developer
Very interesting, Anthony. Here's an article that discusses a similar topic - how marketers and advertisers should deal with the emerging "Splinternet", i.e. the company-specific ecosystems for different devices and platforms. At the end of the article is a list of tips for how to use these disparate platforms effectively.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2010/tc2010035_101984.htm