After a decade of impressive online growth, the hospitality industry is beginning to recognize the benefits to having a mobile and social presence. In 2000, only 1% of bookings were made online. In 2010, that jumped to more than 50%. Although most hotel chains have responded to this shift to the digital realm, the next step is to shift to the social and mobile space. Recent research by buuteeq suggests that there are many advantages to optimizing a hotel’s site for mobile use and expanding social profiles, including an increase in bookings and profits. Here are the three major takeaways.
The largest profit margins come from mobile-bookings. Research shows that 70% of mobile bookings are more expensive than same day bookings. In addition, mobile services have led to an 18% increase for in-room dining orders. Unfortunately, only two-thirds of hotels offer a mobile-optimized site with mobile-booking capabilities.
Only 40% of hotels enable social sharing. Although the majority of hotels are not taking advantage of this opportunity, hotels with social sharing experienced a 12% increase in pageviews over three months. What about the hotels without social sharing? Well, they experienced a 2% decrease in pageviews over three months.
Although they’re not necessarily enabling social sharing, more and more hotels are joining social media. In 2011, only 73% of hoteliers had global & property pages on Facebook. In one year, that jumped to 95%! Likewise, only 56% of hoteliers has global and property accounts on Twitter in 2011, but now that number has jumped to 70%. What benefits can this social addition bring? buuteeq found the Lenox Hotel’s social media promotion generated $55,000 in revenue and 257 room nights.
