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Mobilizing For the Future

Today’s hotel guest arrives at a hotel armed with smart phones and tablet computers all loaded

with mobile applications. Just as they use mobile applications for social net-working, organization and other per-sonal and professional needs, guests are also utilizing technology to book rooms on the go and learn more about the hotel and its surroundings.

Apple alone offers 500,000 apps for its iPhone and iPad. Many more are available for other platforms like Android, Kindle Fire and Google TV.

While hoteliers may understand the benefits of mobile technology, a recent study from Deloitte notes that technology spending in hospitality

lags behind other sectors and could continue that way into 2015. Deloitte recommends the industry focus on developing more and better mobile technology solutions.

A 2011 study conducted by Motorola Solutions found that more than half of hospitality organizations are planning to increase their mobile investments with 91 percent of all hospitality decision makers under-standing the importance of mobile and wireless technology.

Many brands and other technol-

ogy solutions providers are already well into the game, offering not just mobile-friendly websites but fully developed mobile applications that meet a variety of needs.

What follows is a spotlight on some of the newest innovations cer-tain to create some buzz in 2012.

IHG’s Priority Club Rewards App for Kindle Fire, Google

TV and Android Tablets In 2011, IHG exceeded $130 million in revenue through mobile book-ings, thanks in large part to the host of mobile applications released over the last two years. These include the Priority Club Rewards app

By Jonathan Springston, AAHOA Lodging Business

A look at how mobile applications are changing the guest experience and how owners can use the technology to streamline hotel operations

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for Windows Phone in July 2011; iPhone booking apps for each of IHG’s seven brands, announced in June 2011; InterContinental Con-cierge Insider Guides app for iPad in December 2010; the Priority Club Rewards app for Android in July 2010; and the Priority Club Rewards

app for iPhone in April 2010. To cap 2011, IHG unveiled the

Priority Club Rewards App for Kin-dle Fire, Google TV and Android Tablets.

“Extending our solutions to work with Kindle Fire, Google TV and Android Tablets is key to our

next-generation personal technol-ogy strategy,” Michael Menis, vice president, Web and Interactive Marketing, IHG, said. “As con-sumers embrace new devices like tablets and interactive television, we will continue to expand our reservation options and brand pres-ence through these fast-growing, emerging touch points.”

The new IHG app allows Prior-ity Club Rewards members to find and book rooms, view photos and amenities for each hotel, click-to-call front desk for each hotel, use Priority Club Rewards account information to facilitate book-ings, view Priority Club Rewards member details (number, level and points balance), manage account profile, view and cancel upcom-ing reservations, redeem points for Priority Club Reward nights, use corporate IDs to get corporate rates, quick enrollment into Priority Club Rewards, and view special offers.

While the Kindle Fire and Google TV are still emerging tech-nologies, Menis said IHG wanted to

The IHG Priority Club Rewards App for Google TV

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be on the forefront.“When we look at the overall

traffic of our website, it’s interest-ing to see the spike in Kindle use,” he said. “We want to make sure we are integrated and understand the role they play.”

Menis noted that for IHG, putting a focus on an app for Prior-ity Club Rewards members ensures they keep the business of their most loyal guests.

“We launched with our Priority Club app because that was the best place to start,” he said. “With the launch of our branded apps, it provides brand-right solutions. Over time, we will be evolving to more brand-right apps to meet different needs for different consumers.”

LodgeNet Mobile App LodgeNet Interactive in Janu-ary unveiled what it calls a “Mega App” that provides in-room entertainment, lo-cal area services and hotel services. While users can’t book rooms through the app, the LodgeNet solution aims to increase guest interaction dur-ing and after their hotel stay.

“The hospitality space in their implementation were

not getting the engagement with guests to make [mobile apps] effective,” Todd Kelly, vice president of Interactive and Mobile Applications, LodgeNet Mobile, said. “We wanted guests to keep coming back. We wanted guests to use the app throughout the trip and even after, but especially during the trip.”

To really maximize the ho-tel experience, the LodgeNet Mobile App enables hotel guests to use their own smart phones or iPad devices in place of the in-room remote for navigating the LodgeNet interactive TV system.

Kelly cites data that found 40 percent of guests between the ages of 18 and 34 prefer using a smart phone or tablet to control the TV viewing experience. The app also supports both folio

and credit card payment options as well as other value-added features such as an Interactive Program Guide, a highly requested service that will display the channels, times and programs available at the hotel where a guest is staying.

With the LodgeNet solution, guests can search local dining and

entertainment options with photos, contact information and reviews. Other features include the ability to order room service while in transit or poolside, making on-site restaurant or spa reservations and even mobile checkout with an e-mail receipt.

“We built the app sort of as a hospitality ecosystem. We put our-selves in the shoes of our custom-ers,” Kelly said. “We thought there was an opportunity to provide this larger suite of services so that it was

perfectly designed for hotel-iers to customize the solution.”

RoomSaver from Travel Media Group

For 30 years, Travel Media Group, under the names of Florida Travel Saver, Travel Coupon Guide and RoomSaver /HotelCoupons, has offered printed coupon books that offer discounts on hotel rooms across the United States. Despite the advent of new technology and the decline of the publishing industry over the last decade, Travel Media Group still prints 2 to 3 million books every month depending on seasonality.

“Our business model has changed slightly but one thing that has remained constant is marketing hotel rooms to interstate consumers,” Mark Novak, vice president and general manager of Travel

The IHG Priority Club Rewards App

for Kindle Fire

The LodgeNet Mobile App for the smart phone

The LodgeNet Mobile App for the tablet

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Media Group, said. “Travelers need great deals at a great property that meet their needs.”

Nevertheless, Travel Media Group has adapted to changing technologies with RoomSaver apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android. Users can search for hotels, view hotel coupons in a list and a map view, view hotel details in a gallery view, hotel amenities and hotel’s coupon price, view hotel coupon

information that can be redeemed at the hotel as a walk-in coupon rate, call the hotel within the app, and save hotel coupons in a favorite list.

“Unlike typical OTAs that have followers that book in advance, there are still a number of travelers that still don’t know where they are going to be that night. We do a very fine

RoomSaver became HotelCoupons.com on Feb. 15

A screen cap of a hotel coupon on a smart phone from Travel Media Group

Consumers have a galaxy of mobile apps at their fingertips

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balancing act,” Novak said. “Where our app becomes intriguing is that our app is not brand specific. If [brands] want to be on our plat-form, they have every opportunity. The traveler likes the choices. They like the geo-location. What they really like is the pricing. The pric-ing is a very discounted price but the difference is that it is based on walk-in availability.”

Travel Media Group on Feb. 15 rebranded RoomSaver as HotelCou-pons.com and upgraded the apps to feature more social media integration and targeted data. While adapting to new technol-ogy, Novak said his company will continue focusing on the basics.

“We have an obligation to market hotels based on the informa-tion provided to as many interstate travelers as possible with great quality and hotel deals to satisfy guest needs,” he said. “We really continue to keep those two core phi-losophies in mind with mobile.”

What About Hoteliers?While the number of mobile apps and their benefits to guests are numerous, there are also options available to hoteliers looking to bet-

ter man-age pricing and streamline their overall op-eration.

The RevPAR Guru is an all-in-one solution that combines RMS, Rate Shopper and Channel Manager. Loaded on a tablet device, a hotelier can use the

solution to monitor sales, rate parity and generate automat-ic reports.

The solution works 24 hours a day to automatically capture data from the hotel, the competition, market data, calculate a rate based on the owner’s strategy, and publish world-wide.

“Automated pricing systems can preempt the quick changes in technol-ogy. As booking win-dows continue to shrink, being not only receptive to mobile booking but also preemptive to rate strategy will be key to increasing occupancy rates,” Jean Francois Mourier, CEO of RevPAR Guru, said. “Using automated pricing strategies will help hoteliers navigate through these variables using technology.”

Mourier and his busi-

ness partner Bruno Perez out-

lined what the ideal app should be while

pondering the importance of mobile applications to all

players in the hospitality game.“Applications need to be fast and

to the point,” Perez said. Mourier concurs, noting apps should offer the “minimum amount of informa-tion necessary while giving you all the information you need.”

While many brands offer mobile-friendly websites for guests, Mourier said solid apps are better.

“If we’re in the car, a mobile app is really good. If you’re in the middle of nowhere, your Internet is really slow and the mobile app becomes really important,” he said.

Ultimately, Mourier and Perez believe the industry will continue investing money in mobile technol-ogy and that there will be a place for every kind of app in order to meet different needs of different guests.

“You’re going to need an app for all these social circles. You need an app for every layer - OTAs, loyalty programs and direct-to-hotel,” Mourier said. “You need a mobile app for everything today. You need to make yourself available to the consumer. Mobile phones are becoming the mobile PC and apps should follow.”

The RevPAR Guru solution allows hoteliers to

continuously monitor changing rate patterns