Mobile for the Hotel Industry

IRELAND’S BLUE BOOK & SMARTSTAY APP TEAM UP TO BRING HISTORY HUNTERS THE BEST IN MOBILE CONTENT

Newburyport, MA [July 30, 2010] — Ireland’s Blue Book, known the world over for its one-of-a-kind historic hotel properties and stunning castles, has just signed on to create a customized mobile application with SmartStay App, created by O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing, the first company to open the mobile marketing channel to hotels and smaller properties.  O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing continues to lead the hospitality industry’s mobile market with successful custom app launches in over five countries.

This innovative partnership blends centuries-old historic hotels with 21^st century technology helping hi-tech travelers navigate on the go. “It is wonderful to think of a 12th century castle and an 18th century country house hotel with an iPhone App,” says Michelle Maguire, Marketing Manager at Ireland’s Blue Book. Read all »

Do you have a smartphone or plan to buy one in the next 90 days? If not you’re quickly becoming a minority. To accommodate the tremendous increase in users, manufacturers and providers are pumping out a dizzying array of smartphone options and hi-tech features to choose from. But, while the bevy of Blackberries, Palms, Droids and Motorolas are providing tempting eye candy for consumers, one phone still leads the pack in both adaptation and satisfaction – Apple’s iPhone.

ChangeWave’s latest smartphone survey of 4,028 consumers, concluded June 24, 2010, shows an explosive burst in consumer demand over the immediate 90-day period.

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Wondering how hotels are using the customizable SmartStay App? We sat down with Lauri Howe, Director of Communications at the Seaport Hotel to get the inside scoop on how everything is going since the launch of their app on May 30, 2010.

SmartStay: Lauri, how does the SmartStay mobile app fit into your larger marketing plan?

Seaport: Social and mobile media has become an important part of our marketing efforts and we saw incorporating an application into the mix as essential to that progress.

SmartStay: What is the internal sentiment about mobile as a new distribution channel?

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People literally camped out for a week, lines miles long, minimum waiting times of three hours – all just to own the newest addition to the iPhone wonder family. There is no question that advances in smart phones and mobile in general has changed the way we live, shop, compute and communicate and it doesn’t look like the hunger for more will subside anytime soon.

For the hospitality industry this change in behavior offers a wide range of engagement and revenue opportunities that still boil down to location, location, location! The new twist on this old adage? It isn’t about how close you are to the main attractions on the map, although that still has its obvious advantages. Today’s game is how close can you get to where guests are making buying decisions.

According to a January 2010 PhoCusWright study mobile travel bookings are projected to grow 700% in two years. That type of astronomical growth isn’t something hoteliers can afford to ignore. Increased mobile web browsing and social media app usage has a lot to do with this phenomenon but if you look at the Fastest-Growing mobile apps that eMarketer has pulled together you’ll also see that weather, finances, shopping and photo or video sharing rank highly as well. Sound like services travelers use? We think so. Read all »

VISIT O’ROURKE BOOTH #1234 AT HITEC 2010.
PRESS CONFERENCE – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23 AT 4:30 P.M.

(June 18^th, 2010) Smartstay, the innovative iPhone app for hotels, was just launched in March 2010, and has already been branded for four important hotels in five different countries including Seaport hotel – Boston, MA, USA, Shangri-La hotel – Tokyo, Japan, Phoenix House – London England, and Fota Island Resort – Cork, Ireland. O’Rourke is also in the process of branding an app for Sebel Pier One – Sydney Australia, and Zleep hotels, Denmark. The branded apps can be downloaded for free from the app store on the iPhone or from iTunes at the following links:

Seaport Hotel Boston

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/seaport-hotel-boston/id373965812?mt=8

Shangri-La, Tokyo

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/shangri-la-hotel-tokyo/id372200129?mt=8

Phoenix House London

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/phoenix-house-guest-services/id330801554?mt=8

Fota Island Resort, Ireland

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/fota-island-resort/id345663237?mt=8

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(June 2, 2010) O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing will be at HITEC 2010, June 21-24, Orlando, Fla., where they will introduce their one-of-a-kind iPhone app for hotels called Smartstay. Visitors to the O’Rourke Booth (#1234) can also enter to win an Apple iPad.

Smartstay is a new ‘white label’ iPhone app that hotels can customize to represent their own brand. Hotels can easily enter their hotel information, images, videos, and news updates with an easy to use content management system that they can access online.

The main benefit of the Smartstay app for hotels is that it opens up a new communication channel where hotels can connect with their guests before, during, and after their stay. Hotel guests also benefit from the app and can make a reservation with their iPhones, access information about a hotel, and use the interactive map. Read all »