By now, most hoteliers are aware of the fact that a large percentage of their guests are shifting from their desktop PC’s and using their mobile devices to make travel plans. This percentage continues to grow at a rapid rate. Some larger hotel chains recognized this years ago, for example Choice Hotels, who created its hotel app as far back as April 2009. In the past year, many global hotel chains, luxury resorts, and five star hotels rushed to catch up, and created hotel apps and mobile websites for their own properties. Larger hotel brands are often quicker to embrace new technology given their higher marketing budgets and resources. Smaller independent hotels, however, tend to think that a mobile app is only useful for larger brands, and they often ask a common question, “I have under 150 rooms, why would my hotel need an app?”

From a marketing standpoint, my belief is that no matter what size your hotel is, no matter how many rooms you have, and regardless of your star rating, you as a hotel marketer should say ‘yes’ to any new technology that will help generate revenue, extend your brand into a new channel, and add convenience for your guests. Even if you have a limited guest base, aren’t those guests just as deserving of the latest technology? Whether you have 150 rooms or 15,000 rooms, why wouldn’t you want to increase bookings, increase guest loyalty, and improve brand recognition for your hotel? A mobile app will benefit your hotel in a number of ways and it has little to do with the size of your hotel.

Another common myth is that an app is too costly for smaller independent hotels, and is a luxury that only larger brands can afford. This may be true for hotels that opt to create an app from scratch and pay enormous fees for everything from initial design, app development, coding, technical testing, and content creation. As a hotel marketer, it was clear to me that these fees were unnecessary, and I knew I could find a way to provide my clients a mobile app for their hotels that was affordable, easy to set-up and use, and maintained the same high-quality and customization as if it had been created exclusively for one individual hotel.

I partnered with a proven app development company, DeCare Systems Ireland (DSI), and combining O’Rourke Hospitality’s hotel marketing experience with DSI’s technological expertise, we created a robust mobile app platform, which we coined SmartstaySM. This mobile app platform is a flexible framework, and we work with each hotel to help them create their own customized hotel app complete with their own logos, custom designed welcome pages, maps, images, videos, and hotel information. The pricing and business model of the Smartstay app makes it very affordable for smaller independent hotels to create their own hotel apps, and the apps often pay for themselves within a month or two.

With such a low-risk investment, small and large hotels alike will see an increase in ROI. Fergel Twomey, General Manager of the Cheval Phoenix House in London, reported that his Smartstay app generated over 19 bookings in just one month, the equivalent of €7,000. After having seen the benefits of the Phoenix House app, Cheval Residences is in the process of creating Smartstay apps for all of its other six properties.

By now you may begin to see that a hotel app actually is an affordable, viable option for your smaller independent hotel, but you may still have questions. Many hotels ask, “How does an app compare to a mobile website, and which option is best for my hotel?” This has been a debate for quite some time now. Forrester Research has just published its annual mobile technology outlook for 20111 and predicts that this debate will continue – and remain irrelevant. Brands do not need to choose one or the other, they can have both, and many hotels do.

O’Rourke decided to focus on apps and we recommend them to our hotel clients for the following reasons; apps don’t have as many inoperability and usability problems as mobile websites, they are easier to set-up and maintain, they have a better user interface, they contain more interactive features, and apps allow hotels to provide real-time information that guests can receive on-the-go. And from the guests’ standpoint, it is easier to tap on an app than to conduct a search every time they want to interact with your hotel brand.

One of the most important aspects of the Smartstay hotel app is that it opens up a whole new communication channel that allows hotels to connect with their guests before, during, and after their stay in a way that no other medium can. Hotels can post real-time messages and announce special events at the hotel, or promote last minute deals that guests can use while on property. Hotels can also stream in their Twitter posts or any external RSS, such as a local weather or entertainment feed. Hotels control all their own content with an intuitive content management system (CMS) and can instantly update news posts, images, videos, and text.

Hotel mobile apps are also an excellent marketing tool in that they become an extension of the hotel brand. The Smartstay hotel app allows hotels to create their own unique customizable welcome page to reflect the same high brand standards their hotel website or printed material. It is also quite remarkable that your guests invite your brand to have a presence on the main screen of their very personal mobile devices. From a marketing standpoint, this is an excellent opportunity to build brand loyalty. By downloading your app, your guests are letting you know they want to receive information from you, and it is your job as a hotel marketer to make sure they are receiving information that is interesting and relevant to them. The fact that your hotel app icon appears on the main page of your guests’ mobile devices also makes it very convenient for them to make a reservation, and encourages repeat visits.

Based on the rapid growth of mobile, it is probable that in the coming years a large number of hotels will indeed have a mobile app. The hotels that already offer their guests an app are benefitting from an added advantage – that of marketplace differentiation. Savvy travelers want to stay at a hotel that is reflective of their lifestyle and can provide them with the new technology they have come to rely on. Hotels that already provide this service to their guests stand out as progressive and current. Guests feel that they are receiving an added service with the app as they are presented with exclusive offers and direct communication from the hotel. An app can also help your hotel attract media attention and increase brand awareness.

Hotel marketers and app creators alike are still exploring the many ways mobile can be used for marketing. I especially enjoy speaking one-on-one with clients to hear their ideas on how it could be used. We are currently experimenting with temporary apps that can be used for meetings, conferences, or weddings. These event apps would be invaluable to the attendees who would be able to access information before and during the event. The Smartstay app was originally designed for hotels, but we have already signed on restaurants, golf courses, and casinos. The app is flexible enough to extend to all hospitality verticals.

To address a final common question, many hoteliers ask, “Will the app work on all mobile devices?” As is the case with the majority of apps available, the answer is no, it won’t work on every mobile device as of yet. The Smartstay app was originally designed for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch, and is also compatible with the Apple iPad. As Android-powered smartphones increased in popularity, we were quick to develop an Android version* of Smartstay. Simply put iPhone apps adhere to a consistent development code whereas other operating systems are ‘open-source’ which leads to mobile fragmentation and makes cross-platform development extremely difficult. We choose to develop apps for the most popular operating systems, and took into consideration the fact that people download more apps on an iPhone or Android-powered device than they do on any other smartphone. Apple just passed its 10 billionth app download and analysts forecast that app downloads will explode in the coming years.

In conclusion, your guests are quickly moving toward mobile devices and the online world is slowing fading. A recent report by Morgan Stanley2 predicted that within the next five years more users will connect to the Internet over mobile devices than desktop PCs. As more and more of your guests begin to rely on their smartphones and tablets, they will have increased service expectations and assume that they will be able to interact with your hotel from their mobile devices. Your hotel needs a mobile strategy regardless of its size, location, or star rating. An app is a low-risk investment that will serve as a gateway to mobile marketing and open up a realm of possibilities for your hotel. Mobile is still new for hotels and this is only the beginning. So my answer to the question of whether a mobile app is right for your hotel, is an emphatic, “YES!”

*Smartstay is compatible on devices that run Google’s Android 2.0 or higher mobile operating system. It is optimized for devices with medium or high-density normal-sized screens and is not compatible with low-density devices. It has been validated on the following devices: Motorola Droid – Android version 2.0 – WVGA (480 x 854) (High density 240dpi, Normal screen); HTC Legend – Android version 2.1 – HVGA (320 x 480) (Medium density 160dpi, Normal screen); Samsung Galaxy S I9000 – Android version 2.1 – WVGA (480 X 800) (High density 240dpi, Normal screen).

¹ 2011 Mobile Trends, by Thomas Husson, Julie A. Ask

http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/2011_mobile_trends/q/id/57183/t/2

² Morgan Stanley, The Mobile Internet Report

http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/mobile_internet_report122009.html