Leveraging the Power of Mobile Apps in Hospitality Sector in 2024
April 30, 2024
Mobile apps can be game-changers for businesses across several industry verticals, whether it is for enhanced customer experience or streamlined business operations. The hospitality sector is no exception! It has been found that successful hotels and resorts are making use of mobile platforms for branding, guest loyalty, marketing and lots more.
With ever-changing demands, travel and hospitality businesses often suffer and face challenges in providing guests with a premium experience. Keeping updated with the latest technology and mobile solutions can help businesses in the hospitality industry grow. A good mobile app development company can help in building dedicated mobile apps to enhance guest experiences, simplify hotel operations and drive revenue.
Challenges Faced in Hospitality Sector
Listed below are some of the main areas that show where the hospitality sector is falling behind.
- No Personalization
Personalisation is the key to winning customers’ hearts in any business sector. We live in an era where we have an abundance of information and data, which can be used to customise services, make targeted offers and ensure that every touch point resonates with individual guess preferences.
Many hospitality companies still struggle to make use of this information to deliver meaningful personalization. Ensure that you tailor your services to individual guest preferences for memorable and unique experiences.
- Long Check-In/Check-Out Process
Travelling can be hectic for many people and if the hotel check-in and check-out process is long, it can be disappointing for the guests making them leave a very unsatisfactory first impression.
Make sure that you are making the check-in and check-out process easy and quick. One way is to work on staffing shortages or make the most of the limited stuff by adding creativity in addressing these issues.
- Poor Loyalty Programs
Another reason why hospitality businesses fail is due to poor loyalty programs or under-utilization of these programs. Hotel loyalty programs if planned correctly can benefit guests in multiple ways.
One challenge that makes the loyalty program unsuccessful is friction in the onboarding process with the lack of immediate rewards. Guests often feel the loyalty program sign-up is necessary if they don’t get immediate rewards for onboarding. Make sure that your hotel loyalty program offers rewards that are appealing and exciting enough to motivate guests to sign up.
How Mobile Apps Can Help Hospitality Businesses Grow?
With a higher number of mobile apps in the hospitality market, many guests are now ready to download the apps if they can simplify their travelling experiences and offer benefits. A study by Citron says that 73% of respondents expressed their willingness to download the hotel apps, with nearly two-thirds of guests who prefer to check in and out using these apps.
Simply building a mobile app for your hospitality business will not convince customers to download it, your app must offer true value to guests for their stays at your hotel or resort. Before you hire expert professionals from a top iOS and Android App Development Company, you must know what benefits your business can get using hospitality mobile apps.
1. Simplified Mobile Check-In
A simplified mobile check-in process will save time and effort for the guests who will take in the traditional check-in process. Your guests can easily bypass the check-in line, go straight to their rooms and enjoy a seamless travel experience.
No more waiting in long lines at the front desk as guests can now check in to the hotel from anywhere on the property even before their arrival. The feature of the mobile check-in process can also unlock revenue as the hotel can present options to the guest for room upgrades, early check-ins or late checkouts.
2. Access to Digital Room Keys
Digital room keys integrated into mobile apps can help streamline their guest experiences by removing the need for physical key cards. This will not only enhance the guest experience but also streamline operations & boost efficiency.
As there is no effort associated with their physical check-in, hotels can easily allocate their staff to more critical business aspects and improve overall service quality for the guests.
3. Personalized Recommendations
By making use of location and itinerary data, your app can offer personalized suggestions like tourist attractions, fun events happening and dining places. This feature will act as a virtual assistant or tour guide where guests receive a list of recommendations customised to guest preferences and schedules.
These personalized suggestions will provide valuable and timely information for guests as they can suggest nearby restaurants or even alert guests about any ongoing events. For instance, if your guest doesn’t have anything planned for the day, the app can recommend a relaxing spa service available at the hotel. This personalised approach will not only boost the guest experience but also maximise revenue opportunities.
4. Integration with the Loyalty Program
Integrating a loyalty program on your app ensures that it removes friction associated with the long loyalty program sign-up process as you can easily combine it with the mobile check-in process.
Additionally, the information needed for a check-in and loyalty program onboarding are nearly identical but exist separately. This means no added work for the guests if you are offering a seamless sign-up process. Customer can keep track of their rewards and benefits through the mobile app directly.
5. Build Long-Term Customer Bonds
Another best use of mobile apps is to stay connected with guests rather than using traditional methods like telephone calls or messages. Hotels can learn about the stay & food experience of their guests through their social media platforms.
For instance, if you can respond immediately to any customer complaints, feedback or queries directly through their social media apps, these prompt actions will help your hotel build a rapport with the guests and increase customer trust.
Final Takeaways
As we can, integrating mobile apps into guest stays can offer immense benefits to both customers as well as hotels and resorts. These mobile apps help in collecting feedback from guests, which enables hotels to make necessary updates to their app features and service offerings.
For instance, the feature of mobile check-in enables customers to avoid long queues and seamlessly integrate their digital room keys. Also, this mobile check-in process helps to onboard guests easily to the hotel’s dedicated loyalty program. If you wish to boost your hotel’s digital experience for your guests, it’s time to connect with development experts of the leading Android and iOS app development company to build custom-made mobile apps.