“Android has been well received by the market and in some geographies, it is becoming a sought-after consumer brand. It has rapidly become the platform to watch,” said Pete Cunningham, senior analyst at Canalys.
 
With more than 300,000 apps³ in the Apple App Store and more than 100,000 apps currently available in the growing Android Marketplace, it’s clear that the iPhone and Android markets are here to stay. Thus, targeting both iPhone and Android users with your mobile marketing strategy will help you to reach the largest number of guests, creating more opportunities for increased hotel revenue.
 
2. An App or a Mobile Website?
There has been much discussion in the mobile sphere about which is better: mobile websites or mobile apps.  While both products have pros and cons, the mobile app arguably provides a better user experience. While most mobile browsers don’t support JavaScript or Flash, app developers have full control over the way text and images are displayed in a mobile app. And because an app fills a smartphone’s entire screen, distracting browser toolbars don’t impede the user experience. There are also no compatibility issues when apps are downloaded on the devices for which they were built.
 
Mobile apps also promote customer loyalty, as once an app is downloaded and appears on a phone’s home screen, users are more likely to return to that app in the future then they are to conduct a new mobile web search for a similar product or place.
 
Apps can also support more interactive features than mobile websites. For example, some apps permit hotels to send unlimited messages and special offers to their guests, making for a much more personalized experience.
 
This is not to say that you should avoid mobile websites altogether. However, be aware that they can cause technical problems for users, since mobile sites often do not display the same way across browsers. Some hotels opt to incorporate both apps and mobile websites into their mobile strategy to ensure they obtain the best results. But if resources are limited, choosing to go mobile with a branded app may be the smartest choice.
 
3. Use Proven Marketing Techniques To Promote Your Mobile Presence
So you’ve taken the plunge and developed an app for your hotel. Now what? Promoting the app to past, current and potential guests is essential if you expect your app to bring you any financial benefit. Creating a print and web marketing campaign that introduces your app, explains its features, and provides easy downloading instructions will help spread the word that your hotel has gone mobile. Posters, check-in stuffers, retractable banners, online banner ads and e-mail campaigns have all proven to be effective marketing strategies in the past, so why not utilize these tactics to promote your new mobile persona?
 
4. Where Do I Start?
If you’re worried that building an app for your hotel will be too costly or labor-intensive, rest easy. Smartstay, the mobile solution for hotels developed by O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing and DeCare Systems Ireland, Ltd., was designed exclusively for the hospitality travel industry. With versions for both iPhone and Android, the Smartstay platform makes it easy for hotels, resorts, restaurants, casinos, golf clubs and cruise lines to create branded apps that are unique, dynamic and flexible for only a fraction of the cost of building an app entirely from scratch. What’s more, Smartstay can also provide an App Promo Kit to help you market your new app to your audience.
 
To see how Smartstay works on an Android device, check out our latest video:

To learn more about how you can maximize your hotel’s mobile marketing strategy or for more information about Smartstay, please call 888-965-5955 or e-mail [email protected].