Mobile-first booking is essential for hoteliers who want to increase direct bookings and revenue. In fact, a recent study by Google found that 63% of travellers book hotels on their mobile devices.
Watch how The Hoxton Hotels sets up their website for fast direct bookings on mobile.
So, how can you make it easy for guests to book online on mobile in under a minute like the Hoxton? Here are a few tips:
Make your booking link visible on every page. Guests should be able to start booking with a single click, no matter where they are on your website.
Allow guests to choose their rooms and dates without having to log in. This is a major pain point for many mobile users, so it's important to remove this barrier to booking.
Offer a discount for loyalty members. This is a great way to encourage guests to book direct and to reward your most loyal customers.
Enable one-click checkout with a wallet. This makes it fast and easy for guests to complete their booking without having to enter their payment information manually.
The Hoxton is using Selfbook - a fintech-powered booking engine.
Eliminate mobile typing. This means using pre-filled forms and auto-complete features wherever possible, especially for credit card information.
Stripe is a solution that can offer guests their preferred wallet or one-click checkout.
Here is an example of how a mobile-first hotel booking process could work in practice:
The guest visits the hotel's website on their mobile device.
They see a clear and prominent booking link on the homepage.
They click on the link and are taken to a page where they can choose their room type and dates.
They are not required to log in at this point.
If they are a loyalty member, they can enter their membership number to receive a discount.
They select a payment method and complete the booking in one click using their wallet.
They receive a confirmation email immediately.
This entire process can be completed in under a minute, making it easy and convenient for guests to book direct on mobile.
Here are some additional tips for improving your mobile-first hotel booking experience:
- Optimize your website for mobile devices. This means using a responsive design that will look good and function well on all screen sizes.
- Make sure your website loads quickly. Mobile users are impatient, so if your website takes too long to load, they are likely to abandon it.
- Use large, clear fonts and buttons that are easy to tap on a mobile screen.
- Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your hotel and its amenities.
- Test your mobile booking process regularly to make sure it is working smoothly and efficiently.
By following these tips, you can create a mobile-first hotel website that makes it easy for guests to book directly in under a minute. This will help you to increase direct bookings and revenue, and to provide a better overall guest experience.