In this digital age, users now expect all products and services to be accessible to them via mobile apps or platforms and have formed an aversion to direct contact with customer service reps. Due to this phenomenon, it has become a priority for the hospitality industry to focus on mobiles for providing services and promoting themselves. Here’s an update on the current mobile trends are and what hotels can do to make the best of these.

1. How to Run a Hotel - Industry Needs
to Make Mobiles a Priority
By Ram Gupta
Wondering how to run a hotel profitably...read on…
While all industries rely on creating a good customer experience and
providing quality products and services, if we had to pinpoint one
industry that most heavily relies on this feature of customer service, it

2. would be the hospitality industry. By providing services that are not up
to the mark and consequently losing the goodwill of its customers,
hotels and resorts face a huge possibility of failure as their success
depends on fulfilling the demands of their guests; in other words, being
as “hospitable” as possible.
In such a case, it is no wonder that it has become a priority for the
industry to adapt to all new trends that come up during this fast-paced
technologically led environment we live in. In addition, no one can
contest that mobile apps and technology are one of the biggest trends
today, especially for service-oriented industries. With the “app-
generation”, automation is rising up and users want everything
accessible through their phones, not just because of the ease of use but
also because of the discomfort that comes with direct interaction today.
There are now apps for everything, from ordering food to calling a cab,
and users are not used to making calls or face-to-face interactions
anymore.
Indeed, anything that involves personal interaction has a chance of
scaring customers away due to this resistance to unwanted social
contact. Thus, it has become a priority for the hospitality industry to
look after this need and provide alternate methods involving the least
amount of effort involved so that they do not lose customers who would
otherwise make use of their services. In an example of such automation,
hotels increasingly started to automate the TVs provided in rooms to

3. make in-hotel services and activities—such as ordering room service,
scheduling spa sessions, controlling room devices like AC, lights, etc.,
and even checking-out of the room—accessible to users without having
to call the reception. This still leaves the booking and check-in services
for consideration, a space that was filled by booking services and
aggregators that let users browse and book rooms by filtering their
search on apps and websites.
However, this presents a problem to hotels in that users have less
chance of becoming brand loyal when presented with other options
while booking, making it easy to stray to another hotel that might be
cheaper or offering a better deal.
Dedicated mobile apps
Many major hotels have come up with rewards programs and their
dedicated apps that offer users points and advantages for their loyalty
to their brand. Some hotels have taken it a step further and capitalized
on this trend of apps by creating their own apps for booking and
payments. Still, a need exists for further innovation. Hotels are
experimenting with different ways mobile can help them entice
customers to use their services by making things as simple and painless
for their guests as possible. One up-and-coming trend is that of the
mobile key, which enables customers in using a digital key available

4. on their mobiles to enter their rooms without having to keep track of
their keycards.
In fact, the best thing for hotels right now is to create one single app for
their hotel that does everything, offering end-to-end services from
checking-in to booking hotel services to checking-out. Major hotel
chains have already started implementing this model, and it’s now time
for other brands to also jump on this bandwagon before they get left
behind.
It is critical for hotels to make the mobile experience for users as
seamless and simple as possible, keeping their apps free of complicated
processes and dead ends to make sure users do not have to put in much
effort to understand what they have to do or they are likely to give up
on that app and go somewhere else. They must anticipate the users’
needs and ensure that features matching those needs are accessible on
the mobile app as well as easy to operate. Another priority is to ensure
that, while the website should be optimized for mobile browsers, it
leads directly to the mobile app so that customers would be less likely
to book with another service having already downloaded the app. Even
if they do not end up booking, this would also enable push notifications
to keep the brand in users’ minds and nudge them towards various deals
from time-to-time.

5. Above all, they must make sure that both the design and copy is simple,
effective, and goes with the message they are trying to give to their
users. Apps that are do not look attractive are less likely to convince
users to using the hotel’s services, simply because it represents what
they think their experience with the hotel would be like.
Mobile marketing
Whether the hotel has an app or not, mobile marketing should
nevertheless be a priority. Moreover, it is not just their own apps hotels
need to focus on, but social networking apps too. Platforms like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. have become a most important part
of a user’s travel decisions, especially with the rise of Instagram
influencers.
Too many hotels focus on merely pushing ads on these platforms and
neglect the power of organic marketing, while others create content
upon content but neglect to push them with paid advertising. They must
strike a balance between the two to properly market their services to
the public. What is most important for the hospitality industry is to
focus on reaching out to their audience through content and paid
marketing, then focus on maintaining relationships with this audience
by not only providing quality content but also responding to their
feedback, queries, etc. and interact with them using social networking
apps. In an age where guest reviews and feedback are front and centre

6. in the customers’ research while making booking decisions, the best
marketing advice for hotels is to focus on creating positive interactions
with their guests.
This can be through interacting with them in the comments sections of
Facebook and Instagram, responding to their tweets and reviews,
collaborating with Instagram influencers, and even interacting with
them through chatbots or messaging platforms like WhatsApp or
Facebook Messenger.
It is clear that mobiles have become a priority in the industry, and
rightfully so. It is safe to assume that there might come a day where the
customer experience will be fully mobile-based, and hotels must start
moving towards that stage and stop wondering how to run a hotel
successfully.
Ram Gupta, a hotel management graduate, is a certified Hotel
Administrator from U.S. and MIH from U.K. He has over 4
decades of sound experience in the Hospitality industry in
India, U.A.E, U.K, Europe and Japan and is well versed with
all areas of business including acquisitions, mergers, joint
ventures, diversification, strategic planning, development and
operations. He has been associated with over two dozen
luxury and boutique hotel projects and has launched two hotel
chains in India. He is currently an independent hotel

7. consultant and could be contacted at
ramgupta@bcgglobal.com. Website: www.bcgglobal.com
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