Boosting the guest experience through the power of mobile

New research from Oracle Hospitality revealed that a whopping 91% of hotel executives surveyed said mobile technologies are critical to improving the guest experience and cultivating loyalty. However, only 69% were confident in their organisation’s ability to adapt and deliver those mobile experiences.

In the survey, 199 executive leaders in the hospitality industry were asked regarding the current use of mobile technology within their organisations. 77% of respondents were director level or higher, with 53% from companies whose annual revenue is greater than USD 500 million.

“Some haven’t started their mobile journey”

Greg Webb, senior vice president and general manager of Oracle Hospitality, said: “It’s clear that hotels need to provide mobile innovations to meet the requirements of today’s savvy consumers, yet some haven’t started their mobile journey.

“Customers want to be able to engage with brands wherever they are – booking a room from their child’s soccer game or ordering drinks while sitting poolside at the hotel. The properties that can’t deliver these kinds of mobile experiences will quickly lose to those that can make the engagement simple and seamless for their customers.”

A competitive advantage

Despite high self-ratings for mobile utilisation prowess, 50% of respondents expressed fear that their organisation would be disrupted by more mobile-friendly competitors. So, it was not surprising that 90% of the hotel executives surveyed agreed that mobile was critical to maintaining a competitive advantage.

90% also added that guest experience could be improved by the ability to use smartphones to manage basic services such as booking a room and managing the check-in and check-out processes. And 91% said their guest-facing mobile app is the preferred way they’d like guests to request service from hotel staff.

Key areas to focus on

The majority of hotel executives believe that mobile technologies are critical to guest experiences, and Oracle believes that there are three areas they can focus on to improve the guest experience including (1) empowering guests to take advantage of self-service tools, (2) allowing guests to communicate with the hotel through their preferred channel, and (3) continuing to invest in mobile technologies to reduce friction.