Case in point: While visits from desktop PCs are still the prime source of revenue generation, breaking down revenue by device shows us that revenue from mobile visits went up 43 percent year-over-year from 2017 to 2018. At the same time, visits to hotel websites on mobile finally overtook desktop computers in 2018, with 47 percent of visitors on mobile in 2018 up from 41 percent for the same period in 2017.
Seeing those kinds of statistics should prompt some questions among your digital marketing team: Are we making it easy for guests to find the information they need on our website? Are we giving them reasons to book directly with us? And perhaps most importantly, are we making it easy to start searching on their phones or tablets and then pick up the search later, perhaps on a laptop where they’re used to making a purchase? Our analysis of year-over-year shopping and booking data paints a picture of guests who do their research and visit hotel websites before they book – facts which we also discuss in our playbook for direct distribution, which looks at the changes in consumer behavior that can help us understand the different needs and expectations of frequent travelers versus occasional leisure travelers. But more importantly, it gives you a look at the competitive landscape so you can not only benchmark yourselves against other hoteliers but adjust your strategies to capture more traffic and more revenue in 2019.
View the infographic for a detailed breakdown of 2018’s hotel digital experience trends and learn how they are impacting the online shopping and buying experiences you create. At the end of the infographic, you’ll find a link to a free assessment designed to help you identify gaps in your strategy and ways to strengthen those areas.
