Hotels Embracing Growing Digital-as-amenity Trend

　　Many of the leading hotel brands realize that the long-term payoff of investing in mobile is three-fold: boosting loyalty, creating convenience, and generally increasing guest satisfaction via better experiences.

　　According to a new eMarketer report “The Mobile Traveler: How Smartphones Are Changing the Customer Journey,” the hotel industry’s focus on ROI has too much emphasis on booking revenue.

　　The long-term revenue that stems from everyday customer service and long-term loyalty have a much greater contribution to the success of an overall marketing plan than a smattering of 50% discounts through mobile booking. That may not be immediately measurable, which makes it difficult, so it’s understandable that small business owners can’t see the forest for the trees when they’re allocating initial investment dollars into mobile.

　　But smartphones’ impact on the entire customer journey – not just booking – has much larger implications.”