Smartphones help hotels selling ancillary services.

According to the study “Hotels Leverage Mobile to Drive Ancillary Sales” conducted by PhoCusWright, the sale of ancillary services is going to increase in hotels especially thanks to smartphones. Indeed, in Europe, it is now possible for the hotels to develop personalized “à la carte” offers via mobiles devices.

Whereas extra options still represent a small part of hotels turnover (about 1.7% of revenue in the United-States and 0.5% in Europe), those numbers could be improved in the future with the development of Internet and mobile bookings. Smartphones facilitate the access to such options during the reservation process and the customer can see a range of offers such as SPA treatments, car rental, excursions or golf lessons.  

Matthieu Saccharin, Mobile Manager for Accor, confirms the results of the study. According to him, mobile devices will become a booster of ancillary services sales. Pilots are being developed for Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Ibis and Mercure. The challenge of this innovation is presented as more cultural than technical. Indeed, the offers have to be felt like a personalized service not like commercial excessive solicitations. Accor realizes 2% of digital sales thanks to smartphones.   

LoungeUp, a company specialized in mobile solutions adapted to the hospitality industry, has developed a customer relationship management (CRM) application to be used during the client’s stay. The General Manager Mathieu Pollet explains that « the idea is that all the hotel services like the dining-room or the SPA can be chosen by the customer. It is a way to increase the knowledge of the place and its services for the customer without implying for him to go to the reception”. However, Mr Pollet clarifies that the aim is not to automatize the service or the relationship with the customer but to make it more available for the guest without being intrusive.

L'echo touristique, 2013

The application doesn’t manage online bookings and is already shared by 30 hotels (for about 300 euros per month in average). 

L'écho touristique, 2013

The development of mobile applications needs to be a priority for hotels in the next years because the number of bookings made through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets is going to increase. For this reason, this application seems to be a good idea and can really improve hotels sales of ancillary services. Many customers now meet the desire to book personalized offers and to feel recognized for themselves. Those offers can also be proposed online via the hotel website. For some hotels, at the end of the reservation, the customer has the choice to book extra services.   

However, even if this can increase the sales, it is important to keep the relationship with the client. Indeed, if the customer has the choice to do everything online, he may not want to speak to someone directly and this could lead to the death of customer relationship and customer-contact employees. The choice needs to be proposed because some customers may not want to use online devices.

Hartog Aline & Viano Lisa

Keywords: smartphones, hotels, relations, applications, mobile, services.

Source: (2013, February 25th). Lainé Linda. Le mobile aide les hôteliers à vendre des options. L’écho touristique. From:    http://www.lechotouristique.com/article/le-mobile-aide-les-hoteliers-a-vendre-des-options,54494#xtor=EPR-2