Hotels double users if websites are fast, ‘user friendly’ and adapted to mobile

Hotels must ensure the usability and optimized web development of their booking platforms so as not to lose sales.

Half of users abandon or change websites or mobile apps when it is too slow (52%) or if they have to make too many clicks (45%), according to Google data. The adaptation to the smartphone is decisive: the search engine better positions the ‘mobile-first’ pages and sanctions those that are not, so that “hotels whose websites are not adapted to the mobile will stop winning reservations”.

Although today a hotel without a website is not understood, there are still 16% that do not have any digital tool, according to the Spanish Federation of Hospitality (FEHR). “Usability, download optimization and mobile adaptation are the keys to guaranteeing direct hotel reservations,” recalls Manuel Delgado, head of the Web area of Pasiona. One in three leisure travellers (31%) and half of those who do so for business book via smartphone, but almost 90% stop booking if navigation is not satisfactory. In addition, 89% of last-minute booking traffic is channeled via mobile. “The mobile first is no longer a recommendation but an obligation both for the hotel to position itself in search engines and for the user to complete the reservation,” adds David Teixidó, CEO of Pasiona. “The same goes for booking engine optimization, easy payment, multi-channel navigation and content clarity,” he concludes.

Hotel websites as the main way of booking

The number of online hotel bookings has doubled in the last five years. The specialists of the sector foresee that this 2018 they will reach a value of 7,700 million euros and that they will rise to 8,900 million in 2022, according to a report by the consultancy Euromonitor International. In this context, hotels need to position themselves as the main way to book rooms, above the large online agencies (OTAs). Recently they have been gaining ground and it is expected that by 2022 more than half of accommodation reservations on the internet (53%) will be directly with the hotel.

Technological disruption: current trends for 2018

Technology and Tourism make up in this context “a well-agreed marriage”, explains Toni Recio, head of the Department of Technology and Innovation of Pasiona. “The automation of reservations thanks to Artificial Intelligence; improving the user experience through Machine Learning; Blockchain security and bots as new forms of customer service are some of the main disruptive trends for this 2018, “he says. And not in terms of futurology but of “presentology: all these technologies are already working”. Adaptation to this new scenario and their commitment to digitalization will depend on hotels knowing how to differentiate themselves, survive changes and guarantee their reservations.

Pasiona: Microsoft technology specialists

We are a business consultancy specialized in development with Microsoft technologies, mobility and usability. With offices in Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, London and Mexico, we offer a consultancy totally oriented to improve the operations and procedures of the company through customized technological solutions. In our almost 11 years of life, we have drawn an upward growth curve, backed by the high specialization of our consultants, the quality of our services and the trust placed by our clients.

The recruitment of talent, the generation of employment in times of crisis and the continuous training of our employees are some of the keys that have led Pasiona to become a benchmark in the sector. The recent arrival in Mexico has confirmed the good path in our objective of expansion into new markets.

Our experience in the tourism sector has its greatest example in the projects carried out with H10 Hotels, one of the top 10 hotel companies in Spain, with a remarkable expansion in the Caribbean and Europe. These include the recent technological development of The One Barcelona portal and the participation in H10 Hotels’ own corporate website.

Passion web projects with H10 Hotels:

H10 Premium

Club H10

The One Barcelona

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