A number of recent predictions have been showing that the number of hotels that are angling to include social and mobile solutions is on the rise.
The report called the Travel Distribution & Marketing Barometer has been released by EyeforTravel and examined data from 550 intermediaries and travel suppliers worldwide. This report showed that the investment into mobile marketing within that industry has increased within the higher budget categories.
For instance, within the highest budget category, 41 percent reported that for three months, their mobile marketing budget allocation was sticking to the pattern. There is currently an obvious link between mobile investment and marketing budgets.
The two primary benefits of the use of mobile marketing are as a sales generator and as a tool for building relationships that will eventually lead to those sales. Though the monetization of mobile marketing by hotels is off to a relatively slow start, the opportunity it provides for branding, as well as to delivering tools and content, is a solid one.
At the moment, hotel brands are most often using mobile initiatives for the creation and growth of relationships, which helps to show why the current most popular types being used are social media, geo-location and mapping, email, branded content, and general reference.
These efforts are already being met with significant interest from travelers. The primary challenge being faced by hotel brands is in determining the most effective way to provide highly relevant mobile experiences to travelers, based on their real-time location and what they are doing at that moment.
