Source: RoamingAround
Source: RoamingAround

It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email, but just 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message, according to CTIA - The Wireless Association®. This is just one of many reasons why hoteliers need to make mobile engagement with guests a priority in 2014 and beyond. RoamingAround, provider of hospitality industry mobile-engagement solutions, has designed a platform that will help hotel marketers better interact with their customers on their terms. Learning about travelers' habits and preferences will make mobile messaging more engaging. RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement Solution not only assists with determining what type of mobile incentives to send to guests, but when to send them and how often.

Consider these statistics:

  • Almost half of Internet consumers worldwide are now using mobile devices as their primary mechanism for surfing the Web (Marketing Land)
  • Mobile subscriptions will reach 9.3 billion by 2019, and of these, 5.6 billion will be for smartphones (Ericsson);
  • 91% of all Americans keep their mobile devices within reach at all times, i.e., 24/7 (Morgan Stanley).
  • 70% of all mobile searches result in action within one hour (Mobile Marketer)
  • Mobile coupons get 10 times the redemption rate of traditional coupons (Borrell Associates)

"RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement solution delivers a dramatically new method of interaction between the hotel and its guests," said Michael Garvin, RoamingAround president and CEO. "Designed as a guest-facing mobile app, hotel staff can push to guests' personal mobile devices specific offers that will motivate them to become viral advocates for the hotel or brand. These custom offers are the incentives that spur guests to spend money at your hotel, and the catalyst that motivates them to come back time and again.

"The mobile app can be used by hotel guests to explore your hotel and interact with staff," he said. "It also enables marketers to push highly targeted sales and incentive messages. Using a rules- and event-based protocol, RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement solution enables hoteliers and guests to precisely control the level and frequency of interaction. Guests control how much or how little they communicate. Then, each time the traveler engages, marketers learn more about habits and preferences, enabling them to better target their messaging."

RoamingAround uses a combination of mobile modules to promote guests to engage with the hotel before, during and after their stay in order to build loyalty and customer retention. The method is personalized, timely and relevant, based on consistent back-end intelligence driven by a preferences/habit manager, a rules engine and a communications engine to deliver what the guest wants when they want it. These tools can even be used for non-guests to promote a hotel's venues and amenities, including push offers/incentives for people nearby to visit the hotel's restaurant, spa, bar etc.

RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement Solution enables hoteliers to:

  • 1. Know Your Customer

Forget about demographics; the name of the engagement game today is communicating with guests one on one. RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement solution contains a Preference/Habit Manager that retains information on guest preferences and provides details about their habits. Elements of this tool include: Customer Opt-ins, Declared Customer Preferences (what they tell us), Assumed Customer Preferences (default settings for each guest), Learned Customer Preferences (what we learn about them based on their behavior patterns, use of the app and so on), and Feeder Information that comes from the CRM/Loyalty System, PMS, POS and Social Media Feeds. A Communications Engine then facilitates the actual communication between the hotel and its guests via SMS Text Messages, Push Notifications, Email and Inbound communications from guests.

  • 2. Use the Information You Already Have

Knowing if the guest is a member of the hotel's loyalty program . . . what temperature he or she likes the room . . . if a spa reservation has been made in the past . . . or if he or she likes to frequent on-site restaurants is all information that is on hand in the hotel's PMS, CRS, CRM, POS or on Social Media channels. Leveraging this information to upsell and drive revenues will help hotel marketers maintain an understanding of their guests going forward, and it will make mobile engagement easier, as guests will be more likely to opt-in to receive hotel information that is tailored to their desires. The Mobile Engagement solution's guest-facing app supports links to static pages, semi-dynamic pages or external websites to follow guests along the customer journey, from what they buy on site to what they say on social media.

  • 3. Capitalize on Your Guest's Location

RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement solution Geo-location and indoor /outdoor geo-fencing to enable hoteliers to put fences around specific locations within the hotel (spa, bar, indoor pool), or outside the hotel (airport, train station, competitor facilities) and then trigger offers and/or incentives based on the preferences of the guest and when it is timely and appreciated. Using this proximity marketing, hoteliers can push micro-targeted messaging to better engage with travelers and improve engagement. This tool helps to drive impulse purchases and enables guests to take advantage of luxury amenities in real-time and provides accuracy through location to make all triggers personalized to each individual. Now brands can decide the areas and rules of when and who gets hit with these messages. Based on preferences, messages can be triggered in multiple languages for a multi-cultural experience.

"Hotels looking to build a better relationship with their guests to fortify their mobile strategies can do so easily and more effectively if they practice Mobile Engagement," Garvin said. "RoamingAround's Mobile Engagement solution will gather profile/preference information from all consumer touch points, leverage mobility to spur customers to action and make adjustments in real time, then track and measure all actions for tangible results in ROI and predictive analysis."

For more information on Mobile Engagement via RoamingAround, contact Sarah Smith at (978) 777-8787, Ext. 303, or email [email protected].

About RoamingAround

RoamingAround provides a suite of mobile engagement solutions designed specifically for the hospitality industry.

Today, your guests live their lives on their mobile devices, and that"s precisely where you need to reach them— before someone else does. From large conference hotels and upscale resorts to independent, intimate boutique properties, RoamingAround"s powerful mobile engagement options can be customized for your property"s individual goals, are compatible with every device on the market and feature vital customer profile and back-end tracking tools for predictive analysis and measurable results. More information can be found by visiting www.RoamingAround.com.

Sarah Smith
RoamingAround
(978) 777-8787