Smartphones have emerged as the platform of choice for consumer hotel bookings. But to what extent are the apps that many hotel and travel brands are offering being used as the portal to start the booking process?
Millward Brown Digital, which is a provider of digital analytics and insights, recently conducted a study among consumers 18 and older who own a smartphone to determine what role apps play in the hotel booking process as compared to browser usage.
The study found that 41% of the survey respondent had booked a hotel in the past six months, but only 15% had actually done so through their smartphone. The smartphone hotel shopper skewed young, with 25% being 25 to 35 and 31% being 35 to 44.
The study also showed that the research period up until purchase was dominated by browser usage on a smartphone, rather than through an app. For example, while only 17% of respondents used an app to visit a hotel supplier or property, 55% did so through a browser on their smartphone. Similarly, when it came to visiting an OTA property, 26% used an app while 48% used a browser.
Browsers also dominated when consumers booked a hotel, with 43% using a mobile browser to do so and only 29% using an app.
App usage, however, began to increase post-purchase and once engagement with a brand solidified. Fully, 32% of respondents signed up for a hotel loyalty program through an app, compared to 41% through a browser, and 42% logged into a loyalty program through an app, equal to the percentage who did so through a browser.
Not surprisingly, the research showed that heavy travelers were more apt to use an app than light travelers.
The study also demonstrated that consumer engagement and use of apps has a limit. According to the research, one-third of smartphone users have more than 30 apps installed on their devices, but use only about four to six per day. And with smartphones having limited memory capacity, apps that are not frequently used are deleted. Needing to free up memory being was cited as the reason why apps were deleted, second only to “rarely used the app.”