Welcome to part 3 of our series on mobile hotel Internet marketing! Part 1 and Part 2 explained why you need a mobile-friendly interface and covered a few basics of home page design. The mobile user interface experience doesn’t end with the home page, though; there’s a wealth of information to share with your customers. These are some ideas on how to do it effectively.
Taps = Clicks
In the desktop/laptop world, the general rule is never to make a user click more than once or twice to get to the information they want. The same rule applies to the mobile screen; it shouldn’t take more than one or two taps to get to what the customer wants to see. What information should be on this second “layer” of pages that lie just beyond the home page?
Where You Are
To simplify the home page, the hotel’s location information can reside behind the “Reservations” button. This is particularly helpful if you have more than one facility. In fact, for the purposes of this demonstration let’s rename that button “Find a Hotel.”
Let’s look at what the customer wants from this page:
- Choose a location – Select from a drop-down, or type in a text box (Our suggestion – make as many functions as possible “tappable” to prevent frustration from switching back and forth between tapping and typing).
- Travel dates – Tap for a drop-down to select dates or to bring up an interactive calendar.
- Number of rooms needed
- Number of guests
- Text boxes to input promo codes or corporate account numbers
- Check boxes to indicate typical discounts, such as AAA, senior rates, military discounts, or to indicate a travel agent is making this reservation.
After the user has entered this information (probably doing a bit of scrolling), have a “Submit” or “Find” button so the system will generate a list of available rooms from which to choose.
What Types of Rooms Are Available
The customer has clicked “Submit” or “Search” and we’re now three pages deep in the user experience on your hotel’s mobile web interface. Pretty painless so far, right?
On this page, the customer “swipes” to scroll down to view and choose the facility (if there is more than one) where they want to stay. This page, unlike the previous two, can have more on it in terms of graphics and text, but still keep it simple. There should be nothing on this page that doesn’t serve a purpose:
- A photo of the hotel
- A very short, enticing description
- The basic rack rate for a room
- A link to a map
- A link to a more extensive description of the hotel and its amenities
- A button to book a room and one to go back and select a different facility, if necessary
Once the customer clicks that button, we’re on to page four – choosing a specific class of room.
Room Selection and Cost
On this page, you will present a list of the types of rooms available. The customer will scroll down to view:
- A one-line “headline,” such as “Two Double Beds” or “King Suite”
- A photograph of each room
- A link to click for more details about the features and amenities/upgrades for each type of room.
- Room rate
- Discounts that apply to each room based on selections made earlier and a link to a page that describes this discount in detail.
- A button to “select” or “book” this room.
As before, make sure most or all of this information is structured to adapt quickly and smoothly to whichever orientation the user chooses, whether vertical or horizontal. Once the customer taps “Book this room,” the next pages will guide them through the purchase process, which should be pretty familiar to anyone who has bought anything online.
Detail Pages
By the time the customer clicks for details about a hotel, specific rooms, or discounts, they’re ready to read a longer ream of text, generally the same descriptions you would include on your traditional, desktop-friendly website.
And if you can get them that far, congratulations! You’ve successfully bypassed the customer frustration fuse.
Let SmarteHotels.com help you make your hotel’s mobile web site a frustration-free zone for your customers. Contact us today for help with hotel Internet marketing!
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