Hotel Mobile Website Checklist

What does it take to build a mobile optimized website for your hotel? It may be more complicated than you’d imagine. Today, we partnered again with Killer Infographics to produce this hotel mobile website checklist to help guide hoteliers when designing their mobile presence. While not exhaustive, this checklist hits the major issues and identifies glaring gaps in many mobile designs.

Which of these steps is your site missing?

Hotel Mobile Website Checklist by buuteeq: www.buuteeq.com

Interested in learning more about buuteeq’s industry-leading hotel mobile websites and mobile optimized booking engines? Sign up for a free account below to explore our system, or call us at +1 (800) 734-1769.

Hotel Mobile Website Checklist Transcript

Think you’re hotel’s mobile website is fully optimized? Think again: Many designers overlook vital steps that encourage mobile success. As smartphone use continues to rise, hoteliers who fail to implement a comprehensive mobile strategy will miss out on new guests. Use this checklist to make sure your hotel’s mobile website is up to snuff.

1) Automatically redirect guests to the mobile-optimized site.

Make sure your mobile site shares your primary domain. This ensures that your hard-earned domain authority stays on your primary domain. This will also ensure that your mobile visitors are always automatically directed to mobile-optimized pages.

2) Choose the proper markup for your site.

What will you use? WML, XHTML or HTML5? HTML 5 is the faster, better solution. Poor performing sites due to outdated structure can lead to bounces and lost reservations, as these stats show:

• 75% – Mobile optimized websites are 75% more likely to generate conversions than non-optimized websites.
• 50% – Almost 50% of mobile users who experience difficulty accessing a site are unlikely to return.
• 57% – 57% of mobile users won’t recommend the site to others.

Using the correct markup language for a mobile site allows for better performance, which will keep guests browsing and encourage more bookings.

4) Know the devices your customers are using.

Ensure a fully optimized experience for each device’s screen resolution by creating a dynamic mobile website.

Example Resolutions by OS (with percent of market share):

BlackBerry OS: 6%

• BlackBerry Curve 9380 – 360×480
• BlackBerry Torch 9850 – 480×800
• BlackBerry Bold 990/9930 – 640×480

Windows Mobile: 5.2%

• HTC HD mini – 320×480
• Nokia Lumia 800, HTC Titan II – 480×800

iOS: 20.5%

• Apple iPhone 3G – 320×480
• Apple iPhone 4/4s – 640×960

Android: 61%

• ZTE Skate, HTC Thunderbolt – 480×800
• Motorola Photon 4G – 640×480
• Pantech Pocket – 720×1280
• Google Galaxy Nexus – 720×1280

5) Streamline Download Times

Reduce the file size of images used on your mobile optimized website. Google penalizes websites that load too slowly in their search engine results.

• 73% of mobile users say that most mobile sites load too slowly.
• 47% believe sites should be responsive in under 2 seconds.
• 40% will leave the site if they can’t use it within 3 seconds.

6) Prioritize simple navigation

Cut down on any unnecessary content and scripts. Keep the most important content in the forefront. Place your most important buttons near the top of the page. Incorporate intuitive swipe gestures and multi-touch functionality.

• 32 pixels - The recommended width of links on your mobile site.

Re-size and compress photos. Photos can be powerful marketing tools, but only if they load quickly on mobile devices. Most images can be scaled down to 50kb without much quality loss on mobile devices. This typically improves page load by 90%

7) Use a mobile booking engine

2/3rd of large flagship hotels support a mobile-optimized site with mobile-booking functionality. The largest profit margins come from mobile users: 70% of mobile bookings are more expensive same-day or last-minute bookings, compared to between 12% and 16% of last-minute bookings made from computers.

Take every step necessary to make it easier for mobile guests to book a room.

Include 1-tap access for:

• Phone Inquiries
  • Tap-to-call links and buttons increase mobile bookings by an average of 91%. Be sure to include the international version of your phone number for international guests.
• Driving Directions
  • 95% of smartphone users search for information local to them.
  • 67% of casual travelers use their mobile devices to locate lodging and attractions.
  • 77% of frequent travelers use their mobile devices to locate lodging and attractions.
  • 58% of leisure travelers use mobile location-based services to find lodging.

9) Test, test and test again

Emulate multiple phones on your computer to test for compatibility on each device.

10) Book yourself a new mobile strategy

buuteeq’s Cloud DMS powers mobile optimized hotel websites that exceed industry standards and pass mobile design tests with flying colors. Call or visit us to learn more about our mobile solutions for your hotel.

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