buuteeq

Mobile Explosion Recap as seen on

buuteeq has some exciting mobile news in store for our clients that we will get into shortly. I want to take this opportunity to share some recent stats on the exploding growth of mobile Internet use that support buuteeq’s conclusion that mobile hotel bookings will be the dominant form of online bookings in just a few short years.

The following is a chart from ComScore that breaks down mobile use for the first three months of this year. What is notable is that every aspect of online guest pre-booking behavior is being done on a mobile device. It’s no surprise that nearly 30% of all trip takers used their smartphone to look up hotel directions, but what’s startling–and should give us pause–is that nearly 20% of them actually booked a room from their mobile device:

Top Mobile Hotel Activities while Planning a Trip or Traveling During Previous Three Months February 2012 Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 18+  Source: Custom Mobile Travel Advisor Survey
	% of Smartphone Owners
Looked up hotel address/directions	29%
Looked up/ researched attractions/ things to do at my destination/near my hotel	23%
Looked up/researched places to eat at my destination/near my hotel	22%
Read a hotel review	22%
Compared hotel prices & availability	21%
Booked a hotel room	18%
Received price alerts for hotels	18%
Looked up/researched ground transportation at my destination/near my hotel	17%
Cancelled a hotel reservation	10%

As recently as May, mobile browsing travel data continues to amaze. In the following lovely infographic produced by the fellows at My Destination (shown below) we discover the following gems:

• 2/3rds of all travelers say they are likely to book travel activities using mobile devices
• 54% of all travelers own smart-phones
• 45% of those that don’t have phones that can at least browse the Internet

Mobile optimization is no longer a nice-to-have. it has become necessary to conduct business. However, not all mobile optimized websites perform the same. When choosing a vendor to deliver mobile optimization, look for the following:

• Large, clear photography formatted for smaller screens
• Big buttons in high contrasting colors that are easy to tap
• Simple, easy to find one-tap phone dialing
• Simple, easy to find one-tap online reservations
• Rich, detailed and compelling content (remember, 17% of travelers research their trips from their phones).
• Good mobile SEO–that is, keep your mobile site tied to your regular website domain

Stay tuned for exciting mobile innovations from buuteeq!

Made by My Destination, locally informed, globally inspired travel guides.

Mobile Explosion Recap as seen on

via buuteeq’s blog: http://bit.ly/NaNBVp