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The significance of mobile for luxury hotel industry

New data highlights the increasing significance of mobile devices in the luxury hotel sector. In January 2013, SLH website hits in China were up by 406% year on year; Brazil saw an increase of 104%, followed by Russia with a more moderate 22% increase.

Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has revealed how significant the mobile economy is to the luxury travel industry with its latest data on global browsing and booking trends through its website.

Tech gurus hyped 2012 as the year of the mobile boom and the latest figures from the luxury hotel brand really highlight the growing ubiquity of handheld devices over twelve months by comparing visits and bookings on slh.com by iPad, iPhone and Android handsets.

The year on year analysis for SLH’s online activity for January, traditionally one of the most popular booking months, not only reinforces the growing trend for mobile browsing and booking, but also underpins the growing demand for luxury travel in the emerging markets, which saw the greatest percentage increase of traffic to slh.com.

In January 2013, SLH website hits in China were up by 406% year on year; Brazil saw an increase of 104%, followed by Russia with a more moderate 22% increase. The UK saw a very positive increase, up 15%, whilst in line with expectations other more developed travel markets such as the USA and Germany saw slight increases of 1% and 4% respectively, compared to the same month the previous year.

In terms of website visits by mobile devices, the developed economies saw the most significant growth. The iPad continues to be the most popular handset for searching hotels on slh.com, with iPad visits from the UK recording the largest share of total website visits at 22% in January 2013, up 108% year on year, followed by Canada (19%), France (17%) and Germany (16%). Website visits by iPhone were also marginally up year on year with the Canadian and Chinese markets both seeing the most significant jump, recording a 193% and 105% increase in iPhone traffic to slh.com. Android visits were also up in most markets, although it still represents a very small proportion of the total volume of website visits, suggesting there is untapped potential for more mobile-friendly content.

The mobile technology market in the UK continues to surge and accounts for an increasing amount of the total online search volume for accommodation. In January 2013, 30% of visits to slh.com from the UK were from a mobile device, compared to 18% in 2012, representing a 50% increase year on year. This data mirrors a nationwide technology trend for the travel industry according to the results of a Google UK survey revealing that during the third quarter of 2012, 33% of all online searches for accommodation were from a mobile device, a sharp increase from the same quarter in 2011 when mobile accounted for just 5% of searches.

These results do not come as much surprise considering that the UK has one of the highest penetrations of smartphones in the world according to Ofcom. As of December 2012, 58% of the population has a smartphone and almost a fifth (19%) owns a tablet. The iPhone is the most popular device capturing 29% of the UK smartphone market.

Meanwhile, the percentage of website visitors making bookings on slh.com across all mobile platforms remains fairly low worldwide, although the conversion rate is growing. Over 14% of all bookings in the last two quarters of 2012 were made by iPad, iPhone and Android, up from 7% across the same period in 2011.

China and Russia saw a particularly large increase in year on year bookings by iPad, with the iPad accounting for 24% (compared to 0% in 2012) and 15% (up 700%) of total bookings respectively. The steady rise of the iPad fan club in the UK continues with 18% of SLH hotel stays booked via iPad in January 2013, up from 7% in January 2012.

The number of bookings made by iPhone and Android remains very small, with the exception of the world’s leader in technology, Japan, where 7% of all bookings via slh.com were made by iPhone. Could these technology champions be paving the way for smartphone luxury accommodation bookings in the future?

Countries Total Visits 2013 Total Visits 2012 iPad Visits 2013 iPad Visits 2012
USA 76,612 75,754 11,51 8,122
UK 74 64,327 16066 7,74
Germany 18,46 17,718 2948 1,856
China 15,386 3,039 555 205
Canada 12,789 10,729 2448 1,042
France 11,498 10,642 2000 1,072
Russia 5062 4163 765 493
Brazil 5261 2580 657 331
Japan 5243 5275 431 287
Countries iPhone Visits 2013 iPhone Visits 2012 Android Visits 2013  Android Visits 2012
USA 3,9 2,818 870 737
UK 4412 3,178 1352 741
Germany 892 686 298 151
China 384 187 231 53
Canada 705 241 183 36
France 561 453 119 79
Russia 226 186 134 28
Brazil 202 121 71 22
Japan 384 330 234 263
Co-Founder & Chief Editor - TravelDailyNews Media Network | Website | + Posts

Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.

She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.

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