As every other hotel reservation will be made via mobile devices in 2017, HRS reveals new Mobile Special Tariff with savings up to 50 per cent.
In response to the ever-growing popularity of smartphones, Europe’s leading hotel solutions provider, HRS, has launched a new Mobile Special Tariff for business travellers.
According to the market research company Gartner, 986 million smartphones were sold in the world in 2013. This is an increase of 42 per cent, compared to 2012. With the mobile market growing rapidly, more and more people are using mobile apps to book hotel rooms.
In 2013, HRS doubled its percentage of mobile bookings in 2013 yet again; 12 per cent of all reservations were made via smartphones and tablets, and this is only set to rise further as it introduces its new Mobile Special Tariff.
According to HRS’ booking data, business travellers usually book spontaneously while travelling, most often from Mondays to Thursdays. 75 per cent of the bookings made via smartphones with HRS are for arriving on the same or the next day. And the majority of bookers only stay for one night. Those who use HRS apps from their tablets paint a different picture: They usually surf the Internet while relaxing on the couch, they mostly book on Sundays, and they usually reserve more in advance. Furthermore, they book rooms for longer stays.
HRS’ Mobile Special Tariff offers a discount of at least 10 per cent and can be exclusively booked via the HRS apps. It also contains last-minute offers, which until now were solely bookable via the Hotels Now app from HRS. Hotels use the Mobile Special Tariff to market their residual capacities towards business travellers and spontaneous bookers.
“In the future, travellers will increasingly book hotels via smartphones, and mobile will be the dominating channel,” says Tobias Ragge, CEO of HRS. “We expect that every other booking will be made via mobile devices in three years,” says Ragge.
The advantage of mobile travel apps is obvious; users can access them from anywhere and at any time, and flexibly make bookings. An additional benefit with HRS is that they usually do not have to provide their credit card information.
“With the trend towards greater mobility, HRS users expect to find all mobile offers straightforward in one central app. This is the result of extensive usability tests,” says Bjoern Kraemer, Director Mobile & New Media at HRS. “We therefore integrate all mobile discounts into the existing, established HRS apps,” continues Kraemer.
Today, the HRS apps are present on 17 mobile platforms, installed on 15 million devices worldwide and used in 157 countries.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
