The mobile revolution is in full force – in fact, all research suggests the mobile market will experience rapid growth in the near term and sustained growth moving forward. To succeed, hotels should be implementing mobile optimized websites for smartphone and tablet users to create enjoyable shopping and booking experiences that match their needs and expectations.

1. Total Mobile Website Optimization:
8 Essential Elements for Hotels to
Implement
Tweet this Email this

2. Before reviewing the eight essential elements for total mobile website
optimization, it’s important to understand the following mobile hotel shopping
trends:
These facts cannot be ignored. To succeed, hotels should be implementing
mobile optimized websites for smartphone and tablet users. This guide will
walk you through eight very important elements of mobile optimized hotel
websites that you can use to improve your existing site or consider as you
build one.
-1-
Tweet this Email this

3. 1 Multimedia Gallery
Humans are naturally drawn to visuals. Rich visual media showcases a hotel’s
story and allows consumers to imagine the experience they could have
there. Consumers expect to see visuals, even on the smaller screens of their
smartphones and tablets. But, all too often they find mobile sites that lack the
visual experiences they expect.
Here’s what a proper mobile optimized multi-media gallery includes:
• Quick loading media
• Large, high-resolution images, video, virtual tours
• Media that fits the screen dimensions of each device in portrait and
landscape
• Organized and easy to navigate layout
2 Descriptions of Amenities and Services
Providing descriptions of what your hotel has to offer gives travelers a greater
understanding of your property and builds upon the visuals shown. Unlike
PCs, smartphones and tablets have much smaller screens and are often
navigated using fingertips so scroll bars don’t work well. 73 per cent of online
shoppers do not want to scroll through lots of text.6 Ideally short descriptions
should accompany each of the items in your multi-media gallery to provide
context.
Here are some guidelines for your text descriptions:
• Include the most relevant details about what your hotel offers that are not
conveyed visually
• Ensure text is appropriately sized to be readable on smartphones and
tablets (it can be larger on tablets)
• Use short, one or two line paragraphs and bullet points for easy skimming
-2-
Tweet this Email this

4. 3 Booking Engine
A recent Google study found that 67 per cent of online shoppers are more
likely to buy from a company with a mobile optimized website7. Ensure you
are not losing any business by creating an easy booking process for your
mobile customers.
Be sure to include these features on your mobile website:
• Provide a prominent ‘book now’ button on every page
• Link to a mobile optimized booking engine
• Make sure all steps are optimized for mobile touch screens and keypads
67%
of online 4 Special Offers
shoppers are Everyone loves a good deal – and mobile shoppers are no different. In fact,
more likely to buy the number of active mobile coupon users is expected to grow from 2.7
from a company million in 2010 to nearly 35 million by 2014.8 Promoting special offers on
with a mobile smartphones and tablets not only grabs consumer interest and attention, but
optimized website it will also encourage them to book through your mobile sites.
Follow these pointers to make the most of this win-win situation:
• Include a special offers tab in your smartphone website navigation
• Add a visual button promoting special offers on your tablet website
• Link directly to your mobile booking engine with pre-populated offer
codes
• Promote offers that are exclusive to mobile website visitors
• Update your offers often to keep your site fresh
-3-
Tweet this Email this

5. 5 Optimized Browsing by Device
There are a number of different operating systems out there and it’s important
to ensure travelers experience a mobile site that is optimized for their device.
Over 50 per cent of online shoppers have said a frustrating experience on a
(mobile) website would hurt their perception of the brand.9 Providing a poor
(or non-optimized) mobile experience can be crippling not only to your brand
perception but also to your conversion rates.
Focus on these main device variations:
• Screen size and capabilities – tablets offer more page real estate that you
can take advantage of
• Touch vs. click – smartphones can be either a touch screen or include a
keypad
• Loading time – these may vary from device to device so ensure it loads as
quickly as possible
6 All About You
Many online shoppers – especially smartphone users – want the ability to
easily contact a hotel through their mobile site.11 Providing interactive contact
information gives travelers the chance to easily connect with you on-the-go.
Here are some of the main sources of information to offer:
• Click-to-call and ‘e-mail now’ options
• Address that links to a map and
directions to your hotel
-4-
Tweet this Email this

6. 7 Social Sharing
Social media has become a major
outlet for people to share opinions,
photos and other sources of content
– including travel experiences. Just
as you would on your main website,
make it easy for your mobile website
visitors to connect with you through
social media and share your website
with their friends and followers.
• Include a social sharing widget
that enables travelers to tweet,
email or Facebook your website
link out to their social networks
8 Real-time Updates
Keeping your mobile website up-to-date with relevant information is essential.
It is important to maintain your site so that it accurately reflects your hotel to
meet customer expectations and ensure satisfaction. An easy-to-use process
that will allow you to update your mobile websites in real-time will help save
you valuable time and money.
Remember to always update your mobile website when changes like these
occur:
• Seasonal changes or renovations that affect your
offered amenities
• Photos should be changed every couple years
• When a new special offer is launched
The mobile revolution is in full force – in fact, all research suggests the
mobile market will experience rapid growth in the near term and sustained
growth moving forward. With that in mind, it’s important to start ramping
up your mobile marketing strategies today. Applying these eight elements
to your smartphone and tablet websites is crucial for total mobile website
optimization.
-5-
Tweet this Email this

7. VFM Leonardo’s VBrochure™ helps hotels connect with business and leisure
travelers via compelling, engaging online experiences. VBrochure™ makes it
easy to tell your hotel’s story through rich multimedia and narrative content
across the web, on your own websites (mobile and desktop), online travel
agencies, social media and more. A VPowered Mobile Hotel Website is
included with VBrochure Ultra Premium, which provides mobile users with a
seamless, multi-media experience on their smartphones and tablets.
Visit VFM Leonardo online to see more examples of what VBrochure™ can
do, and contact us today to learn how you can take a leadership role in
mobile hotel marketing!
@VFMLeonardo
www.facebook.com/vfmleonardo
blog.vfmleonardo.com
www.vfmleonardo.com
-6-
Tweet this Email this

8. Sources:
1. How to Optimize the Mobile Travel Experience [http://www.tnooz.com/2012/09/13/how-to/how-to-
optimise-the-mobile-travel-experience-2/]
2. Couch Commerce: How Tablet Shoppers are Changing Online Sales [http://monetate.com/infographic/
couch-commerce-how-tablet-shoppers-are-changing-online-sales/#axzz28AXqMTLk]
3. Nielsen study shows travel usage trends for mobile devices [INFOGRAPHIC] [http://www.tnooz.
com/2012/08/09/news/nielsen-study-shows-travel-usage-trends-for-mobile-devices-infographic/]
4. Nielsen study shows travel usage trends for mobile devices [INFOGRAPHIC]
5. Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers [http://googlemobileads.blogspot.ca/2012/09/mobile-
friendly-sites-turn-visitors.html]
6. Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers [http://googlemobileads.blogspot.ca/2012/09/mobile-
friendly-sites-turn-visitors.html]
7. Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers [http://googlemobileads.blogspot.ca/2012/09/mobile-
friendly-sites-turn-visitors.html]
8. Adobe Digital Marketing Insights: The Impact of Tablet Visitors on Retail Web sites [http://success.
adobe.com/assets/en/downloads/whitepaper/13926_digital_marketing_insights.pdf]
9. Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers Nielsen study shows travel usage trends for mobile
devices [INFOGRAPHIC]
10. Nielsen study shows travel usage trends for mobile devices [INFOGRAPHIC]
-7-
VFML_GUIDE_MOBILEOPTM_0103 Tweet this Email this