App vs Website: What does hospitality need?

The debate of what mobile strategy to apply: mobile website or application has no single answer. The option you choose depends on a number of factors including your business plans, resources, and the web properties you might need.

According to an eMarketer study, users spend around 4 hours on their phones daily, and over 80% of the time is spent in apps. People love to browse apps over websites because of their speed, reliability, and ease of use. In the hospitality space, one might argue that you’re ceding ground to competitors if you haven’t yet incorporated an app into your guest journey.

Responsive, or mobile websites work perfectly for implementing outreach strategies and supporting marketing or PR campaigns. As a mobile website is superior to a mobile application in matters of compatibility, accessibility, and maintenance, it is a great first step to boost and support your mobile marketing campaign. However, these can't leverage all smartphone features with limited personlization, user experience and offline access.

Mobile apps offer faster access to content and smoother interactions. If you plan on setting up features linked to native device functionality, like GPS, click-to-call, cameras, or scanners, or building a platform such as a content marketplace or a social network then an app will be more effective than a mobile website. Although it comes with needing support and maintenance.

This may apply to many segments of the hospitality industry which are built around luxurious experiences. It would make sense for hotels to use native branded apps to proffer more personalized content, UI, and offers with the ability of retain user data.

It is hard to confidently gauge the preference of the guests, whether they would prefer a quick QR scan or download an app for a full-fledged experience. Depending on what the various leading hotel tech apps are offering these days, the general trend seems to be gearing toward providing a mobile website alternative for those who do not wish to download yet another app.