Do you remember when I wrote about the opening of PGA Catalunya Resort’s new 5-star hotel the Hotel Camiral? This time I can tell you that Hotel Camiral has been accepted as the latest member of The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd., a curated collection of more than 375 independent and distinct luxury hotels in over 75 countries.
Last year we saw the war for direct booking among hotels. I expect that the battle will continue. It will be interesting to see how such a new hotel like Hotel Camiral will be able to respond effectively to the challenge of Airbnb and Google. Needless to say that it is also a challenge for online travel agencies.
In 2016, SimilarWeb.com found among the TOP5 US accommodation websites were only 2 hotel chains (Hilton, Marriott) the others were Airbnb, Booking.com, and Hotels.com.
Will Hotel Camiral invest in marketing campaigns to encourage customers to “book direct“?
It was an interesting phenomenon in 2016 that 33% of online bookings were made via mobile and 16% on tablets (source: Criteo performance marketing company).
At this moment Hotel Camiral website is only mobile friendly but does not push hard booking when visiting their website either via my laptop or my smartphone. In general, I can agree that there is no absolute preference of mobile apps over browser visitation. However, a mobile application could facilitate more bookings since it is more comfortable.
Yes, you can say that we cannot download a mobile for every single activity on our mobile, but (let assume Hotel Camiral will be one of your favorite hotels) in the case of frequently visited hotels and golf resorts it would make sense.
I think such a luxury hotel like Hotel Camiral should invest in companion mobile solutions (e.g. Hilton’s Digital Keys; James Hotels’ James Pocket Assistant) that can make fluent our stay in the hotel.
