Hoteliers looking to enhance their current mobile strategy and increase guest engagement with their branded mobile app are turning to GEO-Location. Through targeted hotel-to-guest messaging based on location (indoor or outdoor), hotel marketers are finding that mobile app use is on the rise. This not only drives incremental revenues and provides a faster mobile app investment return; it simultaneously increases guest satisfaction, builds loyalty and improves the hotel’s bottom line.
GEO-Location provides hoteliers with the latest in technology — GPS, Latitude/Longitude positioning, Bluetooth BLE 4.0, NFC and WiFi — to locate guests and send them personalized messages by SMS, Push, or via the hotel’s Mobile App. The geo-location component can easily be added to any existing app by use of its software development kit, or it can be included in a full Mobile Engagement Solution by RoamingAround.
“RoamingAround’s new GEO-Location is ideal for hotels that have committed to building an app or already invested in app development but need to revive/revamp it to make it relevant,” said Michael Garvin, RoamingAround president. “Why leave mobile app engagement to chance? By adding our GEO-Location component, hotel marketers can send targeted, personalized messages, offers or incentives based on timing and location. This will increase mobile app use, as guests look forward to receiving their next custom offer that is sure to enhance their hotel experience.
“In the late 90s, hotel owners and operators began buying hardware and software for the sake of automation with little regard to its return on investment; they rarely used the technology to its full potential, didn’t know how to analyze the data the systems provided, and disregarded system compatibility,” he said. “Today, hoteliers are experiencing much of the same confusion now knee-deep in the mobile age. They are building mobile websites, developing mobile apps, and buying mobile guest-service solutions because they have to in order to remain competitive. But now what? Knowing how to make these mobile services known to guests is tricky, and getting them to actually use the tools efficiently is equally as difficult. This is where GEO-Location by RoamingAround can help.”
Proximity marketing drives impulse purchases by accurately pinpointing where a guest or group of guests is on property. This ensures that all triggered messages can be personalized to each individual or group, and it increases the likelihood that the guest will accept the offer and engage. Properties and brands decide the areas and rules of when and who gets hit with these messages; different content is shown to different users based on proximity and preferences. Messages can even be triggered in multiple languages for a multi-cultural experience.
“On the back end, GEO-Location tracks each guests’ whereabouts to personalize their experience using the hotel’s mobile app,” Garvin said. “A simple plug-in component quickly breathes new life into a hotel’s potentially outdated app while reviving its investment. It also offers a new level of mobile engagement with travelers while becoming a fun, new use of mobile technology. RoamingAround provides analytical tools that track conversion rates and guest traffic patterns greatly increasing success ratios. The system supports social media check-in and is TCPA compliant, preventing guests from reporting SPAM allegations.”
Indoor/outdoor engagement
To facilitate indoor geo-fencing, RoamingAround works with each hotel to identify the best indoor access points (iBeacon, Bluetooth BLE 4.0 and WiFi) throughout the property. Being able to detect a guest’s movement vertically between floors or levels of a space greatly improves the accuracy of sending relevant messages. These messages can be discounted deals, complimentary offerings or luxury incentives, such as a private booking. RoamingAround’s GEO-Location enables marketers to manage automated triggers that contain hyper-personalized messaging to ensure they are not only gaining incremental revenue, but also engaging each customer with different experiences, based on their personal preferences, habits and history.
RoamingAround’s outdoor geo-fencing solution tracks customers as they explore the surrounding areas and entices guests to take immediate action within “fenced” locations, such as hotel outlets, partnering businesses, transportation hubs and even competitor locations. The technology combines individual customer profile data, business intelligence rules and uses latitude and longitude coordinates, GPS or Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities, to automatically streamline each scheduled or event-driven trigger.
“The key to successful GEO-Location engagement is knowing each guest; who they are, what they want and when they want it,” Garvin said. “When the information being sent is relevant and timely, guests will be eager to engage. RoamingAround will work with hotels to craft messaging that will trigger impuse offers and incentives that visitors simply can’t refuse.”
For more information on GEO-Location, contact the RoamingAround sales team at +1 (978) 777-8787 Ext. 303, or email sales@roamingaround.com.
