5 Essential Features For A Hotel Mobile App

Written by Cristina Radu

Published on Jul 4, 2014

Read time 3 min

Category App Development

Software Advice ran an online survey on 2,126 randomly selected U.S. travelers to find the most wanted features in a hotel’s mobile app. App users were highly interested (36%) in using interactive maps to help them find the hotel and other points of interest. The next desired feature category is coupons and discounts (27%), followed by room service (23%) and a loyalty program dashboard (14%).

Half of travelers are interested in maps that show top restaurants nearby, the rest being interested in finding transportation options like buses/airports/trains or numbers for the local taxi companies.

When it comes to discounts, most (52%) people are interested to get better deals in local restaurants, followed by 29% that want to save money at the hotel’s own restaurant or bar. Entertainment and transportation are 2 additional fields where travelers want discounts. Also related to discounts, travelers would like to see a list with products that can be gained as part of hotel’s loyalty program.

Having detailed information about the menu with accompanying photos and the ability to pay within the app, are the two most desired features related to room service. Another desired feature would be to control the TV using the app, as well as the temperature in the room.

So let’s do a recap of the most desired features, as stated by travelers that were involved in this survey:

– maps that show top restaurants nearby
– deals and discounts at restaurants nearby and at your own place
– detailed menu with information and high resolution photos
– information on hotel’s loyalty programs
– controlling the TV with the app

There are hotels that are proactive in listening to what their clients think, one good example in this direction is Marriott, that launched a website allowing people to submit ideas.

As a result of this project they already implemented ideas, like the ability to check-in and check-out from within the app. As the smartphones market grows, I’m betting we’re going to see a lot more innovation in the coming years.