-Roiback bookings made through mobile phone have grown 40% compared to last year
-More than 40% of Spaniards would rather give up sex for a month than their mobile phone
The tech company Roiback, specialist and leader in the management of the direct channel of hotel sales, has informed that more than 50% of hotels direct traffic comes from the mobile phone channel. This and other revealing figures were presented last Thursday at #MOBILEISNOW event, organized by APD (Association for the Management Progress, in Spanish) in collaboration with Roiback and Google.
Mobile technology is key for today’s society. In fact, the Mobile Economy 2019 report indicates that two out of three people have mobile service. In the tourism sector, the use of the mobile phone for basic processes has become essential. In fact, in Spain, mobile reservations have increased 82%, according to Rebeca González, Managing Director of Roiback, who considered the mobile phone as a “key” tool “for last minute reservations.”
During her speech about the mobile generation and the great opportunity that this represents for the tourism industry, González said that, in the case of Roiback, more than 30% of sales come from the mobile phone, a channel that has increased its importance more than 40% since last year. Considering that millennials will represent 75% of the working population in 2025 and that their main worries are, in the first place, connection and, in the second, portability, González did not hesitate to conclude the importance for the hotel industry to optimize the mobile channel: “Those hotels that do not have an optimal mobile solution will see their sales and their profitability impacted in a negative way.” The impact can already be seen: in fact, the growth of the metasearch engines reservations that come from mobile already surpasses 78% of reservations coming from the desktop.
A permanently connected society
Jon Recacoechea, Industry Manager Travel of Google, talked about the mobile commerce as an unstoppable tendency that is at its peak. “80% of us check its phone during the first 15 minutes after waking up,” Recacoechea explained. He also added that throughout the day, the number of mobile consultations increases up to 200 times and 79% of adults have their mobile phone with them at least during 22 hours per day. The executive highlighted that more than 40% of Spaniards would rather give up sex for a month than their mobile phone.
Recacoechea insisted as well as Rebeca González about the importance of mobile for society, especially when managing trips and leisure and he underlined the key moments of the year, for example: “During Black Friday 2018, 54% of travel searches were made with the mobile,” Nowadays, as he explained, the mobile is involved in 39% of conversions at Spanish hotels.
Besides the talks by González and Recacoechea, Martín Ribas, CEO of APD in the Balearic Islands; Andrés González, Chief Financial Officer of Hotelbeds and Iñaki Cabrera, CEO at CG&A mCommerce, also participated in the event. There was a round table focused on strategies to maximize mobile commerce, which was moderated by Leonardo Llorente, Head of Product & Innovation at Roiback with the participation of the panellists: Alejandro Lazcano, Ecommerce Director of Palladium Hotel Group, Ricardo Fernández, Managing Director at Destinia, in addition to the previously mentioned Cabrera and Recacoechea.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
