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How luxury marketers can leverage the mobile travel guide trend

November 16, 2011

Stay all four seasons

Many luxury marketers from hotels to lifestyle publications are now creating mobile travel applications. These types of efforts are likely to stick around, which could prove handy for brands.

The apps’ longevity is largely due to the fact that mobile travel apps are much more convenient to use on-the-go than the old-school guidebooks and printed city maps. Indeed, luxury marketers can benefit in two ways: by creating their own location-based apps or by getting their hotels, restaurants or products featured on third-party mobile guides.

“When travelers are on-the-go, it is easier for them to bring along their smartphone as opposed to the older alternatives,” said Laura Woolston, marketing manager at Velti Mobclix Exchange, San Francisco. “Users look to the app store to not only entertain themselves but to also make their lives more efficient.

“The ability to have a device identify your current location via GPS and then provide multiple location-based offerings is extremely powerful,” she said.

“In a new city where consumers are unfamiliar with their surroundings, having an app that provides directions, top places to grab a bite to eat and entertainment ideas is key.”

Forking tips
Travel mobile apps are becoming more common and successful since consumers are getting accustomed to downloading apps that help to make their lives more efficient.

By downloading a city guide, travelers can ideally arrive in a city and quickly look up everything from nearby hotels to transportation hubs.

Affluent consumers will likely look for and trust advice coming from luxury brands, be it their favorite fashion designer or the hotel in which the traveler is staying.

By creating a mobile city guide, a luxury brand can connect with consumers in a way that does not seem overly-promotional but that helps the user make lifestyle decisions.

Additionally, the brand can leverage the mobile effort to push location-based advertisements and draw attention to nearby stores, sales centers or hotels.

Should a brand decide not to create its own travel app, placement on a third-party restaurant- or hotel-sponsored mobile effort can also be beneficial.

Tatler's restaurant guide 2011 app

Map guest
Indeed, quite a few luxury marketers have used travel or city guides as a mobile strategy.

For example, Condé Nast Traveler created a Top 100 mobile hotel guide that not only further connected the magazine with its on-the-go readers, but also promoted hotels such as the Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Le Méridien Resort and Spa in Cancún, Mexico, and Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman, Cayman Island (see story).

Additionally, London-based magazine Tatler recently released a London restaurant guide (see story).

Famed auction house Christie’s had also developed a city guide surrounding its 54th annual Venice Biennale Art Exhibit earlier this summer (see story).

Hotels are also getting in on the travel guide action by including local information such as events, maps and restaurants on a property’s mobile app.

For example, Fontainebleau Miami’s mobile app includes hotel restaurant menus, local weather, information on nearby attractions and events in or around the Miami Beach hotel.

However, creating a useful mobile travel guide is hard to get right.

Marketers should ensure that their travel content has translation options for foreign travelers and need to be updated frequently as restaurant and store locations often close or change, per Ms. Woolston.

Indeed, now might be a prime time for luxury marketers to look into either advertising on a third-party travel guide or debuting one of their own.

“With holidays comes travel,” Ms. Woolston said. “As demand in the marketplace increases, app production will follow.

“More and more advertisers are interested in reaching the consumer while they are on-the-go,” she said. “A location-based app is the perfect real estate for local deals and advertisers looking to influence users to perform an action.”

Final Take
Kayla Hutzler, editorial assistant on Luxury Daily, New York

Kayla Hutzler is an editorial assistant on Luxury Daily. Her beats are automotive, consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, financial services, media/publishing, software and technology, telecommunications, travel and hospitality, real estate, retail and sports. Reach her at kayla@napean.com.