Hotel booking technology company Passkey this
month unveiled a mobile version of its hotel booking website for meetings,
which enables the booking of such ancillary hotel services as extended stays, upgraded rooms or discounts at the hotel's spa.
Passkey last May launched the group booking
site and this year optimized it for mobile devices. When integrated into the meetings
registration process, the site—which Passkey called "revenue-maximizing"
for hotels—allows attendees to book hotel rooms within the meeting's contracted
block, and select add-ons. "As they are booking their stay, they are presented,
without any intrusion, with options," explained Sam Fahmy, Passkey's vice president of products and marketing.
"It's a combination of
built-in online tools within the booking process," Fahmy said, "and
email campaigns to supplement that." Through the
site, organizers can send attendees automated emails, reminding them to book
within the room block or suggesting upgrades and add-ons if they didn't choose
any during registration.
The mobile booking website also can be
embedded into a company's Facebook page and other social media outlets. The
site accommodates 10 languages, including English, Spanish and Mandarin, and
all currencies.
Organizers using the platform observed an
average 5 percent increase in both bookings per group and incremental revenue
per booking, according to Passkey.
"For companies, it's really important to contain costs and make
sure that everyone books within that contracted block, and satisfy the contract
between the meeting planner and the hotel," Fahmy said.
Passkey predicts more than 100,000 events
will incorporate the mobile booking site in 2014. The site is available at no
extra cost to Passkey customers or anyone licensing Passkey technology. There's
no additional setup, and each website is rendered automatically for users
depending on their device.
"If the latest stats are any
indication, mobile device popularity and usage is set to increase significantly
over the next few years," Fahmy said, "and we are making investments
to expand our mobile portfolio accordingly."