The Most Popular Features in Hotel Apps

A hotel guest app presents many opportunities to offer guests a great guest experience. As there are many different features and types of content that can be added to a guest app, we have decided to look at the data to see which features are the most used by hotel guests. We have analysed the statistics of our most successful hotel apps to see which pages were visited and used the most. This gives a solid idea of what type of content your guests will expect to see in your guest app.

1 – How-to Guides

Perhaps unsurprisingly, how-to guides (and other variations) performed the best in terms of user visits. It is easy to understand why. After they check in, guests will want to use the appliances or other services provided. Having the information on how to do so directly on their mobile devices helps tremendously. Nobody really wants to phone reception to figure out how the air conditioning works. Quick video guides or simple written instructions will do wonders in making your guests stay stress-free.

2 – Local Recommendations

Recommendations came at a very close second place. Many hotels have several features for the types of recommendations (food and drinks, activities, Places to see etc.). As they are all local recommendations providing information regarding the best places and things to do, we have regrouped them in one category for this analysis.

Guests increasingly want to live like locals and of course, want to enjoy the best there is to do and see. With a guest app, they have access to information at all times, even when they are out and about, which makes this feature incredibly valuable, as they will be able to use the GPS from the app and check your recommendations. Slightly easier than having to carry a guest directory or write every address down!

3 – Guest info/Welcome

With apps, automation and technology in general, many companies are afraid that they might lose this personal touch that makes them different. After all, if guests want to have the information they need available quickly and easily, they also want to experience this personal touch and feel like they are communicating with humans.

This feature generally helps to do that. Not only does it give them the information they need for their arrival and stay, it also offers a warm and personal welcome from the hotel staff, conveying the values and how the guest experience is important to them.

Honourable Mentions

While they are not on the podium, these features performed extremely well:

Wi-Fi Password: Many guests will expect a decent Wi-Fi connection and will want to log in soon after checking in. All our hotel apps contain information on how to connect to the Wi-Fi, it has become a standard. It could be argued that it probably does not top the list because guests will likely use this feature once to get connected, while they will use most other features several times.

Direct Booking/Additional Services: A hotel booking engine can easily be connected to a guest app. Including an online booking feature, either to allow guest to book direct or extend their stay from the app or to order additional services (food, spa, dining etc.) is a great idea to encourage them to book. This feature ranked high on our list of the most visited features, so it is definitely an opportunity hotels should take when building their guest app.

Push Notifications: Most hotels use this feature for special offers or reminders. Guests receive a notification on their phone and it is a great way to engage with them and encourage them to come back to the app.

Transport/Getting Around: For most visitors, having to deal with transports can be stressful. After all, they are not familiar with them or the area. Most hotels provide information about local transports in their apps with useful links to book or buy tickets, instructions on the best ways to get around.

Images/Gallery: A lot of hotels include image galleries of the rooms, reception and other parts of the accommodation and this feature has overall been successful.