Guoman and Thistle Hotels have launched mobile-optimized sites, allowing travellers on-the-go to search and book hotel rooms from their mobile phones. The two mobile sites launched in May and have already seen a 25% increase in visits.
Both sites feature a slick design with HTML5 capabilities – specifically tailored for the best mobile browsing experience – making the site very easy to use and quick to navigate. They were both created by Usablenet.
Features of the two sites include the ability to book a room on any of Thistle’s 32 hotels and Guoman’s 5 destination properties from any web-enabled mobile device. Calendar overlays make it easy to choose dates from a calendar without loading extra pages. Users can also find special offers on accommodations, dining, or meetings and events. Search by city, hotel, or type of offer, and easily book from your mobile.
Viewing property images is highly important to travelers deciding where to stay and the mobile sites feature scrolling image carousels of the hotel properties, rooms and facilities, aiding users in their decision when booking hotels or meeting rooms.
The sites also allow the entire collection of hotels under the Guoman and Thistle group to be viewed, or users can use the Find Hotels Near Me feature that utilizes geo-location services. Those that have booked already can easily view and cancel existing reservations from the phone.
“The mobile channel has become an important travel planning and booking channel worldwide, especially for local and last minute searches. It was very important for us to have a mobile site that reflects our brand and provides the best experience for our customers with rich-media content and videos. We partnered with Usablenet to create a mobile site that caters to the traveler’s needs and understands what their user journey would be when accessing our websites via mobile phones,“ says Mithu Sengupta, eCommerce Director from Guoman and Thistle Hotels. “We are very happy with the response we had from our customers who have been on our mobile site and who have stated that we have provided them a seamless transition between mobile, tablets and desktops to effectively assist them in their travel plans.”
“Thistle and Guoman were very committed to providing the best user experience for their customers. Whether you’re a business traveler or a leisure traveler, customers can easily view and book rooms, and manage their hotel reservations easily via the mobile site,” adds Nick Taylor, CEO of Usablenet. “With the rapid growth of travel bookings via mobile increasing each year, they understand the importance of the mobile channel and are proving to be true leaders in the space.”
The Usablenet platform powers several mobile sites in the UK including Tesco, British Airways, JD Sports, O2, and Marks & Spencer.
