Question

Topic: Social Media

Get Own App?

Posted by Anonymous on 10/22/2011 at 7:07 AM ET 250 Points
Should I get my own app for my bed & breakfast? What other ways are there to get my B&B into the mobile world?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 10/22/2011 at 10:54 AM Accepted
    Before you go down this road, ask yourself what is it that users of your app will get out of their B&B app experience.

    Also ask yourself just because YOU want to produce an app, does it, logically speaking, mean that there's either a demand or a need for a B&B app? Unless of course, your app shows people where to find ALL the B&Bs in any given area.

    This then raises ANOTHER question: why should people pick your B&B above all others?
  • Posted on 10/22/2011 at 1:02 PM Accepted
    Why do you want to get your B&B into the mobile world? What's the objective of creating an app? Why not just a mobile-friendly website, or a redirect to a mobile website? What are you trying to accomplish?

    You are always better served to start with the end in mind, rather than chase a solution and hope that it will solve some [ill-defined] problem.
  • Posted on 10/24/2011 at 12:37 PM Accepted
    The value of a mobile app (vs. a mobile-friendly website) is the ability to push messages out to consumers via pop-up alerts on their phones. For this to be a valuable function, however, you have to get enough consumers to download your app to make it worthwhile. Consumers are getting flooded by so many mobile apps that they probably won't want to waste valuable memory space on their phones with another app that's specific to just one property. And even if they do download your app, they could find the pop-up message alerts to be obnoxious if done too frequently.

    Instead of launching a mobile app, I would recommend becoming part of the mobile apps that the top online travel agencies (Expedia, Travelocity, etc.) already offer. Additionally, make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. If you're interested in doing push marketing to past guests, then look into a robust email marketing or text messaging program.

    Good luck!
  • Posted on 10/27/2011 at 1:19 PM Author
    Thanks, White.Christina for the very wise answer.

    We're seeing incrediblble changes at the grass roots level in the way people consume (including b&b's). Our interest in mobile began after I was browsing around the other day and saw this video from Google:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmxwxBRqcyc&feature=related

    Your suggestion to join the big travel apps is great. And getting our website looking good on mobile phones is our next step after that. And maybe we'll even look into some kind of email/text message marketing (eventually).

    Thanks again and to Marketing Profs as well.
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