How can hotel websites adapt to the era of large-screen mobile phones?

No one can escape the growing popularity of mobile devices and their importance to the travel industry. Tablets, smartphones, and hybrid phablets have begun to replace PCs in everything from planning trips to booking hotels and flights. In short, mobile devices are slowly becoming travelers’ personal assistants.

According to the latest eMarketer Digital and Mobile Travel Search and Booking Forecast Report, 2015 will be a decisive year for mobile devices. In 2015, 47% of online travel searches will be completed via mobile devices.

The 13th edition of PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview predicts that mobile travel bookings in the U.S. will reach $39.5 billion by 2015.

In addition to studying changes in how people use mobile devices, we also studied changes in the mobile devices themselves. Smartphones are replacing tablets as the most common mobile device.

According to eMarketer, 9 out of 10 mobile searches will be done on smartphones rather than tablets in the next year.

Adobe's 2014 Mobile Benchmarks Report says that search growth on tablets has stagnated slightly, with travelers preferring to search on larger-screen phones.

In fact, as TechCrunch points out, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus owners still spend more time reading on their phones, even if they own an iPad.

The era of the big screen

Before 2011, almost every mobile phone on the market was between 2.5 inches and 4 inches in size. Since 2013, 4-inch mobile phones have almost disappeared, and now we have entered the era of large-screen mobile phones.

In recent years, the most popular Android phones on the market (including Samsung Galaxy series, HTC One and Nokia Lumia) have increased the size of their screens.

Apple, which once claimed that its 4-inch iPhone 5 screen was "optimal for use," has also compromised with the trend and launched the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone Plus.

These new devices are called phablets, which Oxford Dictionaries defines as "a smartphone with a size between that of a regular smartphone and a tablet computer."

The growing popularity of these devices suggests that larger-screen phones will become more common.

For those who design apps, responsive websites and mobile websites for hotels, this phenomenon needs to be taken seriously.

Due to the popularity of large-screen mobile phones, the design of hotel mobile websites has undergone six major changes:

1. More space means more design options

The first obvious change is that designers will have more design space. Hotels will have more space to display practical information about the hotel, including text and pictures.

Larger screen sizes also mean more design options, and diverse designs will replace similar template designs.

The larger screen allows the design to be displayed without being compressed, and the website will be cleaner and more attractive, which will help customers interact with the hotel.

2. Better visual experience

The larger screen will also have an impact on the visual experience of customers, who will get a more organized and distraction-free experience.

In addition, the increase in screen size will also affect the spacing between links, making links easier to click and giving customers a more practical experience.

Since users will be able to display more content on the screen, hotels will have the opportunity to use the booking engine to display more promotions and additional services.

3. Reduced thumb activity area

According to research by mobile research expert Steve Hoober, people usually hold their phones in one hand and use their thumbs for most operations. Therefore, as the screen size of mobile phones increases, the active area of ​​the thumb that can be used to touch the screen decreases.

In design, this means that basic information about the hotel and the links that the hotelier wants customers to click, such as a "book" button or a promotional link, must be placed within the thumb active area.

Placing important information in this area will make the booking process more engaging because it puts the information at the user’s fingertips.

4. High-quality images

Larger size means higher resolution. High-definition displays give hotel websites the opportunity to display immersive images and multimedia content.

This feature requires hoteliers to double-check the images on their existing websites. Hotel websites with poor image quality will be displayed on larger mobile screens, so it is very important to update the images.

5. Impact on website loading time

Having high-resolution images can improve the quality of your website, but it can also affect loading times, which is one of the main reasons for page bounces. In the hotel industry, whether your website loads quickly can make the difference between a customer booking or not.

Therefore, the images on your hotel mobile website need to strike a balance between quality and loading time, which will definitely pay off in the future.

6. Importance of text messages

Larger screens are more suitable for users who like to read without having to hold their phones close to their eyes or constantly adjust the font size. Tools such as "reading mode" allow websites to switch between plain text and pictures.

Designers designing responsive or mobile-optimized websites need to pay special attention to text so that it is readable on large screens.

in conclusion

The larger screen should not be seen as just a larger version of the previous website. The characteristics of the larger screen phone mean that the website needs to change.

Due to the change in size and resolution, these phones allow hotels to design better websites to engage with their customers.

By making some adjustments to the user experience on larger screen phones, hoteliers can take advantage of new features on these devices, reach more guests, and increase bookings through mobile.

Note: The author of this article is Pedro Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric.

via: traveldaily