Hotels.com has integrated a “mobile butler” into its application experience that offers a number of features courtesy of partnerships with OpenTable, Uber, delivery.com and Groupon.
Available on iOS, Hotels.com Concierge is like having a local expert in the palm of your hand, according to the company, offering fast access to services such as transportation through Uber; on-demand food delivery through delivery.com; restaurant reservations through OpenTable; and activities through Groupon, with ticketing also coming soon.
The concierge is powered by Button, a contextual commerce platform that connects consumers to the products or services they need at the touch of a button, leveraging the extensive range of partners in the Button Marketplace. Button's technology makes it possible for users to seamlessly request and receive their favorite products and services on mobile through the Hotels.com Concierge.
For Hotels.com customers, all available local services will appear in the app on the day their hotel stay begins, leveraging key location data, such as the customer's hotel address, to make the process of enhancing their stay with complementary services seamless and intuitive. Everything you need for the perfect trip is right there all in one place.
"When traveling I'd love a service where I can make a request from my mobile for someone to come and iron my shirts! While our app isn't quite at that stage yet, we are amongst the first to develop a full concierge service that's a one-stop-shop for travelers' local needs," said Daniel Craig, senior director of mobile at Hotels.com brand. "Mobile is changing the way people travel, and at the forefront of that we're constantly innovating and investing in mobile, to offer more than just hotel bookings. We want to make our customers lives easier before, during and after their trip."
According to Mobile Commerce Daily, Hotels.com also conducted a poll that provided key statistics on how to best implement its new mobile concierge feature. The brand found that 46 percent of travelers would happily use a mobile concierge service with requests such as restaurant reservations (62 percent), directions (51 percent) and tickets to tourist attractions (48 percent) topping the list of what they would ask for.
The survey also returned the results for a number of droll questions, which include the 25 percent of respondents who wished for a barista to make their morning coffee, the 17 percent who wanted someone to come and do their ironing and the 12 percent who wanted a person to come and read them a bedtime story.
"The travel industry has always been powered by links – whether that is meta search linking to carriers or hotels or linking consumers to complementary experiences around their travel plans," said Michael Jaconi, CEO and founder at Button. "Today, Button is thrilled to launch the first mobile linking solution for the travel industry in partnership with Hotels.com, and now with Button, those same opportunities can be pursued in mobile. The innovators at Hotels.com have shown how Button's technology can be used to enhance people's travel – and we're thrilled to be playing such an integral part in their fastest growing booking channel."