Assessing the Visibility of Hotels on Smartphones: A Case Study of Hotels in Hong Kong

Abstract

Although smartphones are gradually becoming the primary Internet access device for travellers to research and purchase hotel accommodations, the readiness of the hotel industry to the mobile consumerism era has not been fully examined. Using hotels in Hong Kong as a case study, this exploratory study assesses the visibility of hotels on smartphones by: (1) examining the visibility of all Hong Kong hotel websites on smartphones using different operating systems; and (2) examining the availability of smartphone apps developed by all Hong Kong hotels in different smartphone application stores. The empirical findings suggest that more than half of Hong Kong hotels have optimised their websites for iOS- and Android-operated smartphones. Nevertheless, only a handful of hotels developed smartphone apps for connecting with customers. The Chi Square test results demonstrate that star rating and brand affiliation are associated with the visibility of hotels on smartphones. Managerial implications are discussed.