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Hotels.com Launches iPhone Application
Hotels.com is announcing the launch of their iPhone (and iPod Touch) application today. The application lets you view information for properties worldwide, check availability and book hotels, view existing hotel reservations through hotels.com and get in contact with customer service with any issues.
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Is it a basic application? Sure. But could it drive new sales? Yes. In fact, I could see meeting a friend to plan a trip and using this iPhone application to search for a hotel.
The flipside is that you could still browse any of the other travel sites via the Web browser built into the iPhone. But I guess the benefit here is that the application is built specifically for the iPhone. And WHY isn’t the link to the application on the hotels.com home page? The release points you to Apple for installation but c’mon, add it to the home page!
As the iPhone grows in popularity, we will see more iPhone applications being created. The cost is low but the ability to capture potentially a new bit of market share is great.
“Special” applications for the iPhone are great.
1) Right now, they serve as a marketing tool. What easier parade to jump in front of than the iPhone? It’s hot, remember?
2) You build your product, application, website, whatever around an experience for the customer. If the customer wants to browse your website through their iPhone, don’t you want them to have a great experience?
3) Vacations are often thought of on a whim. Have you ever decided to go to Vegas while out at a restaurant with your wife? What better way to show your commitment to the vacation than to book your hotel right then and there. :)
Ok, so maybe the last one was stretching it a bit. But surely you can see my points.
It doesn’t bother me, but it is ironic that the iPhone touted itself as having a true web browser and yet now has so many custom sites for it. But hey, if it gets more hotels.com customers because the iPhone users think it’s some kind of special application, good for them.