Industry: Consumer Services
Area of Focus: Product development & refinement
Target: Consumers
Method: Online focus groups & online survey

Background: A global lodging company wanted to assess interest in functional and mobile-enabled enhancements for their app in order to improve the guest experience and retain customers. Element conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies to better understand prospective guests’ interest in the mobile technology enhancements. The two-phase process allowed for both initial exploration and subsequent validation of ideas given the early life stage and fast-growing state of mobile applications in hotel and other travel-related environments.

Business Questions: How often are hotel apps used, for what specific activities/information, and which potential enhancements are seen as the highest priorities?

Approach: Six online focus groups conducted with moderate to heavy app and/or mobile site users. Online survey conducted among 1,000 hotel guests.

Outcome: Results from the study identified the top features that should be present in the enhanced mobile app to optimize guest usage while minimizing development time and costs.