SMP Q&A with Christelle Chan, senior marketing director, EMEA & global mobile at Hotels.com

Profiled interview with Christelle Chan, senior marketing director, EMEA & global mobile at Expedia owned Hotels.com on its new Windows 8 app launch

Social Media Portal (SMP): What is your name and what do you do there at Hotels.com?

Christelle Chan (CC): My name is Christelle Chan; I am the senior marketing director, EMEA & global mobile at Hotels.com. In this role, I am responsible for overseeing the global mobile marketing activities for the Hotels.com mobile applications as well as directing all marketing activities for France, Benelux and Southern Europe.
 
SMP: Briefly, tell us about Hotels.com (for those that don?t know), what is it and what does it do?

CC: Hotels.com is a leading online accommodation booking website with almost 200,000 properties around the world.  It ranges from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites and bed and breakfasts, together with all the information needed to book the perfect stay. Travellers can book online or by contacting one of the multilingual call centres. Special apps for mobile phones and tablets can also be downloaded enabling customers to book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals. Through our industry-leading loyalty programme Welcome Rewards, customers can earn a free night for every 10 nights stayed at more than 85,000 hotels, subject to Welcome Rewards terms and conditions, as set out at www.hotels.com.

SMP: How is Expedia linked to Hotels.com?

CC: Hotels.com is part of Expedia Inc., the parent company to a global portfolio of leading consumer travel brands and the largest online travel company in the world. Taken together, the Expedia Inc sites have more than 55 million unique users each month.

SMP: Who is your target audience and why?

CC: Our target audience is basically any independent traveller ? and therefore quite a large demographic. If you are travelling, for work or pleasure, and need a hotel we are there to help.

SMP: Why has a dedicated Windows 8 App been created and what does it do?

CC: For several years, Hotels.com has been focused on mobile as our customers adopt these new platforms, especially when booking travel. Windows 8 is a very interesting OS, which accelerates the switch from the traditional PC to the tablet and mobile world and it made sense for us to develop a specific app to ensure we invest very early in creating a great experience, however a customer chooses to book.


SMP: How long did the Window 8 apps take to create and deliver, and who (other departments and agencies)?

CC: Our Windows 8 app took around six months to develop both the phone and tablet applications. For these, unlike our other apps, our development team worked alongside an external agency for parts of this activity.
 
SMP: What will users be able to access, see and do using the Hotels.com Windows 8 app?

CC: Our Windows 8 app offers the same service as our desktop site. Using the app, you can search, select and book any of the almost 200,000 hotels available on our site, browse more than seven million user reviews as well as find last minute hotel deals close to your location. You can book as a guest or create a Hotels.com account from inside the app - the ?sign in once? feature remembers the email and password, so the user doesn?t have to. There?s a pretty seamless experience moving from the web to mobile since your Hotels.com account is the same. All your booking details are saved in the app and you can access all your hotel information including the map and telephone number without the need for a data connection. You can also manage your Welcome Rewards account.
 
SMP: How do you intend to promote the Windows 8 app to users and how many downloads to you envisage?

CC: Our Windows 8 app is featured alongside all our applications available on our site. For this application, we are not so much looking at volume but more that we are accommodating our customers from another operating system. We expect an adoption rate similar to the device adoption rate on the market.

SMP: What other apps currently exist for Hotels.com and what do they do?

CC: The Hotels.com application is available across a number of platforms such as Android, Samsung, iOS and Windows, all for both tablet and phone.

iPhone

iPad
 
Windows
 
Android
 
SMP: Does the 15 million downloads of apps relate to overall app downloads (why is this audience important to Hotels.com and do you intend to improve what the apps provide for your users)?
 
CC: Yes, 15 million downloads relates to all applications. Our app audience is very important to us, especially as a travel company. Years ago, a small percentage of the population were comfortable buying a book online, then clothes, CDs, groceries, furniture and, of course, travel and accommodation. With smartphone and tablet growth continuing across the world, there is naturally an increase in the number of people booking hotels from mobile devices, especially for anything last minute.
In addition, by focusing on this audience, we can create differentiating functionality and designs for our customers, ensuring our apps are engaging and easy to use.
 
SMP: What were the major challenges in design of the app for Windows 8 and how did you overcome them?

CC: Different apps usually have similar challenges: using the bespoke design principles of the platform and ensuring that we adapt our app to fit these principles, whilst also ensuring our customers have the best possible booking experience.

SMP: What do you see as your biggest challenges and opportunities in terms of mobile platforms at Hotels.com?

CC: There are mostly opportunities in the mobile space for Hotels.com. We have made significant headway but still have a detailed roadmap and are able develop significant differentiators. The biggest challenge is to keep up with a fragmented market, which requires us to make the right bets on where we invest.

SMP: What was the most challenging part of building on the Hotel.com brand presence in digital environments (including social media)?

CC: The most challenging  - and also the most fun - part of building the brand is the complexity of managing not only multiple marketing channels but also adding additional layers, namely web and mobile. Social media is an extra level and it?s important to make sure that brand messages, personalities, relevant content, and of course the latest deals, are shared with our customers through this channel.

SMP: How does this (working with digital channels) tie in do what?s being done with the Hotels.com brand for the mobile channel?

CC: Hotels.com defines mobile as being a platform and therefore each channel is responsible not only for the web but also for mobile. This allows us not to duplicate resources and ensures that the core channel expertise is being used on both web and mobile.
 
SMP: How does social media fit into your plans at Hotels.com ? for example, how are you making the app social and how does this fit into the overall use of your social media channels?

CC: All of our apps and contents are shared via our social media channels. Social media has and will continue to be a key channel for us to reach our customers. This space is evolving and it?s important that we evolve with it. Across all technological developments, we like to consider ourselves on the pioneering end of the spectrum and this is also true for social media.

SMP: With people cutting spending on non-luxury products and services such as holidays, how have you used social media to entice and educate potential holiday goers?

CC: We use our Facebook and Twitter channels, across markets, to engage with our customers. Not only sharing deals, offers and details of sales, but also holiday and travel tips. We are the hotel experts and we like to ensure we pass on our expertise to our customers to help them find the perfect place to stay.

SMP: Best way to contact you?

CC replies with

In the UK:

Twitter @HotelsdotcomUK
Facebook
 
 
SMP: What did you have for breakfast / lunch?

CC: Boring cereal

SMP: What?s the last good thing that you did for someone?

CC: I helped paint an apartment. I am a clumsy painter and have very little patience ? it was interesting.

SMP: If you weren?t working on Hotels.com what would you be doing?

CC: I would own a boat, on a beach, in the sun.

SMP: When and where did you go on your last holiday?

CC: India, at the end of last year ? which reminds me that I need to book my next one

SMP: What?s the best hotel you?ve stayed at so far and why?

CC: Working for a hotel company and loving travel, I have stayed in quite a few hotels, but home is still the best place.
 
SMP: If you were going to open a new hotel, where would it be and why?

CC: Mauritius ? my home country. Sun and sea, who could ask for more?

SMP: What?s the first thing you do when you get into the office of a morning?

CC: A very British tradition I guess, a cup of tea after I switch on my computer.

SMP: If you had a superpower what would it be and why?

CC: Teleportation - physically, rather than through time. My teams would say I am quite obsessed about this, but how cool would it be to live in Mauritius and work in London every day.

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