Hospitality IT News for VARS

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

In the news this week, McDonald’s launches mobile payment for home delivery in Thailand. In hotel news, mobile compatibility is becoming crucial to continued successful bookings.

McDonald's Launches Mobile Payment For Delivery Service In Thailand

In a press release on March 28, Swiff announced that the global innovator of secure mobile payment technologies has launched a new mobile payment service with AEON Thana Sinsap (Thailand) Public Company and McDonald's for McDelivery 1711. With this new solution, McDelivery 1711 allows their customers to pay by credit card using mobile devices.

Are Your Customer’s Hotel Transactions “Mobile-Compatible”?

A Hospitality.net article looks at ways to determine if your client’s online strategy is up to par in terms of mobile accessibility. Mobile travel bookings are becoming increasingly popular with all demographics. Booking.com recently reported “mobile transactions at Booking.com surged by 260 percent in 2013,” and the percentage of travelers who choose to use mobile channels to book will only increase in coming years. A recent PhoCusWright report shows “mobile travel bookings will more than triple over the next two years, to reach $39.5 billion by 2015; this is about 25 percent of total online travel market.”

Hospitality IT Talking Points

As part of its marketing program to plug its new breakfast menu, Taco Bell recently sent out 1,000 Samsung T404G phones. Mashable.com reports recipients of the phones receive missions to complete for prizes.

Rate parity is one of the biggest challenges in the online bookings, but what hotels often overlook are the other parities that can influence chances of increasing direct bookings. This article from Hotelspeak  looks at four essential parities: rate, content, room, and market.