Mobile advertising

Zagat’s launch of zagat.mobi, the mobile, ad-supported version of its reputed reviews site is in tune with recent trends which reflect a more positive outlook for mobile advertising. The handheld zagat.com aims to be a convenient resource on hotels, restaurants and nightlife along with links and listings.

A recent report on hospitality trends by Jason Price & Max Starkov also mentioned mobile advertising as a promising avenue in the coming years as the handheld becomes a ubiquitous device in US households (70% with atleast 1 mobile subscriber). Companies are still figuring out effective ways to market an offer through a cellphone and mobile advertising pioneers are still experimenting with adformats to monetize “content”. The travel industry has more to benefit from this trend than others – using a web-enabled cellphone to look up hotels, maps and directions seems like a natural thing to do and travelers are less likely to be irritated by offers from companies sponsoring useful info like weather alerts, hotel reviews & local events. Mobile advertising is bound to take off as soon as technology delivers the handheld web as smoothly as the Blackberry delivers corporate email.

Published by

Vijay Dandapani

Co-founder and president of a New York based hotel company for 24 years. Grew the firm to five hotels in Manhattan and also developed a greenfield project at MacArthur airport, New York. Speaker at numerous prestigious forums including Economy Hotels World Asia, Lodging Conference, NYU, Columbia University Real Estate Roundtable, Baruch College's Zicklin School and ALIS. President and ceo of New York City Hotel Association since January 2017.