Shangri-La Launches Multilingual Interactive Mobile Website

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has launched a multilingual mobile website at shangri-la.com which is reported to be the first in the hotel industry that supports smartphone devices in Chinese, English, and Japanese.

The mobile website allows guests to reserve, modify or cancel a booking with real-time availability.In addition, members of Shangri-La's guest recognition program, Golden Circle, can use their profiles for quicker reservations.

Created with simplicity and comprehensiveness in mind, Shangri-La's new mobile website is available in English, Chinese and Japanese and is designed specifically for popular smartphones such as Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Nokia Nseries. Mobile-friendly features include a simple navigation system for easier and faster hotel searches and bookings, a clean and clutter-free design, an enhanced photography presentation, and interactive maps.

According to Michael Leong, the director of corporate e-business at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, mobile devices are increasingly used by travelers to get connected to the Internet on the road and he is confident that the new mobile website will be invaluable to guests who prefer the convenience of a smartphone.

Enhanced photography presentation and interactive maps are also cited as two further firsts for hotel mobile websites. Optimized for the Apple iPhone, users can click on to picture thumbnails to view hotel photographs in full-screen mode, a function that uses the iPhone's accelerometer mode to switch between portrait and landscape orientations. The mobile website also features interactive Google maps that allow users to zoom in to street level details to help find their way to a Shangri-La or Traders hotel. Another design feature is the reduced need for typing while browsing the website, helping users navigate more quickly by avoiding the use of typically unwieldy smartphone virtual keyboards.