Hyatt Hotels is giving guests a way to create and share digital as well as print postcards via a new mobile application called The Canvas Art of Living Postcard app.

The app was designed to support the Canvas Wine brand developed for the hotel chain by Folio Fine Wine Partners. Users can customer their own digital postcard which can be shared instantly via email, text or Facebook.

?Travelers could use Apps to engage with friends while traveling, especially if there is important information involved and there is a need for caching data,? said Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis, Atlanta .

?As mobile expands globally and the issue of being caught in a place without connections becomes less likely the mix between Apps and mobile web will even out and start to lean more towards mobile web for cross platform performance,? she said.

?Mobile is the communication mechanism of the future for travelers, thus this will continue to trend up.?

Keeping in touch
In addition to digital postcards, iPhone users can also pay $1.99 to have their postcard printed and mailed to friends.

Users can select from among several postcard designs inspired by Canvas Wines, upload a photo from their smartphone or take a new one, create a personalized headline and message and then send the card.

Hyatt is making guests aware of the app via QR codes on drink coasters in restaurants, bars and lounges at the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt Place and Hyatt House in the United States and the Caribbean. Users who scan the QR code are directed to the Canvas Wines Web site where the free app is available to download.

?QR codes are a good way to drive app downloads as long as there is a thoughtful content management process with the landing pages, marketing efforts and campaigns,? Ms. Troutman said.

The app is available for iPhone and Android.

Bridging digital, print
Other marketers are also using mobile apps to make it easy for users to stay in touch with family and friends via digital and/or print postcards.

For example, snack brand Popchips is helping members of the military stay in touch with family during the holidays via a mobile promotion in 460 Army and Air Force Exchange Service locations. For the Share the Love campaign, military members are being provided promotional codes that, when used in the Postcard on the Run app, enable them to send two free personalized postcards anywhere in the world.

Hyatt Hotels developed the Canvas Wine series as well as the mobile app together with Folio Fine Wines. The line of wines includes several different types of wines, with the newest addition to lineup being a pinot noir that will be introduced in the spring.

?This strategy makes sense because it is a wine brand, with consumers staying at the Hyatt, especially loyalty consumers, the wine brand will be supported - having an app available for consumers to learn more about the winery supported is helpful,? Ms. Troutman said.

?A full mobile strategy behind the wines including app, mobile web, social etc would also be effective,? she said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York