It’s because every time I go to a hotel’s website and book, I feel things are transparent and I get a vibe of the place I am going to stay at.

And I am pretty sure, there are a lot of people like me who choose a hotel website over any other platform.

But not every website is effective. And it’s because hoteliers don’t understand what makes a good website. They don’t weigh much on the hotel website features and other requirements. They feel, having a website (without any additional stuff or optimization) is enough to push their sales through the roof.

So, I have decided to put out some indispensable information about the hotel website essentials. And I hope all the hoteliers who are reading this blog implement the tips for a great hotel website.

Why is it Important for Hotels to Have a Website?

Before we jump right to the hotel website tips and essentials, let me address one of the most common queries — Do hotels need a website?

Well, the answer is YES! The importance of hotel website in today’s competitive world is immense. 

People nowadays always turn to the internet, even for the tiniest doubts. And if businesses (irrespective of the domain) aren’t making the most out of it, they are going to lag behind.

A hotel website makes it highly convenient for people to browse and search for the hotel’s information. And without an inch of doubt, it increases the chances of getting more bookings.

But, there’s more to it! Here are some of the benefits of having a website for your hotel:

#1 It’s the trademark of the hotel

A website speaks volumes about a business. And it’s no different for hotels. 

The main motive of a hotel website is to let the guests (even the ones who have never visited your property before) feel the vibe and atmosphere of the property. Be it through the content or images or graphics.

Simply put, it gives your hotel a platform to spread the brand message and connect with your former and potential guests.

#2 It’s a source of communication and information

Your hotel website is also a channel through which people can reach out to you. 

However, when I am saying it’s a communication channel, it’s not just limited to a contact form or an email id or a phone number. 

Furthermore, your website also lets you deliver information to a wider audience. People get to know everything about your property on the website. 

You can deliver information that they might want to know through blogs, PRs, etc. We will talk about these aspects going forward.

#3 Drives direct sales

A website is the best source for driving direct sales or direct bookings. Hands down!

Many people tend to visit a hotel website and make a booking even after checking on an OTA. So, hotels need to double on that.

Not to mention, when you have a booking engine integrated, things get much better. 

Website Statistics You Should Know

Even though I have already stated the benefits of having a website, I want to include some concrete stats. And I am sure these will rest the case.

According to Graffiti9:

• 86% of visitors want to see information about the business’ offerings whenever they land on the homepage.
  (Meaning, you must have a website that contains important & useful information — from your brand story to details about offerings, prices, offers, etc.)
• 64% of website visitors always look for contact information.
  (As I said in the beginning, your website is a channel of communication)
• 52% of visitors also look for the business’ ‘about us’ section.
  (This is a great opportunity to spread your brand message)

Hotel Website Requirements You Must Meet

Now that we have learned about the importance of having a website for a hotel, let’s dive into the essential features of a good hotel website.

Here are some of the important things every hotel website must have:

#1 For Interface

Responsive and mobile-friendly design

According to a report, internet users are increasing at a rate of more than 7 percent (roughly 875,000 new users each day). And guess what, about 92 percent use mobile devices to go online.

So, building a website for your hotel, and writing all the information is just one thing. There are other hotel website requirements as well. You have to ensure that your website is both responsive and mobile-friendly.

When you have such a website in place, its layout changes based on the screen size of the device. It makes sure that the content fits well on the screen, images are optimized, there’s correct spacing, and more.

Great photographs of the property

The next (and one of the most important) thing(s) you should have on your hotel website is intriguing photographs of your property. Upload photos of the different types of rooms you offer, the ambiance, food, amenities etc.

Photographs provide your guests with the first impression of your property. They show people what to expect from the hotels.

Word to the wise: Always put up genuine photos. Do not upload stock images. Why? Because if someone makes a reservation after seeing your photos and the reality turns out to be completely different, then it might take a serious toll on your reputation.

Fast loading time

When it comes to hotel website requirements, load time plays a vital role. Search engines like Google highly consider page load time for ranking. Meaning, that Google shows people sites on search results that take less time to load.

That’s not all. According to a report, 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds of load time.

So, you must invest an ample amount of time and effort in optimizing your website.

#2 For Conversion

Booking engine

Now that you have a website with all the intriguing photos, faster load time, and responsive, it’s time to convert those curious website visitors into satisfied hotel guests.

How? 

You need to have a booking engine in place. An integrated booking engine is one of the crucial hotel website features. It allows website visitors to book directly with your hotel right from the website. Not to mention, it also makes the reservation process a lot smoother.

Lead magnet

If you don’t know what a lead magnet is, it is basically a free item or service that is given away to acquire contact details.

eBooks, newsletters, product trials, etc. are good examples of lead magnets. And it is important that your hotel has this on the website.

Additionally, if a visitor doesn’t book with your property, you can still manage to reach out to him/her and nurture.

#3 For Branding

Social proof or validation

One can never overlook the importance of social proof or validation. Period.

Every time I visit a hotel website, I always check the reviews (or testimonials).

I am being very frank here; I always see the choices of others as a strong indication that a particular offering must be good. If it has worked for them, I feel there are chances it will work for me as well.

So, when you build a website for your hotel, never ignore this aspect. And if you’re wondering how to incorporate this into your website, let me tell you, there’s no rocket science. It could be as simple as a series of customer testimonials displayed on a web page. In no time, you’ll witness first-hand how this influences the buying decisions of your website visitors.

Blog posts

Blogs are one of the underrated hotel website features. Hoteliers must understand that it plays a crucial role in branding. With a blog page on your hotel website, you can start offering value to your former and potential guests, even before they start thinking about booking a room with you.

It gives you the power to expand on topics and attract like-minded people who could also become advocates for your hotel’s brand.

Not to mention, search engines also redirect people to pages that are living and breathing (rather than static ones).

Simply put, it’s about telling a story, delivering information, and fulfilling the needs and wants of those curious folks. This is what good brands do!

If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.

David Brier

Press releases/news/updates

Just like a blog section, your website must have a page for updates. It is a good practice to keep your audience updated with all the happening in your hotel.

For example: Your hotel has partnered with a well-known restaurant that is going to open an in-house restaurant at your hotel. Wouldn’t you want to spread the news to a wider audience? Obviously, yes! This is where such a section comes into the picture.

A page for local tourist attractions

When it comes to branding, you have to go the extra mile and ensure you’re doing everything possible for your existing/potential customers.

And one of the best things you can do is introduce them to your local attractions. Apart from just selling rooms, tell them about all the places they can visit, the activities they can do, the food they can try, etc.

Connect with them at the highest level possible.

#ProTip: When you’re working on your website and putting up all the content, do not forget to work on SEO. We have an in-depth blog on hotel SEO. You can read and master the art of ranking higher on SERPs.

SEO for Hotels: A Complete Guide

#4 For the backend

Tool for SEO

Now that you have learned about SEO, it’s time to get some tools. There are several tools available on the internet that can help you enhance your SEO efforts. Here are some of them:

• Ahrefs
• Google Search Console
• SEMRush
• Ubersuggest
• Google Keyword Planner
• Yoast SEO
• All-in-One SEO

Analytical tools

Another important aspect that you need to consider is monitoring and enhancing your website performance. For that, you need to have certain tools. Here are some of the tools you can consider:

• Google Analytics
• Spring Metrics
• Open Web Analytics
• Facebook pixel
• Kissmetrics

Security

Security is one of the top hotel website features. Period.

No matter what. You cannot compromise your and your guests’ data. Here are some of the steps you must take to ensure website security:

• Add HTTPS and an SSL Certificate
• Use a secure web host
• Record user access and administrative privileges
• Limit login attempts
• Change the default settings of your CMS
• Perform routine backups of your website
• Use a firewall

The post The Must-Have Hotel Website Features Checklist for 2024 appeared first on eZee Absolute.

In fact, 72% of visitors “CAN ACTUALLY” book directly if they get the best deal.

Pebble Design

But this can happen, if and only if you have an attractive and powerful website for your brand. Although I know, there are many do’s and don’ts surrounding this thought.

So to leave them behind, in this blog I’m going to break down all your misconceptions linked to it and guide you on the importance of owning a hotel website.

What are the myths and facts about having a hotel website?

It’s not unusual for people to get the wrong idea about having a brand website. But, my question stands, should it continue to be that way? Shouldn’t the truth be revealed?

Definitely a NO to the first and a BIG YES to the next. Right?!

If you notice, the sudden shift of digitalization has led people to spend more time on the hotel’s website; exploring its beauty, location, and amenities.

On the other hand, the COVID19 pandemic has left everyone to build their bucket list and explore everything on the web; thereby making online presence a pressing priority.

Without further ado, here are the nine crazy beliefs about owning a hotel website that you should stop trusting right away!

Myth #1: Brand websites do not provide any benefits

Nowadays most people search for products and services online. However, it’s untrue to believe that a web presence is essential if and only if you are one of them or sell such things.

Without having an online presence, you wouldn’t be able to represent your business properly; leaving a question mark on your trust factor as well.

A majority of hoteliers still feel websites are just a liability to their business as they are unaware of the importance.

Fact #1: Websites enhance your brand’s online presence

Online presence has become the talk of the town these days and it is no secret that online presence = brand awareness. 

Thus, if you don’t have one, you are definitely left behind by your competitors. 

In fact, most marketing experts agree, how you present your brand online will gain you similar outcomes. 

Creating an online brand presence is about capturing the attention of your targeted audience. And, a website is a driving factor that helps you to do so. 

Being the first point of contact to know more about your hotel; it creates an identity that is bigger than you to engage, acquire, and attract more guests online. 

Myth #2: You do not get any conversions from a website

Hotel owners suffer from a misguided expectation that their website will automatically start attracting visitors the moment it is published. 

Also, some are of the view that it is difficult to gain visitors online, as OTAs have more power and it is tough to compete with them. 

This is because they expect that, since they’ve invested money to build a website, bookings should naturally start flowing in. 

But, it’s not that simple! Marketing for any brand does take time. And, once your website goes live, it’s time you start promoting.

Fact #2: Hotel websites drive direct bookings and generate higher revenue

Every hotel’s goal is to sell more rooms and maximize their profit. Having a stunning website helps you to drive in more visitors to it and eventually turn them into bookers.

The websites created with a website builder solution, often comprise a lot many features namely looker to booker widgets, promotional discounts to highlight, themes, and more.

Making the right use of them and integrating your website to a booking engine makes it even simpler for you to drive more direct bookings and thereby enhance your revenue.

It gives your visitors the freedom to check rooms, availability, and rates on a real-time basis thus allowing them to book their stay directly from your hotel’s websites.

Myth #3: Website requires a lot of maintenance

As a hotel owner, you would want to use your time wisely. And, many have the false opinion that, once their website is built they’d have to invest a lot of time and effort in maintaining it.

Also believing that, they would’ve to regularly check and update its content, photos, videos, as well as nurture its online presence.

All the more, their biggest concern lies in the to and fro to contact the web designer for minor changes and the additional cost that is incurred behind it.

Fact #3: Website creators are easy-to-use and user-friendly 

Nowadays, creating a website and maintaining it is just like a walk in the park. Thanks to the newest technology and the emerging option of DIY (do it yourself).

This means anybody who has little or rather no knowledge about coding can easily manage their website and make updates as required.

The website builder solutions provide you a simple and user-friendly option of drag and drop that requires no added costs, time, and efforts.

It allows you to add or remove any page you wish to on your website, showcase any new offerings, and promote your business in the best possible manner.

TIP: eZee Panorama is one such solution that provides all of these features.

Myth #4: You get poor search engine results 

If you think you can get your website ranked on the first page of the search engine results overnight, then you’re surely fooling yourself. 

Consider your business to be very lucky if you quickly rank as the number one website. Besides, getting a better ranking is just like playing in the stock market.

The traffic patterns are hard to judge and you cannot expect that once you’ve built your website you would naturally rank well and improve your reach without any marketing efforts.

Fact #4: Having a brand website enables stronger organic reach 

Building a strong website definitely has an edge over your competitors as it provides you to acquire better SEO results.

Currently, website makers are offering on-page SEO to help you rank better and improve your brand image. 

However, the organic value of your website will need some time and marketing to pick up the steam.

Besides, it makes your website become more discoverable if you promote and link your social media channels correctly to it.

Myth #5: Custom made websites are better than template websites

Many people are afraid to create a website because they lack the required knowledge and imagination. 

Apart from that, most hoteliers believe, customized websites are expensive and give more value to their business than the pre-designed templates. 

This is because many other businesses might be using the same templates, that won’t help your brand to stand out from your competitors.

They prefer to create a website from scratch believing that customized websites are adaptable to the hotel’s requirements.

Fact #5: Pre-designed templates provide a better look and feel to your website

The reality is, these pre-designed templates are exclusively created by experts who have good knowledge of your business and consider all your requirements.

They make such options available to save your time and energy in designing a completely new website from scratch. 

Templates are the simplest way to get a beautiful website built with a design that perfectly reflects your brand personality.

Website makers provide you various options to choose from and allow you to select or combine any of the templates you wish to.

Not only that, but also they give you a broader idea of what all features your website should include.

Myth #6: Websites are not responsive on all devices

A well-designed website might be visually appealing, but it won’t necessarily account for an increase in sales unless it is responsive on all devices.

Hotel businesses cater to an ample number of customers who could make their booking from any type of device they use.

And, often while they experience low bookings, they blame their website’s unresponsive design. 

They believe the clickable elements which look great on a desktop might not be as appealing on other smaller devices like a phone or a tablet.

Fact #6: They look best on any device and deliver a better visitor experience

At present more than half of the web traffic comes from smartphones. Thus, solution providers ensure to design a website that adapts the layout, content, and design of any device.

This enables your websites to attract and convert more guests online by giving them a delightful experience.

Adding on, these days most software providers give a free demo on how your website would look like on all types of devices such as a desktop, mobile, laptop, and tablet.

Myth #7: No ownership on your website data

Data security has always been a big concern for hoteliers. By creating a beautiful website for the brand, their main question lies upon “Who has the control on my data?”

What if I want to make any updates or remove any information from my website, will I have the power to make such changes? 

And there arises double thoughts on owning a website, believing that they have no ownership on their data information.

Fact #7: You get complete control over your website and data

You don’t necessarily have to worry about your hotel’s data. With the fear of a security breach, most website makers provide an SSL certificate to secure your online information.

Besides, they give you complete ownership of your website and the freedom to perform any edits on your own.

Be rest assured as your content is 100% yours – from the images to the domain, forms, links, and everything in between.

Myth #8: You can’t build a beautiful website without appointing a professional web designer

Often we assume, nothing turns out fruitful unless you invest in it. Likewise, this belief isn’t wrong.

Instead, most small businesses overlook having their own brand website, because of the additional investment of a web designer.

But, considering Fact #5, with pre-designed templates it becomes much easier to create a perfect website for your brand.

On the contrary, 

Fact #8: Website makers design and deliver a perfect website for your brand

Understanding the additional expense of a web designer, most website builder solutions now come with a dedicated web designer all-inclusive in their pricing plans.

They guide you through which templates could look best for your brand, the themes that resonate with it and build a perfect website that your needs.

eZee Panorama is one such solution that completely takes care of all these requirements and ensures to deliver the best website for your brand.

Myth #9: Website builder solutions are expensive than local web designers

Hoteliers commonly believe that website builder solutions include many features and so are more expensive than local designers or web design agencies.

On the other hand, such designers can help you to create and maintain brand identity; but are definitely unaware of your target market as well as the domain knowledge.

To give you a broader idea, here’s a comparison chart on why website builder solutions are better than local web designers.

Fact #9: They provide you various features at an extremely affordable price

It’s just the hype which makes hotel owners believe that purchasing a software incurs more expenses. 

But, the fact stands that, these solutions provide you higher benefits and are exclusively designed as per your brand requirements.

Besides, in reality, website builder solutions are much lighter on your pocket compared to other local designers. 

They are easy-to-go and deliver your hotel’s website within less than a week; covering all your technical aspects as well.

By far, I hope I’ve been able to debunk all your myths on owning a hotel website, although I understand that these might leave a few unanswered questions in your mind.

Let’s get them solved.

FAQs

Conclusion

My personal advice would be to leave all your myths behind and give your brand its own unique identity. 

I know, before making any decision, research is important and you would definitely do that; but do not wait any longer.

Creating an online presence usually takes months or even years to really establish, so better late than never. 

Remember one thing, in the end, all it requires is trust. Trust yourself that you’re making great decisions for your business to walk on the right track.

I hope these facts have tickled your mind. Do let me know how this turned out for you (via comments), and if you need any guidance to understand them better.

It’s time to give your brand, a new face!

The post 9 Biggest Myths and Facts About Owning a Hotel Website appeared first on eZee Absolute.

Well, that’s exactly how urgency tactics work. They are techniques used to create curiosity or scarcity in order to encourage people to take action quickly. 

As a hotel owner, driving bookings on your website is a critical aspect of your business’s success. But with so much competition online, it’s really difficult to persuade website visitors to choose your hotel exclusively.

Don’t worry! We’ve covered everything you need to learn and implement, in this blog. 

Read on to know how to use these tactics to drive more bookings and maximize revenue.

Why using urgency tactics are an effective strategy for hotels?

Urgency tactics are a powerful tool for increasing hotel website conversions. Think about it – we all have busy lives and endless options to choose from when it comes to accommodations. Thus, urgency tactics are mostly used to capture attention and make searchers realize that they could miss out on an incredible experience if they don’t act fast.

Plus, urgency tactics help you stand out from the competition and show your guests that you’ve got something special to offer. These strategies are all designed to create FOMO i.e. Fear Of Missing Out, which encourages lookers to act quickly and secure their reservation. 

Urgency tactics can be in any form, from pop-up messages to countdown timers. They can be triggered by a variety of factors, such as limited-time offers, low stock levels, or high demand. Whatever the form is, it’s all about creating excitement to book with you before they lose the opportunity. 

If this sounds complicated, I am here to help! In this blog, we’ll explore some effective urgency tactics that hoteliers can use to drive more bookings on their hotel websites.

6 Urgency Tactics hotels can use to increase website conversions

1. One-Time Offers

One of the most popular urgency tactics is to offer a limited-time promotion. By setting a deadline for the offer, you create a sense of urgency that encourages customers to act quickly.

You might have seen OTAs using those “Book now and receive 20% off your stay” or “Upgrade to a suite for free if you book within the next 24 hours” on their websites. Undoubtedly, these encourage website visitors to book then and there.

One-time offers are also effective when targeted to specific audiences, such as previous guests or email subscribers. By offering an exclusive one-time offer to these audiences, you can build customer loyalty and encourage repeat bookings.

2. Special Discounts

Let’s say you signed up for a website and it was a 25% discount for first-time buyers. Isn’t that appealing? I mean, who wants to miss this one-time chance? When new searchers visit your website, they may be hesitant to book without some incentive. Offering a special discount for new bookers can encourage them to take action quickly.

Similarly, by using language such as “Summer special price” or “Exclusive offer for new customers,” you can create an immediate need that encourages new bookers to make a purchase before the deal expires.

However, it’s important to ensure that the discounts you offer are sustainable for your business and align with your overall marketing strategy.

3. Countdown Timers

Have you ever had the urge to buy something because of the ‘Deal Ends In 00:02:14 min’ timer? It’s true, we are usually attracted to anything that is visually expressive. A countdown timer is one such visual element that displays the amount of time left before an offer expires, such as a discount or limited-time deal.

You might have seen e-commerce websites using this tactic, as it works really well. Similarly, with countdown timers on your hotel website, you can build excitement among your potential guests.

By showing them exactly how much time is left before an offer expires, you encourage them to take action quickly and make a booking with you.

4. Direct Messaging

Direct messaging or sending notifications to your website visitors or subscribers is always a plus as you can communicate with your potential guests on a more personal level and provide them with a personalized experience. 

One of the ways to use direct messaging as an urgency tactic is to send automated messages to potential guests who have abandoned their booking process.

Using personalized or automated messages, and real-time updates not only increase your website conversion rate but improve your brand loyalty as well.

For example, notifying subscribers about your loyalty programme. Loyalty members might receive exclusive discounts on room rates or complimentary upgrades. This can encourage customers to join the loyalty program in order to receive those benefits.

5. Use powerful words

What impacts the mind of searchers? Influencing words like “quick,” “fast”, ”best price guarantee”, “hurry” and many more. By using these words strategically in your marketing messages, your website visitors will be encouraged to take action quickly, ultimately driving conversions on your hotel website.

You can also use powerful words in your call-to-action (CTA) and encourage potential guests to take action quickly. For example, using CTAs like “Book now” or “Hurry” to encourage a sense of anticipation for potential guests to reserve a room quickly.

6. Low availability alerts

It’s human nature. People are more motivated to act when they perceive something as being in short supply. Notifying your potential guests that – only a few rooms are left or that the room they are interested in is in high demand will make them urge to book with you instantly.

You can display alerts on the website when there are only a limited number of rooms left available for a particular date or at a particular rate. This can stimulate a sense of demand and encourage customers to reserve before the rooms are sold out.

Additionally, you can also encourage your website visitors using popularity notifications such as ‘185 booked this in last 10 days’ or ‘25 people are viewing this right now.’ These can also encourage visitors to book with you promptly.

The post Increase Your Hotel Website Bookings with 6 Powerful Urgency Tactics appeared first on eZee Absolute.

Guests check the website before booking any property. It is one of the vital aspects influencing their decision. 

There is nothing better for any hotel than having an attractive website. And for that, you can invest in a certain website design templates. But with that, it also needs to be business oriented.

The main purpose of a website in the hospitality industry is to increase revenue through channelising direct bookings. But for a better conversion rate, it is very essential to invest in hotel website optimisation.

In this blog, I’m going to guide you through various tricks for hotel website optimisation.

Before beginning, let’s understand:

What is the importance of having a website in the hospitality industry?

Websites play a major role in this era of digitalisation. Expecting a high volume of online bookings without a website is like, waiting for fruits without planting any tree. 

As per stats by sabrehospitality.com,

21% of guests prefer to book via the hotel's website.

This shows, if you don’t have an optimised brand website for your property, you’d tend to lose around 21% of your annual revenue. Needless to say, you can self-estimate the loss incurred.

Hence, to achieve a better inflow of business, you must invest in a brand website.

How to optimise hotel websites for more bookings?

Just having a brand website is not enough. You need to ensure that it achieves its purpose of providing you with maximum bookings. 

Here are 9 easy ways for hotel website optimisation to achieve the desired results.

1. Focus on your hotel website’s design

An unattractive and unorganised website will drive your guests away. Thus, you should check if your hotel website is:

• Visually appealing.
• Easy to use, understand and navigate through.
• Conveys the right message.

To make your website appealing, try to use contrasting elements and themes. It should be eye-catching so that the guests would spend more time on your webpages. 

Do not overfill it with details. Ensure that it is organised and has a sitemap to help guests find the specific information they are looking for. It’s advised to have a decluttered website for ease of understanding and navigation.

So, to increase hotel website conversion rate during optimisation, you should check for white spaces.

In simpler terms, see if your website conveys the right message to the visitors. Ensure you don’t leave them baffled with too much input, just stick to one motive; that is – “Book with us”.

2. Use visuals 

It’s a simple truth, that you believe what you see. So is with the guests. 

High-quality photos are recommended for capturing guests’ attention. Most hoteliers invest in professional photography for this.

If you don't want to burn a hole in your pocket, simply use - ‘Capturing and enhancing process’. 

All you have to do is click some pictures from your smartphone, and use any photo editor to enhance them. But don’t overdo it, just adjust for clarity, sharpness, lighting and contrast.

Here are some of our recommended apps: Adobe Photoshop Express, Google Snapseed and Adobe Lightroom.

You can also use videos describing your hotel and nearby places. Try creating some vlogs (video + blogs) on your hotel’s YouTube channel and get them embedded on your website. 

Due to COVID-19, many hotels are showcasing their safety measures. You can record some small clips such as hotel staff wearing masks and gloves, sanitization of each guest and room before check-in or check-out and so on. 

You can use that video on your website. This will boost visitors’ confidence and eventually turn them into potential guests. It’s recommended to create a separate page to address how your hotel is ensuring maximum safety for guests after pandemic.

Our free COVID-19 website templates might help you here.

Moreover, you can record some small clips such as hotel staff wearing masks and gloves, sanitization of each guest and room before check-in or check-out and so on. 

This will boost visitors’ confidence and eventually turn them into potential guests.

3. Make it mobile-friendly

Generally, people avoid using a laptop or tablet to search for anything in the middle of a journey. Let it be searching for a hotel to stay in, checking reviews, or navigating to the destination, people mostly use smartphones. 

It’s necessary for you to optimise your website for being mobile-friendly. A hotel website with a desktop-only view will not work smoothly on a smartphone.

It’ll have multiple glitches such as irregular display of content, missing action tabs, improper functioning and so on. This will put a negative impression on your guests and hamper your booking flow.

A website optimised for mobile will be convenient to use, easy to navigate through and achieve its purpose of contribution in direct reservation.

4. Integrate with booking engine

What’s the point of having a website that can’t assist you with the bookings? 

Let’s say a guest visits your website and is interested to make a reservation at your property. He searches for a “Book Now” widget but is unable to find one. 

So eventually, he’ll visit any OTA, search for your property, and book a room from there. You end up giving a huge TAC (Travel Agent Commission) from your room revenue. This could’ve been avoided. 

Installation of a booking engine is a MUST. It will help in channelising your revenue flow by increasing your hotel website’s conversion rate.

5. Enable review widget

A review widget is a beneficial tool for hotels. It helps them in showcasing their positive feedback to guests.

Rather than searching for them on other pages, guests will find them on your website itself. You know that reviews do impact guests’ booking decisions.

You can opt for the TripAdvisor review widget. Most hotels prefer going with that. 

Just one or two reviews won’t help, it’s important that you collect enough reviews to promote them correctly on all the channels.

Having a review widget without enough reviews is similar to owning a hotel with zero guests.

6. Use chatbots

What if a visitor on your website has any query? Obviously, he would try to connect with you. But, you might not be available at all times. So, for such scenarios having a chatbot facility available on your website can assist them round the clock. 

It’ll enable you to capture all such leads and assist your guests with their inquiries. Nowadays, artificial intelligence-based virtual assistance guides visitors to book the hotel from the website itself.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas introduced to its guests “Rose – Digital Concierge”. It is an SMS chatbot developed by R/GA, a known technological firm based out in the USA. As per the testimonial shared by the President of ‘The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’,

[Rose’s] playful personality has wooed hotel guests who booked directly into spending 37% more than guests who do not engage with her.

So you see, how having a chatbot installed can pave a way to boost hotel website conversion rate.

7. Develop quality content

Invest in better content. It could be anything from your hotel’s about us section to the description of rooms. Remember, if the content is not written well, it won’t have an essential impact on your guests.

Your content is not only responsible for convincing guests, but it also affects your SEO as it generates traffic for your website. 

Poor quality of content will have flaws such as lack of keywords, readability issues, unclear presentation of details and so on. Get your content written by any professional, as it provides better visibility which directly affects your revenue generation via the website.

Another thing you can do is:

Invest in blogs

I know, it may sound like a cliched thing, but yes blogs are a must-have on your website. I’m not asking you to go gaga over them. Just one blog per week would do good. 

There’s no such limitation to the topics. You can choose whatever subject you like such as local delicacies, famous sightseeings in your area or an event happening in your hotel and many more. 

Before publishing, check if it’s optimised for SEO. You can also put some images and if possible try interlinking them with your website.

8. Call to action on each page

In the hospitality industry, websites are a source of direct bookings. The ‘call to book’ option should always be available on the websites for this.

But having it just on a single page is not enough. Keep a check that all the pages highlighting your hotel’s facilities, room details and services should have this CTA (call to action) button enabled. 

Also, see if the landing page is accurately mapped with the link and is working properly. You never know what will trigger guests’ decision, be it any specific facility your hotel offers or the quality of room in the pictures. 

If focused on this aspect, it’ll help you to boost the hotel website conversion rate.

9. Optimise page loading speed

Nothing is as bad as a slow loading website. If your website’s page loading time is not up to the mark, it’ll not only hamper your guests’ experience but will also drop your search results ranking.

Google has certain algorithms for ranking web pages, and the loading speed is among them. Thus, do keep an eye on the loading speed of your page. If it’s not idle then consider this factor during the hotel website optimisation.

Conclusion

Having a website is not a big deal. But having a result-delivering website is important. For a hotel, it is responsible for making and breaking its image. 

It facilitates bookings as well as attracts your potential guests. It is better to opt for your hotel website optimisation for conversions. And if you’ve not started it doing it now, you know the repercussions.

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