A website is the first place where guest can look for and find important information relating to your hotel. This information is available at all times and is easily accessible at fingertips to anyone. Moreover the information is presented in an attractive way, which can increase the appeal of the hotel in the eyes of the guests.
Through your website you have the chance of showcasing the beauty and best features of your hotel property which can entice people to visit and stay there. A great hotel Website can be a very powerful tool for creating a strong brand presence online and converting website visitors into paying guests.
The main purpose of a hotel website include:
- Showcasing your property in the best possible light
- Showcasing reviews and testimonials of previous customers
- Providing a platform for guests to communicate with you
- Providing important information to users
- Boosting revenue by encouraging direct online bookings
Features of Good Hotel Website:
- Simple, clean and elegant design
- Mobile responsive
- Easy user navigation
- Simple and convenient online booking
- Easy way for people to contact you through the website
- Nice, attractive and appealing pictures
- SEO optimized
- Contact page with full contact details of the hotel along with precise location instructions and map
Tips for a Great Hotel Website
Since the website is your hotel’s face on the internet, it has to be really good. Do not make the mistake of saving a few bucks by assigning this important task to a cheap designer or unprofessional agency. Here are some tips and points to keep in mind:
Domain Name – A great website begins with a great domain name. Make sure you spend good amount of time to come up with nice domain names which are catchy, easy to remember, easy to type and include your hotel or brand’s name.
Strong Calls to Action – The website is designed for the purpose of making the visitor take some action. This action is either to contact the hotel or book a room. So you have to make sure you facilitate this process for the visitor by providing strong, eye-catching calls to action at various places on the website.
Clearly Visible Contact Details – The contact details should be clearly visible to the site visitors. You can place the phone number, email address at the top, and again in the footer at the bottom. Ideally the website should also have a separate contact page with all the relevant contact details, map and easy contact form.
Prominent Brand Display – The brand name and logo should be displayed clearly and prominently, ideally at the very top. This ensures the visitors can notice the logo immediately once the site loads.
Ease of Navigation – Don’t make the site too crowded and clumsy. Links to important pieces of content should be easily visible. The site visitor should know where to look for whatever information he wants to find. User friendly site navigation is not only good for enhancing user experience, it is also good from SEO perspective.
Simple Yet Pretty – The site design should be simple yet elegant. Don’t put in too many colors or make the site complicated. Simple, clean design ensures that the site loads faster, is easy on the user’s eye and leaves a favorable impression about you and your hotel.
Mobile Friendly – In today’s day and age, each site has to be mobile friendly otherwise you will lose lot of potential customers. A majority of site visitors will check your site through their smartphones or tablets. If the site is not mobile responsive or does not look nice in the mobile view then it can have a negative impact.
Professional Images – Make your site visual. Travelers like visual content, it can perform much better on social media. Visually appealing content has a chance of going viral. Keep the text simple and use keywords for SEO purpose, and use high quality images to attract more eyeballs.
Booking Engine – Having a booking engine is almost become a must-have feature for every hotel. Whether you are a small or a medium hotel you do not have any excuse not to have a booking engine on the website. There are tons of affordable options available using which you can integrate a booking engine without any technical know-how.