Simple & Effective Tips To Create a Hotel Website

In the fast-growing digital world, being competitive is the need of the hour. A hi-tech and innovative website offers you an opportunity to deliver your target audience professionally and effectively in the market.

 

Today, creating a website for your hotel, motel, inn, or resort is merely not enough; you need to have a perfect hotel website that fits the current standards and includes updated content, or your business will suffer tremendously.


1. Neat & Clean Design

 

Freshness is an essential element of website development. A website holds several inappropriate contents that indulge customers in looking after another website and may attract pogo-sticking on your website. A clean and neat design is crucial to the success of your website.

 

Artistic creation and exciting visuals will impress your visitors, and thoughtfully laid out content that helps users find the pertinent information they seek will lead to higher conversion rates of lookers into bookers.

 

2 out of 3 people prefer to browse through a beautifully designed website instead of a plainly expressed site.

 

Importance_of_Website_Design

 
Effective web design and compelling style will make your website unique and help your business stand out from your competitors. Your website should be all about personalization and finding every possible way to attract a user's attention.

 

2. Advanced Website Security

 

Advance_website_security


To generate a sense of assurance for your traffic on your website, the first and foremost thing is to buy an SSL certificate that allows a sense of security to users surfing your website.

 

Protect your hotel website and your consumers by making your website encrypted end-to-end with HTTPS protocol instead of HTTP.

 

Users expect a secure and private online experience when using a website. Therefore, adopt HTTPS to protect your users' connections to your website, regardless of the content on the site.

 

HTTPS websites load much faster than HTTP sites, and sites with faster speeds are more likely to rank better. However, search engines like Google de-rank websites for not being HTTPS secured. Additionally, guests are increasingly cautious about interacting with hotel websites that are not entirely secure, and you can quickly lose a customer before they even look to book their stay.  
 

Website_Security

 

3. Easy Website Navigation

 

Easy_Website_Navigation

Simple navigation is a critical component of a hotel website that makes it easier for your visitors to find out the piece of information that they are seeking. To avoid customer fatigue, you should consider both site-wide and page navigation. Your users should quickly find the next step that you want them to take in any transaction flows.

 

Seeing various options provide ample ways to reach any page on a site. Placing the right keywords with the appropriate tags allows users to choose whatever means of finding pages is easiest for them. Make sure to create a navigational experience for your user that they can maneuver through your site's content at their own pace with little or no frustration.

 

Give utmost care to the user experience on your site as it is an important ranking factor, and more importantly, it increases bookings.


4. Accessible Contact Number

 

Accessible_Contact_Number


Make it simple and straightforward for users to contact you to enquire about your hotel and rooms. Accessible contact numbers allow mobile users to simply tap on the telephone number to dial and take desired actionable steps. Enhancing User Experience (UX) should always be at the forefront of a successful hotel business strategy.

 

Converting your contact number into a clickable link is an inexpensive way to improve the UX for your mobile users. However, a convenient way to get the query solved is to raise the conversion rate because nobody wants to stand alone on an option when there are so many alternatives.
 

Visitors_Contact_Hotel

 

5. Updated Social Media Account Icons

 

Updated_Social_Media_Icons


How many websites have you been to where you search for social media buttons and can't find them? Here's the answer:
 

  • Social media is all over the web, so it is considered one of the essential parts of a hotel website!
  • Social media is an excellent opportunity to build a strong relationship between you and the masses with just a mouse click.
  • Popular social media accounts will result in more interaction with customers and potential customers. This can naturally lead to increased bookings.

 
Along with creating and inserting social media icons, investing some time in implementing effective hotel social media marketing will undoubtedly bring increased ROI for your business. Regular updates on the social media platform allow getting a better reach of your content to the target audience.

 

Social media does marketing for your product at a minimal cost. It is more like word of mouth to several people at the same time from those who have experienced it already.


6. Types Of Rooms & Amenities

 

Types_of_Rooms_and_Amenities


The most fundamental planning for a hotel involves selecting the perfect guest room, and the same goes for your hotel website design. They account for the bulk of space within a hotel, and a considerable measure of the hotel experience is in the guest room. Put a lot of effort into explaining each room configuration to get a clear idea of their experience and what amenities they can expect to get in each room type.

 

Reveal the features that are distinctive to each room type. The user should understand why every room type is different and unique. Ensure that the color combination of the guest room and hotel, in general, should comply with the website gradients.

 

Make sure the information provided on the page resembles what is available in the room type. For example, provide inclusive photography, virtual tours, and a floor plan to provide the most robust content so a guest can see where they will be staying when visiting your hotel. Such content allows you to meet the online experience with the physical, or real-world, guest experience.


7. Verifiable Testimonials

 

Verifiable_Testimonials


Customer testimonials are what every hotel website should include, which add value and trustworthiness to those exploring your site for the first time. Testimonials also help your brand promote credibility. In addition, they are a fantastic tool to create an emotional appeal for your branding and help convey your overall hotel message.

 

Moreover, a customer's review supports the sense of belongingness for the other members looking forward to visiting the same hotel. This connection helps in generating a positive response.

 

Give your audience what they are searching for with customer testimonials on your website. Testimonials help aid word-of-mouth promotion by boosting trust and encouragement.

 

People_trust_Online_reviews

 

8. Responsive Design

 

Responsive_Design


Only launching a pretty hotel website isn't going to be sufficient for your business; ask this question to yourself being a customer.

 

With an increasing number of mobile and tablet users, you need to have a great-looking responsive hotel website to sustain today's users! Having a responsive design is incredibly important to keep your website updated as per today's SEO standards. People are on their smartphones wherever they go. What if they're looking for a hotel and find your website?

 

BUT

 

Your website is NOT mobile-friendly!

 

A Tacky User Interface that is not mobile-friendly will likely lead to potential customers leaving your website, and exploring your competitors' websites, resulting in increasing your bounce rate. The efforts involved in creating a responsive hotel website are a bit cumbersome, but if done correctly, it will pay off in SEO, user experience, and conversion.

 

Easy to access websites tend to build more customer involvement and increase dwelling time. However, if they see the website or presentation of design not user friendly, they may switch to another website that leads to pogo-sticking.

 

9. High-Quality Photographs And Videos

 

High_Quality_Images


Quality and relevant content are what a hotel website must-have. Adding good quality, highly interactive images on your website keeps your visitors hooked for longer and provides an enhanced User Experience. Also, photography plays a vital role in impressing the customer and building a sense of excitement in the customer's mind.

 

Image SEO

 

Along with having good quality website design elements, optimizing your images to be read by search engine bots is crucial. Since bots cannot understand pictures and videos, you need to include a brief explanation of your photos and videos in the form of proper file names, alt text, descriptions, captions, and image title text.

 

You also need to keep in mind the size of the image file. Page load time is deeply affected by the size of the media on your website. Try to use image formats such as. WEBP to make the optimization even better.

 

It's advised to embed YouTube videos on your website rather than adding them directly.

 

10. Basic SEO

 

SEO


Make sure you implement some basic hotel SEO best practices while setting up your Hotel Website.
 

  • Work on the Meta Title, Meta Description, and H1.
  • Add Alt Text to Images.
  • Work on your website loading speed.
  • Make your website mobile-friendly.
  • Get Listed on Hotel and Hospitality Industry-Specific Sites.
  • Add Social media icons.
  • Proper allocation of KEYWORDS.
  • Relevant content, user-friendly content.
  • Create accounts on Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

 
If you want to stay ahead of the competition and drive more rankings, traffic, and bookings, you should use local SEO strategies. Proper use of SEO techniques can drive you to the traffic of a genuine audience.

 

11. A Clickable Map

 

Clickable_Map


Everyone prefers to travel with the navigation of maps to end up an interruption of false direction guidance. However, attracting and maintaining users' attention is a fundamental challenge in today's business scenario. Users get easily fed up if they are blasted with an overdose of information.

 

Provide a meaningful and engaging user experience with a clickable map that will help users engage and discover what is nearby and how to get to your hotel with ease and interactivity. Suitable map guidance with proper hotel location is a must for customer satisfaction.

 

12. Website Localization

 

Website_Localization


Why is website localization important? Wondering? Alright then, just take a look at the fig. given above:

 

When it comes to essential hotel website features, localization is an important aspect! Adapt your website to the local language and culture in the target market to yield better results. It is a recommendation that you offer language translation and currency conversion functionality to open up your hotel website to wider audiences.

 

13. Integration Of Site Watching Tools

 

Google is a platform that controls several crawlers and is a new website, and it is not easy for Google to locate you instantly. However, the Search Console is a valuable tool that can help you get to the bottom of exactly why your site is performing favorably (or poorly) in organic results.

 

In addition, through Search Console, Google will have access to your content and monitor spam. Being under Google crawler's notice can catch you the highlights and gain a superior position with proper use of other SEO techniques. Your site will also remain clean, and submitting new content to crawl or remove old content is a breeze.

 

Google Analytics allows you to measure the results of individual campaigns in real-time, compare the data to previous periods, and so much more. In addition, it benefits your business by providing you with more insight into the people who visit your website. Both tools used efficiently and effectively can do wonders for the Hotelier.

 

Site_Watching_Tools


14. Fast Site Loading Speed

 

Fast_Loading_Website


When it comes to getting the answers to problems on the internet, we run out of patience. Everyone tries to save the extra second by switching to different websites if they find the server taking time to load. What exactly is 'site speed,' you ask? The term is used to measure how quickly (or slowly) a website responds to a request.

 

Website speed is essential and is one of the 'make-or-break' website performance criteria that should never be taken lightly. Poor loading speed allows users to forgo different websites,  and this issue under Google notice eventually decreases your ranking accordingly on Google search engine.
 

Hard_Facts


Website speed positively affects your traffic, page views, conversions, bookings, and the overall reputation of a hotel website. Additionally, the likes of Google will penalize your website in search results ranking if your site speed is slow.
 

GTMetrix

 

15. Mobile-Friendliness

 


According to a study by Statcounter, it is found that mobile and tablet traffic has overtaken desktop traffic since October 2016. This is because every household and primarily every adult member has access to mobile phones. Moreover, they access websites on mobile for every solution since switching to desktop/laptop is a lazy task.

 

Need we say more?

 

In today's mobile-savvy generation, it is crucial to design your hotel website to be mobile-friendly. Mobile-friendly web design provides an excellent user experience as well! After Google's mobile-friendly algorithm update in 2015, if your hotel website is not correctly optimized for mobile use, it is bound to lose page ranking (and happy visitors at the same time!).

 

Implementing mobile-friendly content and elements will make your hotel website easy to use, thus keeping visitors engaged with your website for a more extended period.
 

Mobile_Friendliness

 

16. WCAG 2.0 Website Compliance

 

WCAG 2.0


In 2008, WCAG 2.0, or the most widely entrusted Website Content Accessibility Guidelines, stated that all web pages should be "perceivable," "operable," "understandable," and "robust."

 

It is better to make your website compliant by following WCAG guidelines to avoid accessibility lawsuits and government actions. Assuring that your hotel website is coded to be conforming with WCAG 2.0 will also provide equal opportunity for individuals with a disability to enjoy your goods or services.

 

Because hotel website design best practices change frequently, it's essential to evaluate your website periodically and fix if anything is lacking from the overall design and implementation of the latest web technologies and standards. The design tips discussed above will undoubtedly lead to higher-quality traffic and more online revenue following the hotel website.

 

17. Active Website

 

Active_website

 

It is essential to have an updated website when you are performing your business on digital platforms since every competitor is in the queue to gain a superior position. The no. 1 position holder is trying to make an impact through their updated content regularly. An active website always drives much traffic and gains terrific reach.

 

Content is king; we all know this, but the relevance of the content is a must. Google cannot appraise content that is not according to the website and brand offering. 

 

Conclusion


Digital platforms have been proved to be the most robust platform in this era. Every problem has its solution on search engines. Being updated tech-savvy is the need of the hour. You cannot switch the technology off, and interestingly technology has terrific options for everyone's needs; no one is bored with the options available.

 

The more effective and updated options stay one step ahead in winning customer support in every business. With the rising competition, digital trends can fetch you the desired business opportunity at your fingertips. Still, the procedure needs to be followed, it is as simple as driving a car like you cannot shift directly to fifth gear from neutral, or you cannot master writing paragraphs without knowing the correct usage of alphabets.

 

So the initial step in digital media is to have social reach with an adequately organized and user-friendly website, that is, your online shop where your target audience would visit and gives you the business you are working for in the long run.

 

INNsight is known for its hospitality digital marketing and property management software that are all-inclusive systems that simplify and automate your hospitality business operations. INNsight drives a hotel's digital marketing to increase direct bookings, expand margins, and drive top-line revenue growth.

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