As a hotel owner, you probably know that the visibility of your hotel plays an important role when it comes down to the traveler’s choice of a hotel – So you can understand that the visibility of your hotel website is all the more important – As the traveler will probably visit the cartier replica hotel website well before he will visit the hotel itself to make that decision! A US based research conducted in August 2014 finds that 80% of hotel guests booked online, and 52% of them have done so using the hotel website.
In order to turn your hotel website into a major advantage you will need to make sure that your website is properly designed and managed. We have gathered up 7 easy steps to make sure your hotel website becomes your most benefiting asset!
1. Content
Although the design of the website is obviously very important, the content it holds is still what people look for when entering the site. The content of your website should be simple and to the point, and it should also be very easy to find. For example, when a traveler is looking into a room page, all the relevant information about the room should appear at the top of the page (above the fold) while highlighting the important info.
2. Mobile
Researches have shown again and again that the amount of people who are browsing in the web using a mobile device is continuingly rising, as opposed to desktop browsing. Accordingly, your hotel website has got to be optimized for different devices, most importantly to mobile phones. As part of that optimization, you should make sure there are not too many tabs (this would overload the much smaller smartphone screen), and don’t be afraid to have long pages in your site – people are very much familiar with the act of scrolling (see news feeds of Facebook, Twitter…). It is even recommended that you initially design your website for mobile, and then scale it up for desktops.
3. International
Do remember that for most hotels, the majority of the travelers are foreigners who come from outside the country to visit. People tend to feel less intimidated by new places when they are referred to in their own language. This also sends out the message that you understand well enough that different people from different cultures with different needs may come across your hotel, and you are willing to make every effort to answer all their needs so that they would feel comfortable in their stay. Make sure your decisions regarding translations are language based, rather than country based, as people from a few countries may speak the same language (for example, France and Quebec – speak french). Need help with website translation? Simply try Bablic.com – extremely easy to use and we even have a free trial, no credit card required!
4. Searchability
You probably know that when picking a hotel in a certain city or rural area, it will probably come down to “location, location, location”! The same applies to your hotel website’s location in the Google search page. If it will not be positioned high enough, no matter how much work you invest in your site, people will just not see it. Microdata means adding small bits of information about your hotel, which will not necessarily be visible to your users, but will be picked up by search engines and by that improve your page ranking visibility in search. Those bits of information need to be accurate and most importantly true, as Google will display the information next to your website in the search results.
5. Breadcrumbs
To help your users get a better experience in your website you would want to add a little bar at the top of the page, showing the path the user has gone through from the home page to the page he is currently in. That way, users are more likely not to leave your website for lack of information, as many times even though your website holds a lot of information, if it isn’t easy to access, users will not find it. It is also very useful when users got into a certain page in your website through search – when the user is already in your website, you don’t want to lose him because he doesn’t find a way to look for more information in your site.
6. Inside Search
Another way to help your users to easily find what they are looking for in your website is adding in site search. It also eases navigation inside your website, making it more appealing to your users.
7. Booking
It is very important that the booking process will be very easy and quick, as after all, this is the main goal of your website. Mostly you will have two options, API and Iframe. API is more recommended as it is not done by any third party company, and it also lets the user stay in the website during the booking process, which users tend to find more credible. API is also very mobile friendly so you will not have any problems with having your users book using their smartphones.
Keep in mind, most of these tips apply to any small business as well. In today’s world, your website is your most important asset, use it wisely.