How a hotel website should be focused on getting visitors and converting them into bookings.
One of the most repeated demands in recent times: more direct sales, less commissions. It is clear that this aspect is of particular concern to hoteliers and one of the aspects that can be easily improved that can help in this increase is, without a doubt, your hotel's website.
A hotel has two types of images with which it presents itself to its clients. Its facilities, the reception, the rooms, its decoration, the building where it is located, the location, its views... In other words, its physical and real image when we visit it. And a second image, the digital one, the one that inhabits the www, its website. We must never forget the importance of this second (or first, depending on how you look at it) and in the same way that we are renovating the facilities of our hotel, updating its decoration, changing the furniture that has gone out of fashion... we must also always bear in mind that our website must always be up to date.
The image of a hotel is what you see when you stay in it, but also what your website transmits. Take care of its decoration and facilities while providing your website with professional photos and an updated design.
This point is no less important for being obvious. So if you don't have one of our website options or it's been a while since you've updated it, check out our list of things a hotel website should have in order to convert:
Design: put yourself in the hands of a professional to have a website with an updated design, good images and texts that seduce your future guests. At GuestPro we are specialists and we have a team in charge of hotel website development that offers you the most optimised designs for your type of business.
Usability: take into account a simple navigation that facilitates the user to have the basic information of the hotel and that invites to book.
Booking engine: highly visible on the website, easy to use, integrated with our PMS. Avoid opening a new page or forwarding the management to a new subdomain. Keep the user on your website to give them security, save time and build trust.
Responsive: keep in mind that more and more visits to the web are made through mobile devices, so it must be 100% responsive, mobile first.
Personalisation: take into account your customer's profile to offer them a personalised experience. In this sense, the information you have about your guests in the CRM will allow you to go further when they revisit your website. Loyalty clubs, specific offers according to the customer profile (if they have used the spa facilities, send them an email with a discount for this service, for example).
Own code: the same on the web, engine and PMS, which allows you to integrate the entire purchasing and management process. In addition, it favours customer tracking from the moment they search for the hotel with marketing campaigns (GA, GHA, FA), make the reservation at the hotel and check-in at the PMS.
Content manager: have your own CRM that gives flexibility to the hotel to manage changes in your website; for example, update photos or texts without going through third parties. At GuestPro we offer our WebKit to manage these types of modifications, which makes these tasks more flexible and reduces costs.
Connectivity: having a connection with Google Hotel Ads to position the hotel in one of the most important direct sales channels.
Discount codes: offer advantages for booking from the hotel website, minimum rate guarantee or exclusive discount codes for the website.
Integrations, loyalty, connections, personalisation, usability, online reputation, branded content... You will have to take into account all these aspects to have a website focused on conversion.
Specific offers according to dates: always keep in mind the calendar with those magical dates that will increase bookings. Special packs for a romantic night on Valentine's Day, scary family night for Halloween... this type of specific offers only available on your website will help you to increase direct sales.
Online reputation: the hotel website should be used to work on your online reputation. At GuestPro we are experts in positioning the name of the hotel to optimise its search. We also recommend creating branded content to reinforce the brand, in this sense we have a blog tool to create posts related to the hotel such as experiences, the environment and the culture that surrounds it, sustainability, etc. Finally, it is essential to pay attention to customer comments and ratings, both positive and negative, and always respond to them in a constructive manner.
Integrations: to build loyalty through gift cards or discount vouchers, chatbots to communicate directly with the customer, analysis tools, customer ratings, etc. We have a wide range of options to optimise and get the most out of a hotel's website.
If you still don't have a website for your hotel with these features, let us advise you at GuestPro, request an appointment here. If you have a good website, you have already taken the first step to increase your direct bookings. Now it's time to add marketing strategies, work on revenue management, boost social networks to attract traffic... you will also increase sales to avoid commissions. But that's another story...
