Website designs for hotels do differ. Your hotel website can be designed in a variety of ways. Creating an appealing hotel website might be difficult, especially if you lack experience. You undoubtedly want the most visitors possible to your hotel’s website. But what components, advice, and techniques should you apply to reach that goal?
Let’s look at some hotel website features that your website should have in order to draw in more visitors and explore the significance of web design for the hospitality sector.
Consumers use the Internet for everything in this digital age. The number of guests phoning your hotel to make reservations depended mostly on word-of-mouth, billboards, and print advertising. But nowadays, it’s much more common to see prospective visitors using search engines, internet reviews, and hotel websites to make thoughtful decisions about where they’ll be staying.
You can ensure that you are reaching potential guests at the appropriate time by having a website for your hotel—more particularly, an appealing, well-designed, and easy-to-use website for your hotel.
With a website, you can be found in search engine results, give visitors the information they need, and simplify the reservation process.
Additionally, the website for your hotel serves as the “face” of your “brand” because it is frequently the first point of contact a prospective visitor has with you. It implies that your website should reflect everything you stand for, whether it be first-rate service, cosy accommodations, or a prime location.
It should also be professional, include photos and information about your amenities, and be easy to navigate.
What Are The “Must Have” Features Your Hotel Website Needs?
Let’s look at some of the top hotel websites features you need to know about. These elements and features are “must-haves” that your website cannot do without if your goal is to increase the number of guests who find your hotel online.
They will also help you increase the rate at which website visitors become confirmed guests.
Clean and Organised Layout
An organised, clean, and simple website for a hotel is one of its most essential features. If customers can’t find what they’re looking for on your site, they will swiftly depart for a competitor’s. Your website must be simple to use and navigate.
Consider what information visitors to your hotel website want to see. You should start by including links to the most appealing pages in your navigation, such as “book a stay,” “amenities,” “photos,” “location,” and “contact us.” Your homepage should also “sell” potential guests on why they should stay with you and provide links to these sites.
Keep in mind that the website for your hotel should be clean, simple, straightforward, and quick to explore for information. Try to limit the number of pages in your navigation to only those that are absolutely necessary. Avoid placing paragraphs of text on any particular page unless photos separate them.
You should work hard to balance providing the information that potential guests need to know and the ones overwhelming them. Distractions and clutter can prevent visitors from reaching your reservation page, which is your ultimate goal.
Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Design
Is the website for your hotel optimised for use on tablets and mobile devices? If not, you can miss out on reservations. A website that necessitates pinch-zooming or extensive scrolling may turn away customers who regularly use smartphones to search and reserve hotel stays.
The ideal method to make a hotel website that works well and looks well on all devices, regardless of screen size, is to use a responsive design. Responsive design’s fundamental tenet is that it automatically adjusts website content to match the screen being viewed, regardless of how big or small it is.
Thanks to responsive design, your hotel’s website will be easy to view, explore, and use for reservations on all devices. By itself, responsive design can significantly enhance your outcomes and increase the conversion rate of users conducting smartphone hotel research.
Convenient and Functional Reservation System
Does your hotel have an online reservation system? If not, then you should consider getting one now. Customers now anticipate the ease of doing their own internet research and booking. Therefore if your hotel still requires a phone call to make a reservation, you may suffer from low returns.
You may link hotel reservation software and management systems with your website to allow visitors to make their own reservations online. A few of these systems can also be configured to integrate with Google searches, allowing people looking for a hotel in a certain location to see your hotel’s availability directly in their search results.
Customers want to quickly browse available rooms online and make reservations without having to pick up the phone. You may boost your chances of being the hotel customer choosing for their subsequent visit by making this procedure as simple and convenient as you can.
Visible Reviews and Feedback From Guests
Although the website for your hotel should appear professional and function well on mobile devices, this isn’t the only factor that counts when trying to draw visitors. Reading customer reviews and feedback from people who have previously stayed with you is a significant component of the research process. Many customers will inevitably go to other websites to do this, but by including the reviews there, you can keep them on your site.
Reviews are an example of social proof, which is persuading proof from other people that can convince a consumer to perform a particular action. It is more likely that a guest will choose to stay with you if you have more favourable reviews. They might not have enough justification to book a stay at your hotel if you have no ratings.
Clear and Easily Accessible Contact Information
Clear and straightforward contact information is vital to your hotel’s website design. You might be thinking, “Why would they need to contact us if they can manage everything themselves?” Your contact information is very important, especially if guests have already arranged stays with you online.
Things happen, and visitors will need to contact you. If they can’t find your phone number, contact form, or email address immediately, they’ll be irritated before they even begin speaking with you. Make sure your phone number is prominently displayed on your webpage, including a simple contact form, and consider using social media to engage with customers.
Despite being a little point, this is one of the most crucial aspects of your hotel’s website. Don’t forget to provide visitors with a way to contact you while creating a stunning, useful website.
Fast Loading Time
Load time is crucial when determining the criteria for hotel websites. Page load time has a major role in search engine rankings, including Google. In other words, Google prioritises quick-loading websites when displaying search results to users.
Not only that. Research claims that 40% of visitors will leave a website when it takes longer than three seconds to load.
Therefore, you must invest a good deal of time and energy in optimising your website.
High-Quality Brand Photography
reputable brand When you represent a hotel brand, photography is crucial. Your photography allows you to showcase your company in the greatest light and demonstrate to your consumers what they are paying for. Additionally, it makes you stand out and offers your website an edge over the competition. One of your most valuable marketing resources, without question.
Blog Post with Quality Content
One of the underrated benefits of hotel websites is blogs. Hoteliers need to recognise how important branding is to their business. You may start providing value to past and potential guests of your hotel with a blog page on its website even before they consider making a reservation.
It allows you to elaborate on subjects and draw like-minded individuals who may serve as brand ambassadors for your hotel.
Not to mention, search engines also route users to dynamically updated content (rather than static ones).
To put it simply, it’s about providing knowledge, telling a story, and meeting the interests and desires of those people who are curious. It’s what reputable brands do!
Built-In SEO Functionality
Some elements of search engine optimisation must be integrated, regardless of whether you’re utilising a website builder or have a fully-developed and custom-designed website.
Your actual content is a major factor in most hotel SEO. However, certain events also take place “behind the scenes.”
Ensure that your content management system (CMS) includes places where you may enter at least the following information:
- Page URL
- Page Title
- Meta Descriptions
Most hotel websites are built using WordPress, and Yoast is one of its most well-liked SEO plug-ins. The majority of reliable SEO agencies, including TopRankings, use this combination.
However, Yoast doesn’t perform the job for you. By asking you to check off every step involved in page optimisation, Yoast merely provides the necessary fields (and minimal advice).
It resembles having an SEO checklist integrated directly into the back end of your website.
To optimise your hotel website for search, however, you do not need to include a sophisticated plug-in. All you need to do is understand the places indicated above and know where to look for them in your CMS.
Work With A Reliable Hotel Website Design Agency Today!
We can assist you if you’re having trouble designing a website that encourages your visitors to book a stay at your hotel. The leading hotel website design agency, Digital Rescue, has the skills and expertise required to enhance your site and get the desired outcomes significantly.
Contact us to find out how Digital Rescue can help you get more guests from your hotel website. Let’s position your brand for unlimited growth and lead generation. We’ll be pleased to put together a website design proposal. Our web design agency in Melbourne will look forward to hearing from you!
