Your hotel website is a crucial pillar of your revenue and profitability. Whether you stay independent or have a hotel brand powering your distribution, a dedicated website is always the best investment you can make in securing a revenue future for your asset.
As I’ve written about websites many times in the past, I think it’s time for a refresh. This post was inspired by the fictional Chef Carmy Berzatto on The Bear and the list of “non-negotiables” he made for his new restaurant. Below is my list of non-negotiables for hotel website design and usability.
Every Second Counts
This one is right out of the high-stress kitchen series…and 100% relevant to your hotel website. Taking more than 3-4 seconds to ‘serve’ your website is simply not an option anymore. Slow load times are impacting your guests’ website experience and your revenue.
This rule 100% also applies to your booking engine. If you want bookings, make load speed your number one priority. That means choosing technology that’s lean and fast, and avoiding booking engine software that’s bloated with extra coding.
You Must Be Searchable
Search engines cannot be an afterthought. The very first step a traveler takes when they decide to travel is to start looking for accommodations using an array of location and interest-based keyword searches. In contrast, when planning a new website, owners often spend endless hours on photos and colors and forget about searchability. Adopting a search first mindset will ensure that you are set for success from day one.
Search considerations should drive the development of your navigation, sitemap, content and landing pages. UX (User Experience) elements that focus on demonstrating E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) are key to making sure your website eats your competition’s lunch. (Or just “eats” if you’re living with a teenager.) Creating a high-quality, user-friendly, easy-to-navigate website is more important than the video drone shot that is now available on 99.99% of hotel websites worldwide.
Convert Traffic Into Revenue & Leads
The main goal of your website is to share information about your hotel to help drive revenue. However, if revenue is the only conversion you are tracking, then you are in for a heartbreak. In addition to revenue tracking at the bottom of the funnel, you need to be tracking lead capture: RFPs submitted, newsletter signups, etc. Website UX, content, landing pages, and calls to action should all be focused on starting a conversation, collecting leads, and ultimately driving revenue.
An integrated CRM is crucial for keeping track of leads. Don’t spend all your time tracking bottom of the funnel campaigns and sending repetitive “book now and save” emails to your guests (like this). You can’t overestimate the value of generating brand exposure and harvesting top of the funnel (not ready to book yet) traffic and interest in your hotel. Think ahead. Cultivate the guests you want to see in your hotel in the future. If you are a truly independent hotel, then this is the only real way to stay relevant.
Measure Successes & Failures
You must track your website performance using Google Analytics (GA4). Of course, you could use an expensive analytics program instead if you wish…as long as you measure everything you can – not just ROI. The Google ecosystem delivers good value for free IF you set it up correctly. Setting up and then making sure that the right GTM (Google Tag Manager) containers are firing is a sure shot way to keep track of both progress and decline. In addition to connecting with the booking engine to track activity and revenue, you also need to identify and configure secondary targets to measure the performance of your landing pages, videos and website forms.
Democratize all information sharing by using Looker Studio reports. Stop wasting time mailing reports to people who will almost never open email attachments and read them. Even better, waste less time in meetings. You know how I feel about meetings, right?
Refresh Content & Photos
I have been a WordPress fan forever. Digital asset ownership and independence aside, hotels should be able to change their content and photos anytime they want, and preferably without the need for any expertise. An easy CMS (Content Management System) is key for success in keeping your content and images fresh. Your website is not a shrine to your branding greatness that you refresh every 4-5 years. The content needs to update often to stay relevant over the seasons.
Note: Relevancy is not adding a website Pop-Up announcing the latest seasonal discount deal. Don’t just do that. Instead, add content and information that humans need (and search engines and AI models are looking for) in order to help plan travel to your hotel location.
Mobile First
Need a strong “Heard!” response to this one. Responsive design is more relevant than ever, but the experience cannot just drop off once a guest leaves the website. We are entering the peak of “if I can’t book on the phone, I’m not coming” generation. Looking beyond browsers is key. It all about individual devices and your mobile phone “bookability” factor. I recently transitioned eight hotels away from a “perfectly good desktop but sloppy on mobile” booking engine just last year! You should do it too, as soon as you can! In my specific case, the conversion and revenue improvements in the first three months post upgrade were 100% worth the pain. A successful transition to a mobile-friendly booking engine and CRS (central reservations system) will pay dividends quickly, and for a long time afterwards.
Keep It Legal, Please!
Laws can be a bother sometimes, but there is almost always a thought behind them. Always strive to keep things legal on your hotel website. Accessibility and Tracking are the two areas where you should never let your hotel website trip you into legal trouble. All websites should comply with WCAG Level AA accessibility standards. They help make sure you are being kind and welcoming to all types of hotel guests on your website. It’s the right thing to do, and also happens to be the legal thing to do.
You should also refrain from annoying potential guests whenever possible Most people hate getting tracked after visiting your website. It’s not you: it’s the advertisers chasing them with ads across the internet. Make sure your website has a cookie consent widget that is properly connected to your Content Management System and Google Tag Manager account. It is your legal responsibility to show privacy policy notices, so this is, legally speaking, as ‘non-negotiable’ as it gets.
Conclusion
Your website is your hotel’s digital storefront, the place where you share information, showcase your product, and sell rooms. Something that is working for you 24/7/365 deserves continual updating and improvement. If you are not hitting all the points above, it’s always a good time to get to work! Websites don’t have to be perfect, but they always have to be welcoming, easy to find, and easy to use. Make decisions and implement changes quickly and efficiently, as often as you can. Remember: Every Second Counts.
