With the rise of OTAs, hotels receive bookings from a variety of different sources, and the rates aren’t consistent across the board. Getting your customers to book from your own website instead of on a third-party platform means more control over your pricing, and the ability to optimize your profits.
Your website is also the best tool for managing your online reputation, since you control the message. You can instantly build more trust with your customers and encourage more bookings with an effective website.
Here’s why your website design matters.
You Want To Differentiate Your Hotel & Stand Out From The Crowd
What is your hotel about? What values do you uphold? What makes your business unique?
You might know, but your prospects don’t. These elements can be incorporated into your overall branding and web design, which can let your visitors know why they should stay with you in a matter of seconds. After all, their attention span isn’t much longer than that!
It can be difficult to separate yourself from the pack, but a professionally designed website can elevate your business to a new level.
You Want To Build More Awareness For Your Business
Does it seem like the people who should know about your hotel still don’t? Is marketing and promotion an uphill battle?
Setting up your website can make a difference. Firstly, you can begin capturing email addresses and other data from your visitors with strategically placed opt-in boxes and offers. Then, you can keep in touch with these people via email and other channels.
Per MailMunch, roughly 60% of marketers believe email marketing outperforms social media.
Secondly, you can build out your site with content, which can help you rank for keywords in search engines. SEO and content marketing are long-term strategies, but the ROI is substantial given accurate targeting and ongoing publishing. Social media simply cannot offer the same opportunity.
You Want To Build Trust With People & Be Relevant
In a world where personalized, customized customer experiences are expected, relevance has never been more important. As a business, you are no longer speaking to the many, but rather you are always speaking to an audience of one.
Reviews, quotes, and testimonials on your website can build trust and loyalty. Awards, accreditations, and badges (such as a strong Better Business Bureau rating) can let your prospective guests know they’re in the right place. These website elements are strong credibility triggers.
You Want To Encourage More Bookings
Few hotels, if any, are booked up year-round. Optimizing revenue isn’t easy, particularly here in the digital age. Constant adaptation is often a necessary part of succeeding in the hotel business.
But most hotels would love a boost in bookings, and by extension, revenue. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a website, you may not “exist” online. You may have social media profiles, OTA listings, and even online reviews, but the overall impression could be that you aren’t with the times and can’t keep up with all the chatter online if you don’t have a website, even if you are active on these sites. This perception could hurt your business.
Your website is another tool you can leverage to get more bookings for your hotel, and given enough attention, could become the most invaluable resource in helping you achieve your business objectives.
Conclusion
As a hotel, you need a website. But it’s not enough to just have a website. It also needs to be a container of valuable and relevant information, a community hub, a lead capture device, and a trust-building tool.
A website serves more functions than ever before – not fewer. That’s why your site’s design needs to clearly communicate who you are and what you’re about.