What makes the difference between booking and bouncing for visitors to your hotel website?
Well, once they’ve found your site and are impressed enough with the homepage to stick around (by the way, this decision takes most people only four seconds!), the first thing guests want to understand is where they’ll be sleeping. From there, they look at your photos and location information. Skimping on content in these three areas is bad news for bookings!
I recently had the opportunity to discuss crucial content with innkeepers at this year’s California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns conference on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula! I hope you enjoy this summary from our roundtable.
Rooms – Photos sell rooms. Along with clear descriptions of each room or room type, be sure to include several high quality photos of different parts of the rooms. Without pictures, your guest is being asked to create a visual in their head from a quick scan of your text. That’s fine if you’re writing a story, but terrible if you’re trying to sell a room! Take pictures of the bathroom, the bed, and a couple other angles to provide guests with a more complete visualization of the room. Can they imagine lounging on the bed with a glass of champagne or spreading their toiletries out on the bathroom vanity? These are the kinds of things guests need to get a sense of from pictures. They may seem minor, but emotion is everything when it comes to selling. Transport them through your images and descriptions!
Photos – Once a guest is sufficiently wowed by your room, they search for more photos. What’s the breakfast area like? The grounds? The front porch? Make it easy on them by creating a page or tab called “photos.” On that page, separate the photos into albums based on subject matter. A group of buddies on a golf getaway probably don’t want to look through wedding photos or bachelorette weekend shots. Group photos according to the different audiences you are trying to reach: families, church groups, golfers, honeymooners, families, etc. Then tag each photo with a short description so that Google can give you credit!
Location – So they dig your rooms and photos. Good job. The next step is filling them in on your area and the logistics of getting to where they want to go. How will the rest of their experience play out? What happens when they leave your door in the morning? Use a location page to show your guests where you are in relation to all the fun and interesting things they want to do in your area: restaurants, museums, universities, wineries, golf courses, airports, natural wonders, conference centers, etc. Again, guests are coming to your area for lots of different reasons. Help paint a picture of all the things they could be doing while staying with you!
Extra credit
Activities – Another way to delight guests (and possibly get them to stay longer!) is to include a calendar of activities on your website. Concerts, shows, athletic events, antique car shows … there’s bound to be a lot going on in your area that guests would like to know about. Sometimes guests come for a wedding or conference, but want to tack on their own vacation after the event is over. A fun event in town may upsell them into another night.
Promotions – Promotions are a great way to take control of your revenue management. Creating discounts for longer stays in the low seasons and value-add packages for higher seasons is a great way to maximize your rev par. Don’t forget to make it easier for groups to find information on your accommodations and specials for meetings, retreats, and weddings. Include a link or tab from your homepage taking them straight to the information—and photos!
