As we have discussed in a previous blog, the potential of Web 2.0 in the hotel industry is huge. In particular, online video tours of the hotel are a fantastic opportunity to ‘sell’ your hotel to visitors to your website.

Online videos are an ideal marketing tool for hotels. Potential visitors browsing online continue to expect more from hotel sites and in order to beat the competition it is essential that these expectations are met.

A high quality video that users can easily stream from your home page featuring beautiful imagery of your hotel will be more effective than just still images alone. As well as generating bookings for accommodation, these videos can also generate interest in conference and business facilities at your hotel.

Along with attracting visitors to the hotel, the presence of an online video on your site will improve the overall image of your hotel brand to web users.

The more engaging content you have on your site, the longer visitors will spend browsing and the higher the chance of repeat visits will be. Thus resulting in an increased number of bookings with the hotel.

To see the video tour we have recently implemented into the sites of one of hotel clients, No Ordinary Hotels, visit:

http://www.coombeabbey.com/

http://www.lumleycastle.com/

Hoteliers are now developing their own proprietary websites rather than relying on 3rd party distributors to attract visitors to their hotel.

Hotel sites need to keep up with consumer expectations and provide content rich visual experiences, plus up-to-date information and offers that will entice them to book with the hotel.

That said, a hotel website must still conform to the necessary conventions of good website design and usability. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the visual elements of a website, forgetting about the needs of your user and the technical elements needed for a successful sales and marketing tool.

When designing a new hotel website you must balance key usability requirements to ensure a booking, with the technical elements that will enable potential customers to find your website such as:

Usability Features:

• Relevant content portraying your brand experience online
• Uncomplicated, logical navigation
• Simplified booking processes (see our online reservations software demo) with real time availability and pricing
• Video tours/virtual tours/image galleries
• Calls to action/marketing messages
• Brochure downloads

Plus the technical elements such as:

• Well constructed pages that allow search engines easy access to your text content
• Optimised keyword rich content
• Navigation that can be searched and indexed by search engines
• SEO friendly URL’s
• Site maps to assist search engines to index your site

A common error with hotel website design is to overuse Flash imagery which will not be picked up by the search engines, and poor navigation which will deter potential customers from booking with your website.

A void appears to have emerged between web designers and those involved in online marketing. On the one hand you have designers understandably excited about the visual possibilities of a website and on the other you have marketers obsessed with keeping the search engines and users happy.

In order for online success, hotel websites must merge these two requirements together to produce an aesthetically pleasing website that is structurally sound and SEO friendly.

Ensuring that the site follows the correct coding structure in the first stages of the site being built will also prevent the site
from having to be re-designed in the future which would incur further costs.

Consumer Generated Media is a much talked about area of Internet marketing for Hoteliers. The explosion of consumer generated media (CGM) marks a distinct shift in how people are interacting with the internet. Traditionally the web was a one sided medium with users exposed to whatever providers wanted them to see. Now users are actually creating their own content and deciding for themselves what they want to see and when.

The issue for hoteliers is how to best use CGM to their advantage - there are areas where they are clear opportunities for the hotel industry to benefit from this new medium but conversely there are potential threats as well.

There are three main approaches to utilising CGM strategies for your hotel:

• To protect and monitor conversations on the web about your hotel
• To promote the expert knowledge that you have within your Hotel staff
• To utilise CGM for SEO purposes: from additional pages of content being continually being added to your website, to the opportunity to use keyword rich text to assist search engine rankings for your website.

The potential threat to your hotel from CGM is the opportunity it presents for disgruntled guests to post negative reviews about their experience of your hotel. The thing to bear in mind here is that there are so many sites that will already be displaying these views; surely it is better for your business and your brand to be included in the conversation, rather than not responding to negative criticism.

It is a crucial element of both Customer Services plus Marketing/PR strategies that hoteliers monitor social networking sites to try and contain any negative reviews and minimise the damage they have. A promptly responded to negative review can be easily be turned into a positive as long as it is handled correctly. Plus of course positive reviews can reveal new stories that can be turned into excellent PR opportunities.

The opportunities to promote your hotel through CGM are to utilise the expert knowledge you have within your hotel staff eg:

• Your Head Chef/Executive Chefs blogging about the local produce that they buy, quality of produce, range of dishes, recipe ideas etc
• Your Head of Reception/Customer Services talking about new procedures they are using or technology they have installed eg mobile check in/check out to improve your service offerings

Using a combination of all methods available within CGM, if written correctly, will have a huge impact on your web footprint (size and reach of your website) plus a positive impact on your search engine ranking.

Find out more about integrating CGM into your hotel website strategy