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.