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Your guide to a 2020-readyhotel website

Brought to you by Triptease and Discovery Hospitality

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Contents

Why is web usability crucial for your hotel website?

Web usability principles

Availability and accessibility

Simplicity and clarity

Credibility

Relevance to intent

Features and functions

Search

Booking engine

Hotel description and product information

Guest reviews

Inspiring images

Best practices in 2020

Destination Marketing

Optimize for ‘position zero’

Voice search optimization

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Why is web usability crucial for your hotel website?

Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are dominating the digital travel landscape. That’s not only because of their ability to incentivize bookings and show the best hotel rates on their websites - they also provide a superb online booking experience. With their big budgets and sophisticated technologies, OTAs are always at the forefront of digital innovation. Inspired by the best ecommerce strategies from other industries, such as retail, OTAs are indisputed leaders within the digital travel industry.

To leverage similar ecommerce best practices on their own websites, hotels need to understand and learn from these industry giants.

The evolution of the digital landscape and technologies has made online

experience a key driver in winning - or losing - bookings. Both OTAs and hotels need to create seamless booking experiences and deliver them consistently across different regions, languages and devices.

If this sounds like an impossible task right now don’t worry. It can be successfully achieved if you understand the principles of web usability - the practice of making websites easy to use.

Examples of web usability practices include automation (for example, auto-filled forms), efficiency (voice command like Siri or Alexa) and findability (literally - can your website visitors find what they are looking for?). Websites designed with web usability principles in mind will dominate the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), increase their page rank and ultimately win more customers.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to be a technology expert to get to excel at web usability. Here is a checklist you can use to help make your hotel website experience seamless.

“With over 18 years of experience in Digital Marketing, eight years of those in hospitality, I am inspired to share best practice and expertise from an out-of-the-box perspective.”

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The Hotel Heroes are a panel of trusted experts sharing their experience and knowledge with the wider hotel industry with the aim of educating and empowering their peers.Find out more triptease.com/hotel-heroes

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About the author

BLESSY TOWNESVP & Head of DigitalDiscovery HospitalityTriptease Hotel Hero

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Availability & Accessibility

The most fundamental aspect of usability is availability. This is all about whether your website is actually online, available and loads quickly. According to Google, 53% of users will leave a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That’s why website availability and accessibility is more important than ever. If your website is taking too long to load, you’ll lose your potential customer.

The recommended loading time (or site speed) is three seconds. This will then allow five seconds for your website visitors to find the content they are looking for before they enter the high-risk zone of dropping off. Doesn’t sound like much time at all does it? But test it on yourself next time you’re browsing websites online - how quickly do you give up if you don’t see what you’re looking for?

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Web Usability Principles

When it comes to availability and accessibility, it's important to consider:

Server uptime - Ensure that your website is accessible and operational 24/7. To do that, invest in a good hosting provider and sign up with a website monitoring service that can check your website from worldwide locations and alert you instantly when it becomes unavailable.

Broken links – Links from the navigation menu, footer, anchor texts and call to action buttons have to remain clickable. They also have to lead to working pages - regardless of whether the contents of the page or promotions listed there are still valid or not. Retiring a page that you no longer need is not as simple as removing a link: broken links can lead to errors and, ultimately, lost bookings!

Mobile responsiveness – Google’s switch to mobile-first indexing means that having your hotel website mobile-ready should be your top priority for ranking high on Google. Ensure that your website is responsive to all devices, especially mobile screens. Structure the way that the content appears so that it will display well on smaller screen sizes. A great mobile website will help you get better search visibility. And remember: a great mobile site should work well even with a slow internet connection!

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Simplicity & ClarityVisitors come to your website with an intention. Whether it’s to browse your picture gallery, check your direct rates or book a room, your hotel website must help them find what they’re looking for intuitively as quickly as possible. If you don’t do this, your modern attention-lacking users will abandon your website - and book your rooms elsewhere.

To design a website journey that is easy for your potential customers to navigate, put yourself in an ordinary website user’s shoes. Hierarchy of information (or information architecture) can help you plan out how to structure your website content based on how important each piece of information is. Naturally, the most sought-after information should be

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displayed above everything else. The findability of this type of content will define the user-friendliness of your website!

Look at all the elements of your web page and ask yourself some questions. What is the purpose of your pictures? What informed your choice of copy and wording? What calls to action are you using and why? Do you have logical filter and search options? How easy to navigate is your booking engine experience? A Forrester report states that a well-designed web page could increase conversion rate by up to 200% and better UX design could yield a conversion rate increase of up to 400%. Remember that simplicity and clarity leads to positive user experience, while distraction and confusion result to increased bounce and cart abandonment rates.

CredibilityTo see a real boost in conversion rates, your website needs more than excellent findability and easy, quick access to information. Even the most user-friendly website won’t perform to the best of its ability if it has questionable credibility!

Credibility involves more than acquiring SSL (Secure Sockets Layer - the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a browser and a web server). Regardless of your brand visibility and content findability, a questionable brand reputation will make it much less likely that you’ll convert website visitors into paying guests.

Brand building is too long and complex a process to cover in just a few chapters, but to help you get started I recommend using your own website to establish trustworthiness. Elements like unique selling points, honest hotel and room descriptions, up-to-date content, a best rate guarantee, TripAdvisor reviews and guest satisfaction scores can all help you showcase a strong brand reputation. You can also provide information about your corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts if this is something your hotel is involved in. A well-designed web page could increase conversion rate by up to 200%

and better UX design could yield a conversion rate increase of up to 400%Forrester report

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Other website elements to consider are embedded map, address and phone numbers. These will also help prove your legitimacy.

Likewise, hotels looking to provide translated versions of their websites should ensure their content is translated professionally. Poorly translated copy may make people question the reliability of your website and can raise a red flag to your website visitors!

Remember that if your social scores and reviews are not great, you should start with fixing the basics. Invest time in improving the guest experience at your property before you even dip your toes into the ecommerce world - which is ruled by social proof!

Relevance to intent

your hotel website fits in - and how you can optimize it to get more traffic and conversions. Understanding the booking behavior, touchpoints and conversion funnel of each customer segment can provide actionable insights. For example, you can learn what their goals are when they visit your website, the information they are looking for and what prompted them to book - or not book - direct.

Your design decisions should come from an understanding of where your customers are in their journey and what their particular intent is for coming to your website. The more your website can help them achieve their intent, the higher your likelihood of assisting them correctly and winning the booking.

Good usability requires constant testing and optimization. You’ll need to check your Google Analytics data regularly and continuously optimize the user experience based on conclusions drawn from your data. Pay extra attention to bounce and conversion rates, visitors and conversion paths. Follow up by identifying pain points, make the necessary improvements, then go back to step one. Remember that guest interaction does not begin at a check in - hospitality begins online! And your website is one of the most important digital touchpoints you can create.

Properties in the process of revamping their websites should have a clear understanding of their website users. You need to understand their visit intent - why customers are visiting your website.

Start with mapping out the traveler personas for your business. Look at their customer journey to understand where

“Regardless of your brand visibility and content findability, a questionable brand reputation will make it much less likely that you’ll convert website visitors into paying guests.”

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SearchWhen it comes to providing a truly seamless website experience, OTAs are a long way out in front. That’s largely because they are great at the basics of user experience (UX). One of those basics is providing an easy way for customers to search for their desired accommodation, flights, rentals and more.

What makes a search function great is the ability to easily modify it. Booking.com, for example, allows users to search for hotels with filters such as amenities, budget or ratings. This allows their customers to narrow down search results based on their preferences - and get exactly the hotel that they wanted.

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Try adding in a few more filters to your website’s search function. This will make it easier for your customer to find the right room type, availability by trip dates, breakfast options, etc. The more you can reduce their time searching for the right information the more you’ll improve the overall experience of your website.

Features and functions

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Booking EngineAs a general rule, fewer and simpler steps to make a booking results in more conversions. OTAs know this. It only takes a couple of minutes to complete a booking with Expedia and Booking.com! Expedia even lists the speedy ‘secure booking’ experience on their website as one of the prompts for reserving a room with them rather than elsewhere.

Agoda uses another trick to prompt users to book. Their website features a progress bar highlighting that a booking can be made in three easy steps: collecting customer information, making a payment and confirming the booking.

The less barriers there are on the path to purchase, the higher the likelihood that your customer will convert. However, many hotel booking engines take up to five steps to complete a booking. From selecting a room to browsing add-ons, to filling in the guest details, to reviewing and, finally, confirming the reservation: this lengthy process loses to the OTAs’ fuss-free experience.

Look at more advanced digital industries such as retail - they are constantly simplifying the checkout process to provide a seamless, one-step checkout experience. Review the information that you require from a guest before they book, and simplify the process. You can further improve the user experience on your booking engine by ensuring that it is optimized for mobile and that each booking step has a short loading time.

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Hotel description & product information

We’ve already covered the fact that providing relevant information will help your customers to make their booking decision. Hotel websites can provide more detailed information about their rooms, location and services than an OTA ever could. However, OTAs are still dominating when it comes to providing users with convenient, low-effort ways to find the information they need.

Many people nowadays are accustomed to 'content snacking' - consuming only bits

and pieces of information at a time rather than reading full sections of text.'

Hotel pages on OTA sites are designed to convert guests as quickly as possible. They quickly provide all the relevant information about a property alongside targeted conversion triggers and an ultimatum to either take the offer or leave the page.

For users, it's easy to scroll down a single page containing all the information they need. Given the modern user's limited attention span, it's no wonder that OTAs

- High demand alerts- Social sharing buttons- Save to list functionality- Lower price alerts- Information about points of

local interest- Distance to points of interest- Map of the area- Location rating/feedback- Details about any restaurants

on site- Reasons to book

How many of the following conversion optimization elements do you have on your website?

- Search functionality- Your star rating- A selection of high resolution images- Guest satisfaction scores- Unique selling proposition (USP) icons- Short descriptions of your property

highlights- Facilities ratings

are conversion machines.

Hotels often want to highlight all of their unique selling points. As a result most will opt for long descriptions on their websites. Additionally, that information will often be scattered across different pages, requiring users to jump from one page to another to find everything they need.

At the opposite end, OTAs provide all the detail necessary to make a booking decision in a bite size format, making it easy for their customers to skim through the website and decide to book.

- Guest reviews- SEO description- Information about any free perks you

offer- Terms and conditions- Your price match promise- Any coupon codes- Comment card- Any awards and affiliations- Room filter functionality- Room types - description and

occupancy details

- House rules- Pet policy- Cards accepted- A note on time to

complete booking- Newsletter signup form- Information about your

other similar properties- Other destinations where

you have hotels

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Guest ReviewsGuest reviews are critical to converting visits to bookings. TripAdvisor has found that 86% of travelers will not book accommodation without reading reviews. This underscores the need to provide review snippets on hotel landing pages to eradicate a potential guest's need to leave your website to check reviews elsewhere.

OTAs take this feature to the next level by providing reviews from their own bookers as well as Guest Satisfaction Scores, facilities ratings and destination ratings. Because once a user leaves the website, it will take more marketing dollars to get them back to the hotel website to complete the booking. OTAs know this by heart.

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Inspiring images of the propertyHelp customers feel excited about staying at your hotel. Follow these steps for truly captivating visuals:

Professional photographyGuests visit your website not only to view image galleries but also to experience the brand. Put your best foot forward by investing in high-quality, professionally-taken photos that capture the spirit of your property, help to build your brand identity and inspire viewers to book.

Visual storytellingOnce you’re done creating and selecting your images, make sure that they work together to tell a story about what a stay in your hotel will feel like. Photos of your rooms, restaurants and amenities are a must, but you can also include pictures of people and experiences in the context of your property. Organize the order of your pictures with care: it can be more emotionally stimulating for a user to see the images in the same order that they would experience your hotel if and when they arrive at your property. Try including a beach façade or any pool shots in the first five images. Follow up with pictures of rooms and experiences.

Image optimizationMobile internet usage is growing steadily - it already accounts for over 50% of web traffic. That’s why you need to ensure that your images are responsive and optimized for a mobile user. To increase page speed, scale down large image files. Remember that pages that take a long time to load usually suffer from high bounce rates, which then results in lost business. You don’t have to sacrifice the quality of images - simply offer the option to enlarge a selected image.

It’s also important to give your pictures the right file names. Search engines will pick up these keywords, so it can help you optimize your website for search. Refrain from uploading images with file names like DSC12345.jpg and IMG1234.jpg.

Instead, use this opportunity to optimize for generic keywords such as “Luxury hotel in {location}” or “Best luxury resort in {location}.

Add context to your images by adding them to blog articles. Add captions whenever you can. Add descriptive text in place of an image in case it can’t be displayed to some website visitors. There are several ways search engines index images. These include captions and descriptive text with keywords that surround the image. For example, instead of providing fancy descriptions, insert keywords such as “Makati hotel with kitchen”.

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Destination marketing65% of leisure travelers look for inspiration online before they decide where to travel. That means a big chunk of your website traffic may be people who haven’t yet decided on their location and travel dates. You can capture these potential guests with destination marketing.

Consistent visibility across all stages of the customer journey is very important to moving users in the top of your sales funnel towards conversion. Being featured on websites that speak about your destination can help put you higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) on Google.

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This will make it easier for users to find you in the early stages of their travel planning. To find out where you currently are in SERP, look up a keyword for your destination or city. For example, for the keyword “Bangkok”, Bangkok.com, owned by Hotels.com, ranks first on Google. It provides content on activities, hotels, transportation and everything else a traveler might want to know about the city.

Best practices in 2020

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Optimize for Position Zero

The first position on a search page used to be the prime spot for driving more conversions. But today, Position Zero is where you want to be.

Position Zero (P0) is a featured snippet on Google that directly answers the search query and appears at the very top of the search results - or before the first organic search result.

Position Zero takes up more space on SERP and pushes competitors (including the OTAs) further down the page, giving you a higher chance of acquiring more traffic than the websites below.

Search engines also use P0 information for voice search. That’s why optimizing your content for P0 can secure a good chunk of

The most organic and effective way for a hotel to provide this type of content on your website would be to produce blogs and answer Frequently Asked

Questions (FAQs).

Voice Search Optimization

To prepare your website for the rise of voice search, ensure that your website contents are as close to conversational language as possible. Think of how your customers might ask their questions and what they will probably ask about your property, products and services.

For example, a typed Google search will likely be something along the lines of “hotel near me”. But with voice search, it could become “What is the nearest hotel to me?”. Your digital marketing strategy should focus on creating content that answers these kinds of frequently asked questions.

Other must-haves for succeeding at voice search include:

- Optimized Google My Business Listing

- Enhanced website speed (especially for mobile browsing!)

- Improved and structured website data, which search engines use to organize and classify your content

traffic from voice - and considering that it’s expected to account for more than half of online searches in 2020, this is the position to secure going forward.

P0 normally contains long-tail keywords (e.g. Where to stay in Boracay, business hotel with swimming pool, what is the best resort in Coron?) and includes paragraphs, tables, videos, images, charts and lists. This information is pulled in response to the user’s query. That means that if you want to succeed in getting your website to a P0 position you need your website content to answer a ‘how to…’ question. In a lot of cases this would be something like a step-by-step guide to assist a user through a process, and would cover all five Ws: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.

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● The power of brand: How to stand out in a crowded marketplace

● Distribution: How to get the most out of your hotel’s resources

● How to optimise your customer journey on Google

● How to drive high performance on metasearch

● Content strategies to increase your direct bookings

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