Your hotel’s website is an indispensable asset when it comes to booking.
Even if today many platforms allow you to book online, such as Booking or Hotel.com.
It’s very important that your website is functional, well thought-out and a direct window onto your services, so as to outwit the fierce competition from OTAs.

1. Your site interface

It’s essential that your site’s visual interface makes travelers want to book directly through your site.
A clear, aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-navigate interface is essential.
Remember, the goal is for visitors to feel almost at home, from the very first click!
First of all, you need a booking engine.
Make sure it’s intuitive and easy to understand, so that your travelers don’t get discouraged and give up on the booking process.
You also want it to be accessible via all of today’s IT tools.
By this we mean computers, but also tablets and smartphones.
Here are just a few examples of booking engines: Reservit, Vertical Booking and Novaresa.
There are many others.
You’ll just have to compare them to see which one best suits your needs.

2. Your site's visuals

It’s essential to add as muchinformation and photos as possible. First of all, emphasize information about the rooms – after all, that’s the first thing your potential customers are interested in. Talk about room capacity, size and amenities. Make sure that there are no questions to be asked when discovering the room page. It goes without saying that photos should be of high quality without slowing down page loading. For this, we recommend the use of TinyPNG, for example. Next, take the time to show off the hotel’s common areas. If the hotel has a gym or spa, for example, don’t hesitate to highlight it and add photos to support it. Finally, your pricing policy must be clear: don’t forget to add and include tourist taxes with the room rates.

3. Stand out from online booking agencies (OTAs)

If you can, include offers and promotions on your website.
These can only be used on your site, and will motivate travelers to book directly on your interface.
You can also make targeted offers such as breakfast included.
This won’t necessarily be the case on an OTA website.
A blog section can also be that little extra something that will tip the balance in your favor.
It’s a goldmine for vacationers.
Talk about local life, upcoming events, travel tips.
Anything that adds to your visibility and people’s knowledge of you.

4. SEO referencing

SEO is very important for the visibility of your website.
You need to pay particular attention to your page titles, keywords, meta descriptions and links.
Remember, the goal is to appear at the top of search engine results.
If you’re having trouble finding relevant keywords, we recommend using Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush.

5. Promote your hotel

It’s essential to talk about your hotel.
Platforms such as Tripadvisor or Trivago allow travelers to compare prices for your hotel between your official website and online booking sites.
If you promote your hotel, you increase its visibility.
This will inevitably encourage potential future customers to visit your official website rather than using the booking platform, for example.
Make the most of social networks too . These are extensions of your website.
Use platforms like Instagram or Facebook to share moments from the life of your hotel, promote special offers or simply tell interesting stories about your services.

6. Keep track of your hotel bookings

To get a clear, real-time view of traffic to your website and booking engine, it’s important to use tools like Google Analytics.
In slightly more specific terms, you can also focus on the conversion rate.
By this we mean the number of people who end up making a reservation.
Of course, it’s also of the utmost importance to observe your online booking rate.
It’s also possible to go further with the abandonment rate, which will cover the number of bookings that were stopped before the end of the process, or the return rate.
This will include the number of people who have returned to your site more than once.

By optimizing your website, not only do you improve its search engine ranking, but you also create an attractive and welcoming showcase for your visitors.

Now all you have to do is put these tips into practice to make your hotel shine as brightly online as it does in real life!

And remember, in the online hotel business, the key to success lies in the details – a bit like folding the towels perfectly in the rooms, isn’t it?

If you’d like to find out more about hotel trends for 2024, read our article!