Hospitality professionals are presented with numerous challenges associated with running a hotel or B&B. As an hotelier, it can seem like there aren’t enough hours in the day. According to a recent survey by BLLA, hoteliers at boutique hotels spend 58% of their time on sales and marketing activities.
With all that time spent on marketing, are you seeing results, in the form of direct bookings, from your efforts? Based on our research the answer for most hoteliers is no. In a poll we conducted at the end of 2015, 60% of hoteliers said their biggest challenge was driving direct website conversions.
So, in a recent webinar, we looked at 5 best practices to build a high-performing hotel website – one that converts. Here are 7 hotels that are using these best practices and reaping the rewards.
Hotel X Gives Travel Shoppers What They Want
The first best practice we explored was: Give Travel Shoppers What They Want. This means leading with content (and images) guests most want to see. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t the exterior of your hotel. We have found that by far Guest Rooms are the most commonly searched image type, followed by the amenities that set your property apart, like your restaurant, pool or even spa.
The Hotel X is an urban resort, due to open in the heart of Toronto in 2017. The Hotel X markets itself to travel shoppers who are not just looking for a place to sleep, but looking for an all-around experience filled with leisure and entertainment options. Specifically their Experience X page uses visuals to showcase the many entertainment options available to guests (including 2 movie theatres, a 3 storey rooftop SkyBar and a 90,000 sq. ft. athletic facility). You can click on any of the entertainment options for more details to find something that interests you.
Visual Storytelling Separates Big4 Sunshine & Harmony
They say a picture is a worth a thousand words, and there is some truth to that statement. Studies have shown that we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text and 65% of us are visual learners. Therefore it is important to use visual images to create an emotional connection with consumers. This is best accomplished with snackable visual content. Pictures, videos, snaps or tweets, short bursts of information that tell your hotel’s story.
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