To have a looker come back to your website to book with you is not easy with so much competition around and also even if you have great deals or the best room in town its all on how you attract a guest and finally convince them to book.
NB: This is an article from Staah
Safety and hygiene measures for guests are a must in the new normal. All accommodation providers must promote the safety protocols that they are taking to ensure a guest’s safe stay and experience.
Here are a few tips to consider how to attract a guest to your hotel website:
Build a Website That Attracts and Retains Users
The foremost and most important step is having an attractive clutter-free website and easy booking steps.
No amount of promotions will help if your website doesn’t deliver a great experience. Your website must be mobile-friendly – makes sense given more than 50% of search traffic now comes from mobile devices. It must load fast – 53% of visits are abandoned if a website takes longer than three seconds to load according to a Google Study.
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Once technically up to spec, your website must be visually stunning. Less is more seems to be the philosophy these days. In the world of travel, nothing sells better than a good image or video. Make sure your website has plenty of them.
Your website should also be easy to navigate, make sure the booking button is easily reached and try to include features such as WatchMyRate that improves user stickiness.
Content Content Content
The foundation of any digital strategy is content. And in an era where the user is overwhelmed by content, the way to get a cut through, get noticed online (via search rankings), and improve click through to your website is creating relevant content that is unique and will interest your audience. Think out of the box and beyond the four walls of your property when creating content.
Most importantly, you need not be the only one creating content for your website. Smart hoteliers will get the guests involved. That’s called UGC – User Generated Content – the most authentic and saleable kind of content available.
Promote Staycation deals
Staycations are looking to escape the daily routine. Remove the stress of planning for them by offering multiple staycation deals. Plan different packages per season or based on special events. Cater to different audiences such as families, single travelers, couples, etc. Consider offering online vouchers that can be bought from your website but redeemed later.
Give your guests the chance to build their own itinerary as well. Allow them to choose the perks and events they care about most. Customization will help them feel more like they’re on vacation even if they’re not going too far away from home for their holiday. Don’t forget to update your distribution channels with these offers.
Become a Storyteller
Extending the point above, you need to tell a story – your story, the story of your location, and the people around you. In fact, other people’s story is a great way to engage a wider audience and build more local advocates.
It’s about little words with massive effect and making dreams into reality. Storytelling isn’t only nice to have when you’re managing a hotel; it’s needed. There’s so much more to learn, though – especially if you’re working in hospitality! You can also use Virtual reality to give a room tour.
Don’t forget SEO
It’s not just a gimmick. Search Engine Optimization is a great way to drive quality traffic to your website. However, SEO is not an overnight results generator. It’s more of a long term stable traffic earner.
With people spending so much time online, this is an excellent opportunity to concentrate on building brand equity by engaging with consumers and providing them with quality content. Organic search is perfectly placed to make the most of this opportunity. In a post-COVID-19 world, your website could be more valuable than ever to drive business.
Paid Ads & Marketing
Face it. From Facebook and Google to your OTAs, they’re all commercial businesses. To get ahead on any of these platforms, it is important to have paid presence. However, given the level of targeting most of these platforms offer, you can make your dollar go a lot longer. And measure it to see where the ROI is highest.
Try running campaign ads on social and also retargeting your visitors who viewed deals on your website. Retargeting targets potential hotel guests who have already visited your hotel’s website including your booking engine by displaying advertisements for your hotel to them on other digital platforms. It’s easy to do – just install code or pixel on your hotel website, either on the entire site or just one specific page, and you’re ready to get started.
Focus on your Reviews/Reputation
Participate in conversations and even start new ones where relevant and linked to your location. Goes without saying that responding to your online reviews is important, and a great way to promote traffic to your website.
These days potential guests are all online and one of the key facts during a guest’s booking decision is based on the online ratings and reviews.
Monitor all your feedback across your website, GoogleMyBusiness, and social channels. Do make an effort to respond back to all reviews and improve from the negative feedback.
Target selected audience
Domestic tourism will be a huge trend in this new normal. Try targeting a specific market, by offering deals. STAAH’s Smart Pricing feature can help you target guests on the basis of region, mobile device, advance purchase or multi-nights. To know more about this cool feature read here
Your OTA commitments probably don’t allow you to promote lower than published rates with them. However, you can use emails and loyalty program members to push deals to selected users. In addition to the price cut, package deals are also a great way to attract eyeballs.
Explain the Direct Booking perks
Be transparent in your communication and prove your offer to be the best, by displaying comparative rates on your website
Hotels fail to capture direct bookings simply because OTA sites give the feel of offering the best rates. And it is a fact that room rate remains as the top driver in the booking decision, independent of other offers and deals. It is a good idea here, to work towards adjusting your inventory and pricing, to portray direct bookings to be the best option always offering the best rates in the market.
