Your Guests’ First Stop: How a Hotel Website Attracts More Bookings

Why does hotel website design matter, and how does it shape the guest experience? And why does every hotel need its own presence online?

Hotel websites have become one of the most important tools guests use to find the right place to stay. A hotel website is also a key platform for marketing, managing bookings and communicating with guests. As competition in hospitality grows, a well-designed hotel website has become essential for attracting guests and standing out from other hotels.

 With more people booking their stays online, a hotel website matters more than ever. If your site doesn’t catch the eye or offer a great experience, many visitors will move on to other hotels whose websites meet their needs.

So let’s look at why a great hotel website matters for attracting guests.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• Why does a hotel need its own website?
• What types of hotel websites are there?
• The difference between a booking system and a booking engine
• What is a payment gateway?
• How can you control room availability on a booking website?
• What refund and cancellation policy should a hotel website have?
•  The key factors to consider when designing a hotel website
• The most important features a hotel website should have
• How to increase visits and bookings on a hotel website
• The questions guests ask most when booking a hotel

First: Why Does a Hotel Need Its Own Website?

1. Introducing your hotel: a hotel website lets travelers and tour operators get to know the whole property. They can browse photos and videos of your services and activities, see your room types and rates with real photos of the rooms, find out how to book or contact you, and see your restaurants and their menus.
2. Credibility: according to research by Stanford University, 75% of potential customers judge a hotel by its website. Without a website where guests can learn about your services and see real photos of the hotel and its rooms, they start to doubt what they find online, such as past guests’ reviews or your social media pages, because there’s no official online identity to base their decision on. In that case, many will book another hotel that does have a website.
3. Wider reach: many people think social media platforms like Facebook are the best way to attract new guests, and there’s some truth in that. But it helps to understand the difference between a website and social media. Social media is a way to promote your hotel, but reaching lots of people doesn’t mean you’re reaching potential guests. It’s like the old newspaper ad: plenty of people see it, but most of them aren’t looking for a hotel. Your website, on the other hand, is where a potential guest lands when they search for a hotel in your area. Without paying for social media ads every month, a traveler searches Google for a hotel in a certain area or city and finds you. That isn’t just someone who saw an ad; it’s a serious potential guest looking to book. Click here to see a Facebook report showing that time spent on Facebook fell by 50 million hours in 2018 compared with 2017, and usage has kept falling sharply every year.
4. Freedom from restrictions: many hotels think that by relying on OTAs such as Booking.com or Agoda, they get the same benefits and reach without a website of their own. The problem is that when you hand your identity to another company, you’re bound by its terms and conditions. If they change their policies, shut down, or simply decide they don’t want you on their platform after a complaint (and we all know these platforms usually side with the guest, whatever the facts), there’s nothing you can do. You’re always at risk of a bad rating if you don’t follow their rules to the letter. We’re not suggesting you leave these platforms at all. But your own hotel website works in the background, builds your presence, climbs the search rankings and is always your backup plan, if not a serious sales channel in its own right when you keep it updated. You can read more about why a website matters.

Second: What Types of Hotel Websites Are There?

In general, hotel websites fall into two main types:

1. Informational website: presents the hotel and its services, shows the room types with photos, and explains how to contact or book the hotel.
2. Booking website: everything an informational site has, plus the ability to search for available rooms on specific dates and book directly on the site. Depending on what the hotel prefers, guests can pay on arrival or pay online when they book.

Third: The Difference Between a Booking System and a Booking Engine

1. Booking system: software built to run on the hotel’s own website and controlled entirely from it, so guests never have to leave your site to book.
2. Booking engine: software developed by a specialist booking company that runs on its own website alongside many other hotels. Each hotel gets its own booking link, but it isn’t on the hotel’s domain and the hotel doesn’t own it.

Fourth: What Is a Payment Gateway?

A payment gateway is a service that sends and receives money for businesses, acting as the middleman between buyer and seller for online payments. Some work worldwide, such as PayPal and Stripe, and others work in specific countries, such as Paymob in Egypt and PayTabs in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The gateway collects the payment from the guest’s bank account and sends it to the hotel’s bank account, for a fee that varies by provider.

Fifth: How Can You Control Room Availability on a Booking Website?

When we build a hotel website, we also give your staff a content management system to manage and update the site’s text, photos and videos, plus a booking management system where they can set prices by room and season, room availability, the number of rooms and the maximum number of guests.

Once everything is set up, the system automatically closes bookings for a specific room or room type when it reaches the maximum allowed for a given date.

 For example, if you have 4 single rooms and 4 guests each book one for January 1, 2024, the system won’t let a fifth guest book that room type on January 1, 2024. It will show the date as unavailable and open it for January 2, 2024 if at least one guest checks out that day. Otherwise, the room becomes available on the first date a guest checks out.

You can also set seasons with a different maximum number of bookings or different room prices. For example, if a room costs $100 a night and you want to charge more in July, you set up a July season at, say, $120. Then anyone booking the room for July at any time of year pays $120 a night, while a booking for June or August is automatically $100.

Sixth: What Refund and Cancellation Policy Should a Hotel Website Have?

Unlike booking engines and OTA platforms, your own hotel website follows your hotel’s terms and conditions entirely. The hotel sets its own booking, cancellation and refund policies and isn’t tied to conditions it doesn’t want.

The hotel can offer a full refund on cancellation, a partial refund, or no refund at all. As we said, the hotel is fully in control of its terms.

The Key Factors to Consider When Designing a Hotel Website

Designing a hotel website means paying attention to several key factors that affect the user experience and conversions. Here are the most important:

1. Ease of use: the hotel’s website should be easy to use and well organized, so visitors can quickly find the information they need and book quickly and easily.
2. Attractive design: an attractive design reflects the hotel’s identity and strengths, so colors, photos and graphics should make the site distinctive and eye-catching.
3. Availability and security: the site must be available and safe to use, protecting users’ personal and financial information. A hotel website gets this security through good website hosting, security certificates, encryption and secure protocols.
4. Good content: clear, useful content about the hotel, rooms, facilities and services helps visitors understand everything you offer. The content should be available in several languages for international guests, and it should be optimized for search engines to help the site appear in search results.
5. Responsive design: a site built to work on every device lets guests browse, book and ask questions easily from any phone, tablet or computer.
6. Interactive features: options such as virtual tours help improve the visitor experience and encourage bookings.
7. Search and filters: easy, comfortable browsing, with clearly organized menus, buttons and links, plus advanced search and filters, helps visitors find exactly what suits their needs.
8. Regular updates: update the hotel website regularly with new information, special offers and improvements to attract more visitors and improve their experience.

The Most Important Features a Hotel Website Should Have

Any good hotel website has features that give users a positive experience and help the hotel reach its goals. Here are the main features every hotel website should have:

1. Easy booking and payment: offer different payment methods, such as credit cards and bank transfer, and different ways to book, such as online, by phone and through a mobile app.

 2.  Photos and videos: clear, high-quality photos and videos of the hotel, rooms, facilities and surrounding area are essential, so visitors get a clear idea of the place before they book.

3. Customer service: ways to reach customer service, such as email, phone and live chat, let users get help whenever they need it.

For example, the Ritz-Carlton website is a great model for hotel websites. It offers a comfortable, easy experience with complete information about the hotel, services, facilities and rooms, along with simple booking and payment and easy ways to contact customer service.

The site also has clear photos and videos of the hotel, facilities and services, and it keeps users’ personal and financial information safe and private. The brand has hotels in many countries around the world, including the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and its website can be reached from anywhere.

Now that we’ve covered the most important features of a hotel website, if you own a hotel and want a strong presence online with all of these features, here’s what Kemetova offers. 

What Kemetova Offers for Hotel Websites

Kemetova offers a range of features so your hotel website meets every requirement:

• Attractive designs and colors for your hotel website.
• A website in more than one language.
• Protection for your information and data.
• A site that works on every screen and device.
• Several ways to show off your hotel’s photos and videos.
• A search engine-friendly website.
• An online payment system.

If you’re now wondering how much a hotel website costs, you’ll find everything you need to know about website design costs here, whether you want an informational site or a booking website.

How to Increase Visits and Bookings on Your Hotel Website

Look at any group of hotels and you’ll see some getting more and more bookings while others don’t. So what makes the difference?

 There are several ways to bring more visitors to your hotel:

1. Better digital marketing: online ads, such as search ads, social media ads and text and image ads, can drive traffic to your hotel website and highlight new offers and benefits.
2. Standout services: offering unique services or features, such as a spa, gym or fine-dining restaurants, can make your hotel more tempting.
3. A better guest experience: improve the experience inside the hotel, including comfort, cleanliness and high-quality service, so guests enjoy a relaxing, memorable stay.
4. Competitive prices: keeping your rates competitive with other hotels in the area is essential for attracting more guests.
5. Working with travel agencies: partnering with travel agencies and offering special deals and discounts brings more visitors to the hotel.
6. Better reviews: improving your ratings on travel websites and apps builds trust and brings more visitors.

Overall, focus on delivering high-quality service and improving your services and features to attract more guests.

The Questions Guests Ask Most When Booking a Hotel

If you own a hotel or run a hotel website and want to know what guests usually ask before booking, here are some of the most common questions.

When booking a hotel, many guests want to know:

1. What room options are available?
2. How much does the stay cost, and what’s included?
3. What’s the payment and cancellation policy?
4. Is there free Wi-Fi?
5. Is breakfast or are other meals available?
6. What’s the policy for children?
7. Is there free parking?
8. What facilities does the hotel have?
9. Is there an airport transfer service?
10. What’s the hotel’s pet policy?

These are some of the questions guests commonly ask when booking a hotel. Your hotel should answer them clearly to give visitors a great stay. In general, guests ask them to judge whether the hotel suits their needs and to get the details that make booking and staying easy and comfortable. 

Guests may also ask about other services the hotel offers, such as entertainment, sightseeing tours and extra services.

In short, a distinctive, attractive hotel website that ranks well in search engines is crucial for attracting visitors and growing your business, and it plays a vital part in bringing in more guests and making more profit. 

A hotel website should be easy to use and quick to browse, with enough information about the hotel, rooms, services, prices, offers and nearby attractions. The design should be attractive and work on all devices, with features like online booking, secure payment and reviews from past guests. 

The website should also be updated regularly with accurate, up-to-date information. Getting these things right can help your hotel attract online visitors, increase bookings and improve the guest experience.

For more information about building a hotel website, get in touch with the Kemetova team and one of us will get back to you.