How to Prevent Common Mistakes When Managing Your Hotel Website


First impression is everything. It is a compulsory for a hotel to pay attention on the infrastructure, right after the service itself. Including when managing hotel website, some hotels think that website comes last after infrastructure and service.  Moreover, in the current hotel industry where many hotels are striving to have the best innovative concept hotel, the infrastructure is a significant determinant. Many hotels are competing in making desirable hotel concept as the current people’s need are growing and become more specific. It is indeed the first physical thing that pop into the people’s mind when judging the hotel’s personality, whether it suits the their personality or not.

But do you know that the first decisive point for customer on choosing hotel is not your infrastructure nor service you offer?

Customers choose hotel that suits them best from the first journey they encounter to get to know your hotel. It could be from word-of-mouth, the advertising they have seen, or from review sites.The most common mistake that is often being overlooked when managing hotel website is the way hoteliers present their hotel in the website.

Managing hotel website is not very simple
Many think that the impression in the internet is nothing compared to the real experience customer would get in the reality. The context is that your hotel’s website doesn’t affect how the costumer see your hotel. It’s one thing hoteliers often not paying attention to. Just like human being, your hotel’s website is the persona that your hotel has on the internet. Making it good, engaging, enticing, informative and well-equipped is a must. How could they possibly know how good the service you offer, or how unique your hotel is, if they are not attracted in the first place? In the era where the most used platform is gadgets, giving a head start is substantial. By managing hotel website maximally, you are one step ahead in getting attention from the customers. A single wrong impression could make you lose your potential customer.

What can you avoid?
So what are those mistakes? Here Caption gives you example of 6 common mistakes when managing hotel website. Hopefully you don’t have to experience the same mistakes.

1. Slow or unresponsive website
What possibly could happen when people load a post or a page, and it loads very slow? They will give up, unless you have the top star hotel that people won’t search for another choice. Minimize the trouble that your potential customer would encounter when they visit your hotel’s website. A slow or not responsive website is a big no.

On the average, people usually wait until maximum 4 seconds for a page to load.
Another thing that you need to put into consideration is choosing the file size of the photos. Photo size has a huge deal in making your website slower or faster. You need to compress your photo stocks before uploading it. The other common hotel mistakes when managing hotel website is that the hoteliers tend to show many angle of a single room. You don’t need to show everything about the rooms. The problem of showing too many picture is that it makes the site slower to display.

2. Bad user interface
Customers love to be understood. To understand, meaning we know what they want and how to deliver what they want. People nowadays fond of a simple, easy-to-navigate, and clear website. The experience on your hotel’s website interface determine how people perceive your hotel personality. You can offer the most unique, complete-amenities, and best hotel personalization.

Your website interface, however, will determine how likely people wanted to stay at your website and explore the information that your website offers.
The key is to keep it minimal. The simpler, the better. Make a nice and comfortable user interface, not only for navigation, but also for beauty. Discuss with your web and content developer on how to make a simple yet informative website. Try to customize the icon, navigation button, graphics, effects and the flow of the interface.

3. Unclear information
Whether it is too much information or too little information, both are confusing. Try to make a clear statement of every bit of information you give. But simple doesn’t mean you have to cut the crucial information of your hotel. People usually jump straight into the key information that they need to compare with another hotel. Common hotel mistakes on giving information is that many hoteliers give many unnecessary information to describe their hotel best. You can stop this action by showing the key information. Keep in mind that the guests searching for what they want and what they need in a simple explanation.

4. Not showing what your hotel has to offer
If you are asked to choose, whether to watch movie in the cinema or in your smartphone, which one do you choose? Which one makes you feel the real atmosphere of the movie? The cinema it is. It works the same with your hotel’s website. How would your customer know how good your hotel, if what they encounter are photo thumbnails or photos with small and bad quality.

Common hotel mistakes when managing hotel website is not showing a good visual presentation of your hotel. But, never oversell.
You can take a good picture by taking photos from good angle with high-end camera, so that your rooms look bigger. Once the guests experience it themselves and they don’t meet their expectation, they won’t come back. In many case, they would give a bad review, and driving more people not to choose your hotel.

5. Doesn’t appear trustworthy
Does your hotel gain good review? If so, do the potential customers know about it? Hoteliers are often overlooked this action. Guests’ review are so powerful, that sometimes it becomes the primary source for some potential customers to decide whether to book or not. It is important to embed your hotel review on the website so that your hotel appear more legitimate and trustworthy. Try to put not only the review your hotel had from the review sites, but also the testimonial from your guests. Put as many as good reviews and testimonials you could get from your guests. Apart from that, listen carefully on what your guests have to say. Their comments and critics can turn into opportunities for improvement.

6. Unclear direct booking guide
If the customer already in the phase where they like your hotel, but don’t proceed to book, that’s gonna be your fault. Common hotel mistakes on direct booking is that the hoteliers don’t give a clear information about how to book the room directly. Even though a lot of modern traveller today using online travel agent to book their room, some of them still do it manually. Don’t be too difficult to be contacted via telephone. Be responsive, and have someone that is ready to answer the call 24/7. If you can’t do it, at least do a direct follow-up regarding the booking within minutes. An immediate e-mail confirmation after the booking is important. The longer you make them wait, the more likely it is that they’ll book another hotel.

So what’s the next step?
The guests journey already start far before they reach your property. Managing hotel website is not hard. Many hoteliers currently using the integrated system to help them manage their properties. These IT consultants for web solution make a more personalized experience for their guests through the systems which enables hotels to bridge the needs and demands of today’s modern traveller.

Their integrated systems such as online booking engine, Point of Sales, Channel Management System, Central Reservation System has been widely used to manage hotel system at ease.

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