Many hoteliers are willing to spend significant amounts on marketing campaigns, flashy advertising, meta search engines, and more, when in reality the first thing to invest in is essentially their own “home”, aka their website.
And honestly, not even needing too much investment.
Why is this so important? Because we can spend a lot of money trying to bring people and generate traffic to our site, but if our website doesn’t work properly, it’s like a leaking sink: we keep pouring water in, but if the sink continues to leak, it never fills up.
Consequently, focusing on just a few simple improvements to the quality of the site can make a big difference.
Often, the mistake is made of thinking that giving the management or development of the site to a freelancer or marketing agency means they know how to create websites effectively.
While this line of thinking is understandable, it’s not necessarily true. So, ensure you have these four things I’m about to list and pay attention to them.
If you already have them in place, you’re off to a good start; if not, then that should be your top priority in your overall marketing strategy.
1) Above the fold
The first point is what’s called “above the fold.”
The term comes from journalism since newspapers used to be folded and the top part was considered, indeed, above the fold; it was what could be seen without having to open or extend the newspaper.
In digital terms it similarly means what could be seen without any scrolling.
We want bookings, right? Metaphorically, asking users to book is akin asking them to marry us.
Since before getting married, we should invite our potential spouse out for a date.
That’s what the above the fold is for: a tool to ask them out.
It is crucial to persuade the person in front of us that we can offer them something interesting.
Often, I see hotels that have barely any text, relying only on images, and sometimes even just a few.
When there is text, it’s often wasted with phrases like “Welcome to Hotel [Name]” or “Welcome to [City Name].”
While these aren’t negative, they are neutral and don’t take full advantage of the above-the-fold space, which is the most important area for capturing attention.
Instead, use this space to state your promise and help your potential customers picture what they’ll be experiencing if they choose you. For example, something like The luxury and relaxation you were looking for.
It doesn’t directly talk about you (the hotel), it talks about them (the customer). In fact, your hotel should just be functional to what they really want: luxury and relax.
Furthermore, the true role of the above-the-fold content isn’t to ask users to commit immediately (although a clear call-to-action for booking is essential).
Instead, it’s to encourage them to keep reading. The copy should entice users to continue exploring the website until they are ready to commit.
2) Call to actions
Another key aspect is the call-to-action (CTA).
Fortunately, this is an area where many excel. The “Book Now” or “Check Availability” CTAs are effective, although I prefer the latter as it’s softer and aligns better with our earlier analogy about asking someone to marry us.
If a user isn’t yet ready to book, we can offer two CTAs: one for booking/checking availability, and another that serves as a metaphorical invitation for a date.
This could be something like “Discover our city guide” or “Explore the top 10 things to see in our city.”
Offering a more casual option can help keep users engaged until they are ready to commit.
In essence, we are asking for a sort of second or third date with those who are not yet ready to commit to us.
3) Creatives: Images and Videos
The third point involves stunning images or videos.
If you need to save money, do so on curtains, linens, or other items, but never skimp on the quality of images and videos.
These visuals must necessarily be of high quality, especially when placed on a web page or above the fold.
I’m not talking about the images you might post on social media; those can be more amateur.
However, these images should not primarily focus on selling the building or representing it since we, as a hotel, do not sell the building itself.
Instead, we provide an experience within a particular context. People come to us for a vacation or trip rather than for the hotel itself.
So showcasing that type of content, even if it’s not directly related to our hotel structure, works well.
4) Wording
The fourth point is to use few but effective words.
People don’t read websites; they scan them.
Reading requires significant mental effort because we see words composed of letters which form words that are stored in our brains and decoded.
This process may seem lengthy and indeed it is, even though it happens in microseconds. So reading is quite demanding.
As a result, people tend to scan what they see.
The less we write and the more concise our message is, the more impact it will have. That’s why bullet points are valuable: they visually organize information and make the content more digestible for users who are reading.
