It's time to kick the old Frommer's guides and outdated maps to the curb and start using your hotel standalone website as a one-stop shop for guests seeking area info. They already skimmed through your website while searching for hotels in the area and then booked a room online. Now, start positioning the site as a helpful tool for the guest to reference while staying at the hotel.
Hoteliers may look at a standalone site as a booking engine, where a YOY increase in revenue is the only good news to come from an online marketer's mouth. However, I challenge you to exceed guest expectations by using your standalone site as a tool for guest satisfaction during their stay. From identifying points of interest within the hotel to explaining local transportation and highlighting nearby events, you can transform your hotel's website into an experience engine that guests can use throughout their stay.
How To Rethink Your Website Content
Beyond making tweaks and updates to the site that are valuable from an SEO standpoint, begin thinking about the kind of content that your guests will find useful and actually want to read. Valuable information to feature on your standalone site includes:
- Area Attractions & Local Events: I always highly suggest building out a comprehensiveThings to Do page on hotel websites. From a marketing standpoint, not only will your keyword strategy benefit from these area guide pages, but a Things to Do page will also allow your property to better connect with local partners and guests. From area attractions to shopping and entertainment, there is always something nearby that can pique guests' interests before and during their stay. Perhaps you have crafted a detailed landing page about the best Honky-Tonk bars nearby with your expert insider tips. Transform what was perhaps initially intended only for search engine performance into something valuable for guests by leaving the page up on an iPad at the front desk.
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Do your guests need a BART route map while in the San Francisco Bay area? They can easily find a public transit map on your standalone site that also marks your hotel's location. If your site's layout is mobile optimized, they will have an easy-to-use map at their fingertips throughout their stay.
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Your guests will appreciate your team's insider knowledge. Make sure the front desk staff and concierge are aware of what is available on the website so that they can point out the information available to a guest on-the-go versus sifting through a pile of flyers and maps.
- Local Partnerships: Are you closely aligned with local organizations and attractions that guests may be interested in during their travels? Your guests will find it useful to be able to book tickets to these partnering attractions right on your hotel's site. As a hotelier, you likely receive discounts or complimentary tickets to some area sites that you can offer to guests exclusively on your website. I suggest crafting a page–possibly an expansion of the Things to Do page–on your standalone site that asks guest to inquire directly on your site about these local activities. Direct guests to contact your sales staff or concierge desk when booking a limo for a bachelorette party, a day trip to a nearby vineyard, or spa services. This content is not only helpful as guests book their stay, but also during their stay as they make last minute local arrangements.
There's more… Continue reading the full article on the Blue Magnet Interactive Blog
