Hospitality: why a responsive website matters 🏨🏖️
A responsive hotel website can help you secure higher occupancy rates this season.
As screens get bigger, technology improves and network connections become faster, the online booking process is also evolving at quite a pace.
According to a recent Google study, more than a third of regular travellers who use smartphones to search for hotels and book accommodation say they end up viewing brands negatively if the website experience is slow or confusing.
With this in mind, consumers' trust in your hotel or small holiday accommodation business may not be enough if your website is not responsive and does not work perfectly on mobile.
To win guests over, you need to make browsing your website intuitive and ensure a fast, seamless booking process.
Over recent months, a company specialising in hotel technology has built booking systems for more than 50 big names in the sector. Its specialists were then able to compile some of the most important features that lead to higher purchase conversion rates, while also streamlining the e-commerce journey.
As we approach peak season, with occupancy rates rising exponentially in Portugal, Indigit brings you some of these tips. If you work in hospitality, they will help you understand what to do to improve your website.
1 – Minimise the number of clicks needed to make a booking
Mobile e-commerce design calls for simplicity, speed and convenience, so set yourself a challenge: make the booking process as short as possible and fit it into as few pages or steps as you can. Every unnecessary click will inevitably lower your conversion rate.
2 – Adapt your web design to every smartphone screen
To give you just one example, the iPhone X has a touch-based home control at the bottom of the screen. So do not put the "check availability" button there, as it will make the feature difficult for potential customers to use.
Considering all these points is essential when creating a website. Talk to Indigit if you need to create or improve an e-commerce website for your hotel, rural holiday rental or holiday apartment.
3 – Give customers clear guidance
Many keen internet users and frequent travellers do not want to waste time. If your page does not load in a few seconds or is not intuitive, you will most likely lose tourists or even local guests to competitors.
How can you avoid this? For example, put a numbered list at the top of each page in the booking process, so potential customers know exactly how many pages they need to go through before confirming their booking.
Also, if users click a call to action button and cannot tell that the website is loading, they will leave. They will assume the site is not working properly. Solve these problems with a progress indicator that moves forward as the potential customer goes from page to page.
4 – Limit your colour palette to three colours or fewer
Too many colours do more than make your website design unnecessarily complicated: they also make the user experience less intuitive. Choose colours that suit your type of accommodation or the experiences you offer guests. A web designer can help with this.
Get in touch with Indigit if you need to create or improve this aspect of your website!
5 – Invest in high-quality photography
Photography matters more than ever on any website, and especially for a hotel or other accommodation. It matters even more on mobile websites: photos are already smaller than on a computer screen, so they need to be of the highest quality.
Never forget that a good photograph of a room, swimming pool or tennis court adds credibility to your brand and improves the quality of your website. At the same time, it helps create greater engagement with potential customers.
How many of us have left a page after seeing poor-quality, blurry photos that fail to show what is good about the breakfast buffet, hot tub or sea view? Exactly. To avoid this problem, invest in a good team of photographers and even videographers, so images of your property are of the best possible quality.
6 – Remove every distraction
If any link in the online booking process could distract the customer, do not think twice: remove it. Do not let your new guest, who enjoys travelling with family, get lost along the way. It is vital to complete the booking as soon as possible, in as little time as possible. To do that, engage website visitors immediately and make booking a room, suite or even just Sunday brunch as simple as you can.
7 – Let customers discover the content
To make your page simpler, aim for an ultra-minimalist user experience. In other words, make visitors fall in love with your rental property in Porto, Lisbon or Viana do Castelo, and let them discover the content themselves.
For example, if potential customers want to know more about a particular hotel room feature or see a larger photo, give them the option rather than revealing everything automatically. Keep the main features in the headings and hide the details behind a "see more" button.
8 – Add buttons to contact the hotel directly
This may seem obvious, but you really must make sure your phone number and email address are on the website. Better still, put them in buttons so users can click directly to call or send an email.
9 – Avoid pop-ups at all costs
If pop-up windows are annoying on desktop, they are even worse on the mobile version of a website on the latest smartphones. These "adverts" are often difficult to close because the button is hard to find. That will obviously lead users to leave your website and look for a competitor.
10 – Be careful with the back button
Imagine you are booking a hotel near a picture-perfect beach. The room is wonderful, you have chosen a sea or garden view, added half board or all-inclusive, and have just one step left to complete your booking. Then you remember you want to stay on one of the higher floors. You click "previous step" or "back"... and return to the homepage, losing all your progress.
This must not happen on your website! Make sure any back button only returns to the previous page, not the homepage. If this happens, anyone in a hurry, or simply annoyed by the experience, will quickly leave your site.
11 – Follow the example of social media
Consumers are very used to scrolling down a page to see posts and swiping sideways through a photo carousel to see more products. This is how Facebook and Instagram work, so why not use the same approach to showcase your main rooms and their best features?
12 – Use accurate button labels
Instead of simple messages such as "next", "continue" or "go now", give guests a very clear description of where a particular button will take them.
You can use labels such as "check accommodation availability", "continue to secure checkout" or "select an upgrade".
13 – Avoid tiny links
Remember that many mobile users tap links with their thumbs. If you make links too small, they will struggle to navigate your website, which can once again drastically lower your conversion rate.
The same goes for linked text: the bigger, the better. Make sure text fields are large enough for customers to tap easily with their thumbs.
14 – Use the "hamburger button"
There is a reason modern websites use this button, commonly called a hamburger. It is simple, intuitive and highly visible, as well as being easy to tap.
15 – Choose where to put your most important buttons
Think of it this way: the top third of the screen is hardest to reach with a thumb when someone holds their phone in one hand. Try not to put your most important links there, particularly in the top-left corner, since most people are right-handed.
16 – Keep customer information fields to a minimum
This will also reduce the amount of information on your site, which will in turn improve its speed.
17 – Set up several payment methods
Anything that makes payment easier and more convenient will make your guests happier. Credit cards, MBWay, Paypal or any other method that works well on mobile will increase your hotel or hostel's occupancy rate.
If you do not know how to set up these payment methods on your website, get in touch with Indigit!
18 – Emphasise security
Consumers only book online through their smartphones if they feel comfortable with the brand and the site they are using. Build your credibility by prominently displaying security trust marks.
19 – Enable numeric keyboards for number fields
When customers fill in a field that requires numbers, save them some effort: display a numeric keypad.
20 – Pre-filled fields
Save more time for that family planning a holiday in Bragança or young couple heading to the Algarve in August: use pre-filled fields wherever possible.
Addresses, recognising a bank card type from its number, and filling in a city, district or country all make booking faster. Always think: faster, simpler, easier.
You may well be able to add a few more points to the list we have put together for you. In short, do everything you can to make online booking on your mobile website more seamless. Build your guests' trust in your hotel this summer!
