Want more direct bookings? Start thinking of your hotel website as an e-commerce site, not a brochure. If hotels want to succeed in a digital economy, hotel managers and marketers will need to embrace the key principles of e-commerce and apply them to their hotel websites. These principles include user experience, conversion triggers, and the travelers’ booking journey.

1. 3 key e-commerce principles
to optimize your hotel website
Start thinking of your hotel website as an e-commerce business.

2. If hotels want to succeed in a digital economy, hoteliers will need to
embrace the key principles of e-commerce and apply them to their
hotel websites.
THESE PRINCIPLES INCLUDE
User Experience Conversion Triggers Traveler Booking Funnel

3. E-commerce principle #1:
Mastering user experience
User experience refers to how users utilize
and interact with your hotel website to achieve
the intended outcome.

4. Simple, intuitive design
across all devices
This is important given the amount of travel research
and bookings that now take place across various devices.
Clear Navigation Easy-To-Find Information A Strong Call To Action
THIS MEANS HAVING:

5. Constant A/B testing
Websites need to be constantly updated and subtly tweaked to ensure
consumers remain highly engaged throughout the shopping experience.
A/B testing helps to improve upon the design and user experience.
A/B testing is the process that involves
comparing different versions of the same
page in order to see which one converts best.

6. Personalizing
the shopping experience
Hotels can now explore the advantages of e-commerce
personalization through technologies like embedded cookies
and marketing automation.
86% of consumers state that
personalization impacts that
purchases they make online.

7. E-commerce principle #2:
Employing conversion triggers
Conversion triggers are powerful tools
used at pivotal points in the booking
process to convince travelers
to make a booking.

8. A sense of urgency
Increasing the desirability of a product and making it
appear limited in supply is a powerful conversion
tactic that helps drive more bookings.
Beyond creating a sense of scarcity, letting
customers know that a hotel is popular and in high
demand also acts as a form of social proof.
EXPIRES IN 3 MIN

9. User reviews and social proof
Successful e-commerce sites
understand the importance of user
reviews and integrates them into the
shopping experience. According to
studies, 88% of customers look at
reviews before making a purchase.
Booking engine technology now enables hotels to
take advantage of these types of conversion triggers,
including social proof and reviews.

10. Best rate guarantees
This involves offering to match, beat or refund the
difference of a lower price found elsewhere after the
booking has been made.
At the end of the day, consumers just want the best price.
Major hotel brands encourage bookings using best rate guarantees.

11. E-commerce principle #3:
Understanding the traveler booking
funnel
Understanding the traveler booking funnel is key in
driving your hotel website’s digital marketing strategy.
Even the most well-designed and well-optimized
hotel website means nothing if travelers can’t find it.

12. SEO’s role in travel research
This means:
1. Following best practices for local SEO (different than regular SEO).
2. Making sure that you’ve got plenty of reviews for your hotel.
3. Keeping your Google Business Listing up to date.
As travelers research dozens of different hotels, it’s
important that your hotel is properly indexed so that it
will show up in key areas such as Google’s hotel search.

13. Ad retargeting to stay top-of-mind
This can be an effective tool for keeping your hotel
top-of-mind for consumers while they are in the
process of making their final decision.
Travelers may take weeks or months to research hotels
before booking. During that time, hotels can target them
with ad retargeting, where they will see ads from hotel
sites they’ve visited as they browse other sites.

14. Closing the deal with SEM
By strategically bidding on the right keywords in SEM,
hotels can boost their direct bookings on their site.
When travelers are finally ready to book, they will do
a Google search for the hotel name. Strategic search
engine marketing can ensure that a hotel lands in one
of the top positions on a search engine results page.

15. It’s time for hotels to become
e-commerce experts
If hotels want their websites to compete, they will
need to embrace the core principles of e-commerce.
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By finding the right technology partner that can help them
understand the latest techniques and tools available, hotels can:
Strengthen their
hotel website
Increase direct
bookings
Lessen their dependency
on OTAs