In fact, 72% of visitors “CAN ACTUALLY” book directly if they get the best deal.

Pebble Design

But this can happen, if and only if you have an attractive and powerful website for your brand. Although I know, there are many do’s and don’ts surrounding this thought.

So to leave them behind, in this blog I’m going to break down all your misconceptions linked to it and guide you on the importance of owning a hotel website.

What are the myths and facts about having a hotel website?

It’s not unusual for people to get the wrong idea about having a brand website. But, my question stands, should it continue to be that way? Shouldn’t the truth be revealed?

Definitely a NO to the first and a BIG YES to the next. Right?!

If you notice, the sudden shift of digitalization has led people to spend more time on the hotel’s website; exploring its beauty, location, and amenities.

On the other hand, the COVID19 pandemic has left everyone to build their bucket list and explore everything on the web; thereby making online presence a pressing priority.

Without further ado, here are the nine crazy beliefs about owning a hotel website that you should stop trusting right away!

Myth #1: Brand websites do not provide any benefits

Nowadays most people search for products and services online. However, it’s untrue to believe that a web presence is essential if and only if you are one of them or sell such things.

Without having an online presence, you wouldn’t be able to represent your business properly; leaving a question mark on your trust factor as well.

A majority of hoteliers still feel websites are just a liability to their business as they are unaware of the importance.

Fact #1: Websites enhance your brand’s online presence

Online presence has become the talk of the town these days and it is no secret that online presence = brand awareness. 

Thus, if you don’t have one, you are definitely left behind by your competitors. 

In fact, most marketing experts agree, how you present your brand online will gain you similar outcomes. 

Creating an online brand presence is about capturing the attention of your targeted audience. And, a website is a driving factor that helps you to do so. 

Being the first point of contact to know more about your hotel; it creates an identity that is bigger than you to engage, acquire, and attract more guests online. 

Myth #2: You do not get any conversions from a website

Hotel owners suffer from a misguided expectation that their website will automatically start attracting visitors the moment it is published. 

Also, some are of the view that it is difficult to gain visitors online, as OTAs have more power and it is tough to compete with them. 

This is because they expect that, since they’ve invested money to build a website, bookings should naturally start flowing in. 

But, it’s not that simple! Marketing for any brand does take time. And, once your website goes live, it’s time you start promoting.

Fact #2: Hotel websites drive direct bookings and generate higher revenue

Every hotel’s goal is to sell more rooms and maximize their profit. Having a stunning website helps you to drive in more visitors to it and eventually turn them into bookers.

The websites created with a website builder solution, often comprise a lot many features namely looker to booker widgets, promotional discounts to highlight, themes, and more.

Making the right use of them and integrating your website to a booking engine makes it even simpler for you to drive more direct bookings and thereby enhance your revenue.

It gives your visitors the freedom to check rooms, availability, and rates on a real-time basis thus allowing them to book their stay directly from your hotel’s websites.

Myth #3: Website requires a lot of maintenance

As a hotel owner, you would want to use your time wisely. And, many have the false opinion that, once their website is built they’d have to invest a lot of time and effort in maintaining it.

Also believing that, they would’ve to regularly check and update its content, photos, videos, as well as nurture its online presence.

All the more, their biggest concern lies in the to and fro to contact the web designer for minor changes and the additional cost that is incurred behind it.

Fact #3: Website creators are easy-to-use and user-friendly 

Nowadays, creating a website and maintaining it is just like a walk in the park. Thanks to the newest technology and the emerging option of DIY (do it yourself).

This means anybody who has little or rather no knowledge about coding can easily manage their website and make updates as required.

The website builder solutions provide you a simple and user-friendly option of drag and drop that requires no added costs, time, and efforts.

It allows you to add or remove any page you wish to on your website, showcase any new offerings, and promote your business in the best possible manner.

TIP: eZee Panorama is one such solution that provides all of these features.

Myth #4: You get poor search engine results 

If you think you can get your website ranked on the first page of the search engine results overnight, then you’re surely fooling yourself. 

Consider your business to be very lucky if you quickly rank as the number one website. Besides, getting a better ranking is just like playing in the stock market.

The traffic patterns are hard to judge and you cannot expect that once you’ve built your website you would naturally rank well and improve your reach without any marketing efforts.

Fact #4: Having a brand website enables stronger organic reach 

Building a strong website definitely has an edge over your competitors as it provides you to acquire better SEO results.

Currently, website makers are offering on-page SEO to help you rank better and improve your brand image. 

However, the organic value of your website will need some time and marketing to pick up the steam.

Besides, it makes your website become more discoverable if you promote and link your social media channels correctly to it.

Myth #5: Custom made websites are better than template websites

Many people are afraid to create a website because they lack the required knowledge and imagination. 

Apart from that, most hoteliers believe, customized websites are expensive and give more value to their business than the pre-designed templates. 

This is because many other businesses might be using the same templates, that won’t help your brand to stand out from your competitors.

They prefer to create a website from scratch believing that customized websites are adaptable to the hotel’s requirements.

Fact #5: Pre-designed templates provide a better look and feel to your website

The reality is, these pre-designed templates are exclusively created by experts who have good knowledge of your business and consider all your requirements.

They make such options available to save your time and energy in designing a completely new website from scratch. 

Templates are the simplest way to get a beautiful website built with a design that perfectly reflects your brand personality.

Website makers provide you various options to choose from and allow you to select or combine any of the templates you wish to.

Not only that, but also they give you a broader idea of what all features your website should include.

Myth #6: Websites are not responsive on all devices

A well-designed website might be visually appealing, but it won’t necessarily account for an increase in sales unless it is responsive on all devices.

Hotel businesses cater to an ample number of customers who could make their booking from any type of device they use.

And, often while they experience low bookings, they blame their website’s unresponsive design. 

They believe the clickable elements which look great on a desktop might not be as appealing on other smaller devices like a phone or a tablet.

Fact #6: They look best on any device and deliver a better visitor experience

At present more than half of the web traffic comes from smartphones. Thus, solution providers ensure to design a website that adapts the layout, content, and design of any device.

This enables your websites to attract and convert more guests online by giving them a delightful experience.

Adding on, these days most software providers give a free demo on how your website would look like on all types of devices such as a desktop, mobile, laptop, and tablet.

Myth #7: No ownership on your website data

Data security has always been a big concern for hoteliers. By creating a beautiful website for the brand, their main question lies upon “Who has the control on my data?”

What if I want to make any updates or remove any information from my website, will I have the power to make such changes? 

And there arises double thoughts on owning a website, believing that they have no ownership on their data information.

Fact #7: You get complete control over your website and data

You don’t necessarily have to worry about your hotel’s data. With the fear of a security breach, most website makers provide an SSL certificate to secure your online information.

Besides, they give you complete ownership of your website and the freedom to perform any edits on your own.

Be rest assured as your content is 100% yours – from the images to the domain, forms, links, and everything in between.

Myth #8: You can’t build a beautiful website without appointing a professional web designer

Often we assume, nothing turns out fruitful unless you invest in it. Likewise, this belief isn’t wrong.

Instead, most small businesses overlook having their own brand website, because of the additional investment of a web designer.

But, considering Fact #5, with pre-designed templates it becomes much easier to create a perfect website for your brand.

On the contrary, 

Fact #8: Website makers design and deliver a perfect website for your brand

Understanding the additional expense of a web designer, most website builder solutions now come with a dedicated web designer all-inclusive in their pricing plans.

They guide you through which templates could look best for your brand, the themes that resonate with it and build a perfect website that your needs.

eZee Panorama is one such solution that completely takes care of all these requirements and ensures to deliver the best website for your brand.

Myth #9: Website builder solutions are expensive than local web designers

Hoteliers commonly believe that website builder solutions include many features and so are more expensive than local designers or web design agencies.

On the other hand, such designers can help you to create and maintain brand identity; but are definitely unaware of your target market as well as the domain knowledge.

To give you a broader idea, here’s a comparison chart on why website builder solutions are better than local web designers.

Fact #9: They provide you various features at an extremely affordable price

It’s just the hype which makes hotel owners believe that purchasing a software incurs more expenses. 

But, the fact stands that, these solutions provide you higher benefits and are exclusively designed as per your brand requirements.

Besides, in reality, website builder solutions are much lighter on your pocket compared to other local designers. 

They are easy-to-go and deliver your hotel’s website within less than a week; covering all your technical aspects as well.

By far, I hope I’ve been able to debunk all your myths on owning a hotel website, although I understand that these might leave a few unanswered questions in your mind.

Let’s get them solved.

FAQs

Conclusion

My personal advice would be to leave all your myths behind and give your brand its own unique identity. 

I know, before making any decision, research is important and you would definitely do that; but do not wait any longer.

Creating an online presence usually takes months or even years to really establish, so better late than never. 

Remember one thing, in the end, all it requires is trust. Trust yourself that you’re making great decisions for your business to walk on the right track.

I hope these facts have tickled your mind. Do let me know how this turned out for you (via comments), and if you need any guidance to understand them better.

It’s time to give your brand, a new face!

The post 9 Biggest Myths and Facts About Owning a Hotel Website appeared first on eZee Absolute.

I was working as a business development manager (BDM) for a reputation management firm. As a part of my role, I was supposed to meet the key decision-makers at the hotel.

Once I was pitching the reputation management software to the owner of a renowned hotel in a remote location. And this is what he said :

“All these software are almost the same. We took a PMS almost a year back and investing in a software to manage review is not something we need. My hotel’s staff replies to the feedback we receive. Plus, I don’t feel these reviews have much effect on our business.”

I was taken aback at the response and began to wonder how people can have such notions. In fact, when I met a few more hoteliers, I realised that they are plunged into a deep sea of misconceptions. 

And it’s not just about the reviews, there are various myths in the hotel industry that create hurdles for hotels.

In this blog, I’ll debunk some of those infamous hospitality industry myths and share the reality behind them.

Widely Believed Myths in the Hotel Industry

Talking about the commonly believed myths in the hotel industry, most of them are pertaining to technological aspects and marketing strategies. The reason could be lack of knowledge, word of mouth, or reading and understanding half-baked information from the internet. 

Let’s take a look at some of the widely accepted myths in the hotel industry that need to be busted right now.

1. Myth: Technology will take away jobs

There’s no doubt that technology has made our lives easier. However, one of the common myths about technology in hotels is that it will take away hoteliers’ jobs. 

For instance, many hoteliers believe that robots will replace human staff in hotels, leading to a scarcity of jobs in the hospitality industry.

Truth:- 

First of all, you need to understand that technology is just a tool that makes our lives easier. Let me explain it with an example.

PMS is a tool that is helpful in effectively managing hotel operations. One of the important tasks in any property is maintaining guest records. Now, before PMS came into existence, this task was done manually.

The automation brought by PMS has made this task simpler. There are various software that can capture data just by scanning OCR code.  This helped in saving a lot of time for hotel staff and they can focus more on improving guest experience. Plus it didn’t take away the jobs of the front office staff.

Similarly, by adopting various technological solutions at your property, you can make your processes easy and efficient.  

2. Myth: Investing in revenue management is expensive and futile

Talking about revenue management systems (RMS) and revenue managers, it’s no doubt that they help in improving hotels’ business. However, there are certain myths about revenue management. Among them the common ones are: 

• RMS or hiring revenue managers is a costly matter.
• It is only necessary for luxury and high budget hotels. 

Let me tell you the reality about them.

Truth:

See, the factual reality is that revenue management is a MUST for hotels. Be it having a system, hiring a revenue manager, or both. Furthermore, revenue management not only aids in boosting a property’s bottom line but also helps in finding the loopholes. 

Not to mention, there are various RMS providers with flexible pricing plans that help you go lighter on your wallet. They create customised plans as per your requirements, property size, average tariff, and other such aspects. This means that even if you are a budget property, you can invest in RMS without burning a hole in your pocket. 

3. Myth: Giving maximum discount can increase bookings

I have seen many hoteliers saying that guests book properties with slashed up tariffs or ones that offer extremely low rates. That’s because of the heavy discounts given by OTAs and aggregators.

Truth:

I would say this is partially true. I mean, giving discounts is definitely a good strategy to attract guests. But the question is up to what extent?

For example, OTAs generally tend to give a discount of 50-60%. This, when clubbed with bank offers, the amount paid by the guests is slashed drastically.

Now for hotels, giving such deals and discounts is literally not possible. There are two reasons:

1. It would incur a terrible loss.
2. Guests will demand such discounts while booking the property again.

If you want to give discounts, I’d suggest doing it in the form of packages. That’s because when you club certain additional things like a meal plan, discount on paid services, or activities, the rates seem more valuable to guests.

Thus, when they compare direct rates and the ones on OTAs, the weightage of packages would be more. Alternatively, if you want to give discounts on bookings, you can use the commission amount or percentage of tariff which is charged by the 3rd party platforms.

4. Myth: OTAs are better than direct bookings

It’s no secret that OTA’s drive a good amount of bookings. But, this point has made many hoteliers believe guests book only from OTAs, and the scope of direct booking is negligible, leading to a debate about OTA vs direct bookings.

Truth:

To be honest, OTAs do drive maximum bookings. However, they act as a mediator between guests and hotels. And these days, hotels are more concerned about their relationship with guests. 

So, the guests need to contact the respective OTA if they have any issues with the property. But because of this elongated communication process, the resolution of the same does take time.

Due to this, the guest experience is hampered. Hence before booking any property, travelers connect with that hotel’s reception to see if they can get better rates, upgrades, additional facilities, or for generic queries. Trust me, I also do this.

Here’s a statistic shared by Guest Centric in their ‘Hotelier Pulse Report’ that will act as a cherry on the cake,

 Direct bookings have grown exponentially by 78% in 2021 compared to 2019. 

So, you see that direct bookings are definitely winning over OTAs. All you need to do is maintain the right balance while distributing your hotel’s room inventory. 

5. Myth: Do what your competitors are doing

Often hoteliers believe that copying what their compset is offering is the right thing to do. They think it would help in attracting the guests of the competitors. And this is not just limited to offers, it applies to marketing strategies as well.

Truth:

I know, you might be wondering that I’ve written in most of the blogs to learn from your compset. But what I meant was TAKING A CUE; not blindly following what they are doing.

See, every hotel has its own uniqueness. Be it in terms of room interior, facilities, offerings, services, and other such aspects. Based on these factors, they have different tariff structures as well as annual revenue goals. Hence, the strategies or deals used by them may or may not work for you.

As a matter of fact, these days guests look for hotels providing a unique experience. So, I’m not asking you to avoid competitors, all I’m saying is to use your specialties to get an edge over your compset.

6. Myth: Reviews and reputation management are not important 

As I said initially in this blog, many hoteliers assume that reviews don’t hold enough importance in terms of increasing a property’s booking flow. They think reviewing websites are partial when it comes to guests’ feedback.

Many of them even believe that replying to reviews is futile, as viewers checking out the property believe in the feedback rather than understanding the real scenario behind it. 

Also, there is another myth in the hotel industry that reputation management tools help only in replying to reviews.

Truth:

Feedback in hotels is as important as critic reviews about any movie. Everyone has different experiences about a property (positive and negative). Now, these reviews act like a mirror to guests who are looking forward to booking that hotel. 

Here are some stats by TripAdvisor for backing up my statement,

• Around 96% of travelers believe that reviews are an important factor while researching a hotel.
• 91% millennials trust online reviews, just like they consider a personal recommendation.
• Up to 85% travelers agree that a logical and honest response on reviews denotes hotel’s thoughtfulness and improves the overall impression of the property.

Now, talking about the reputation management software, it does help in collecting and showing the reviews from every online booking portal. However, there are various other important tasks it can help you with. This includes,

• Review analysis
• Online reputation score calculator
• Review flagging
• Hotel’s online performance report
• Analysing and providing areas with the scope of improvement

7. Myth: One marketing campaign can cater to all guest segments

I don’t know who started this, but I’ve heard hoteliers saying to digital marketing agencies, “Create one marketing template and share with us. We will promote it among all the guests with the data we have.”

As a matter of fact, I’ve received calls from many people asking me to create a marketing template for their guests. Since I was aware of how marketing works, I tried to convince them that the same template won’t work for all the guests. To which their reply was, and I quote,

“All the guests are the same. You just create one attractive ad/template/content for our property. Mention all the good things, offers, and amenities. We’ll take care of the rest.”

Well, in the end, I did as asked. I’ll tell you what happened next, after uncovering the reality behind this myth.

Truth:

Firstly, not all guests are the same. Every traveler has a different comfort zone, requirements, purpose of travel, budget, and other such aspects. 

Before you invest in a marketing campaign, you need to learn about understanding your guest segment. Once you do that, you should be investing in vivid marketing campaigns, either personalised or mass marketing.

Secondly, every campaign has to be unique and MUST highlight the points that can cater to the particular guest segment. For example, if you have an influx of business travellers, ensure that you focus on services like Wi-Fi, half board meal plan, and conference room facilities. 

Now, let’s talk about the story I told earlier. I received a callback from those hoteliers stating that the campaign didn’t give the expected results. And they agreed to go ahead with my suggestion with required tweaks.

8. Myth: All software are same

There’s another common myth in the hotel industry that all the software is one and the same. Like I said in the beginning of the blog, hoteliers feel that every software has the similar benefits and usage. And investing in a single one can cater to all the aspects of a hotel.

Truth:

How? I mean, how is it possible? Here’s a simple reference of PMS and channel manager for everyone’s understanding.

As I said earlier in this blog, PMS is property management software that assists in managing operations of your property, such as payment updates, bill posting, accepting bookings, settling guest folios, and so on. 

On the other hand, the channel manager automatically updates your room inventory in real-time on all sites.

I hope you got the difference. I know there are thousands of hospitality products in the market, and one might think that they are all the same. But in reality all are different and service specific purposes in the hotels.

9. Myth: Building a website is costly and time-consuming

I would have believed in this if we were living in the early ’20s. Because at that time, having an internet facility was no less than a luxury in hotels. During those days, building a website was a tough task as it required a lot of knowledge in coding and graphic designing. 

But believing that building a website these days is costly and time-consuming is just one of the common myths in the hotel industry. Let me tell you why.

Truth:

Nowadays, there are multiple self-help software that can assist you in building a website easily. They even offer customisable themes that can make your website look attractive. 

In fact, the websites are pre optimised for necessary features like white spacing, website map, CTA (Call to action) buttons and so on. Additionally, many website builders have an option of easy updates, where the admin can directly post any marketing campaign, blog, articles, or offer through WhatsApp and email. 

As far as the costing is concerned, there are website builders that have flexible payment policies. And most of them even offer a free trial. 

It’s time that you stop believing in this myth and build your hotel’s website, RIGHT NOW.

10. Myth: Star category can be updated as per guest ratings

When I used to work in an OTA, I had an argument with a hotelier over star ratings. According to him, the property was a 4 star, since guests had given it an average rating of 4 star on every portal.

This is one of the common myths in the hotel industry that the star category can be updated according to guest ratings.

Truth:

First of all, ratings and star categorisation are two different things. When you say ratings, they are provided by the guests to your hotel and the services as per their experience. And it does not certify the stay category of your property.

The star categorisation of hotels is done by the governing bodies of the hospitality industry in each country. It depends on certain factors, like room amenities, services, room inventory, location, and so on. 

This star categorisation also decides the rack rate of a property. So, if you have updated an incorrect star rating based on user/guests reviews, you need to change it now.

11. Myth: Working with hotel aggregators is not at all feasible

I’ve kept this myth for the final showdown. ‘Working with hotel aggregators is profitable or not’, is one of the trending topics in the hospitality industry.

Some say it’s good, while others say it’s a loss. But the question is, what is the truth?

Truth:

I’ve already done a detailed article on hotel aggregators and in that, I’ve mentioned the pros and cons of working with them.

There’s no doubt that aggregators are profitable since they solicit hotels by giving them a fixed monthly revenue for the leased out inventory. In case they take the entire property on lease, they do renovate it as per their requirements at their own costs. Moreover, they take care of training the staff as well, to improve the guest experience. 

As they say, every coin has two sides. This applies to aggregators as well. Many hotels have reported cases of delayed payments and the market being changed drastically, owing to the meager tariffs offered by 3rd party property managers.

So, whilst you chose your side, it’s important that you brush aside the myth that working with aggregators is not feasible.

The post 11 Myths in The Hotel Industry Debunked With Facts and Figures appeared first on eZee Absolute.