Content and user experience are key variables that can drive online consumers to one site over another. However, it is important to keep in mind that because travel shoppers visit so many sites and are touched by so many promotional contacts in the run-up to a booking, a presence on multiple sites and at multiple consumer touch points is likely to be appropriate. The following are 10 points to keep in mind:
Compelling Content
Make your content compelling and relevant, whether it is on your own website or syndicated to many other sites where you have a presence. Investing in great content is a highly effective differentiator given the number of hotel websites from which a traveler can choose. Content is a form of merchandising and should be developed with that in mind. Look at Roomkey.com, Google Hotel Finder or the Regatta search engine (for CVBs) as examples of how a hotel’s content can be distributed and plugged in to external sites where users want a range of options. The consumer books using the hotel booking engine, but may find a point of entry to this content on another site, recognizing that any effort spent on content should take into account both the content on the hotel’s website as well as what consumers may see elsewhere on the shopping path.
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