9 Biggest Myths and Facts About Owning a Hotel Website

Most leisure travelers make their final decision on a hotel booking by visiting its website. 

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

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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!