User Content Highlights Hotel Website Upgrades

 “Both independent hotels and brands realize that websites remain the primary way to promote themselves online,” said Daniel Edward Craig, author and reputation management consultant. “We get distracted by Facebook, Twitter, etc. but we need to make sure we don’t neglect where the conversation is happening.”

To that end, a healthy batch of companies across all segments revamped their sites in recent months while a few more underwent overhauls in recent years. Between 2010 and 2014, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, for example, plans to spend $18 million to boost its online image. The company introduced the latest iteration of its site in January.

Meanwhile, Wyndham Hotel Group has been at work for the last two years to alter websites for all of its brands. A total of 15 new sites have gone live over the last eight months, and the company has more sites in the pipeline.

In addition, Best Western International just completed a comprehensive renovation of its site, and Marriott International, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Choice Hotels International and Accor all made online alterations in recent years.

Customer is king

Nearly every aforementioned company now features customer reviews on its website. While poor reviews in a prominent location could hinder success, it’s a necessary step in keeping up with travel trends, experts say.

“It makes sense because travelers want the whole picture—the good, the bad and the ugly— before booking,” Craig said. “Everything that’s up doesn’t have to be perfect reviews.

“Reviews have become the fourth dimension of making trip decisions—after location, price and brand,” he added.

Gareth Gaston, senior VP of global e-commerce at Wyndham Hotel Group, cited Forrester Research results that show 49% of consumers want to read reviews. That sobering statistic has propelled hoteliers to action—and they’re seeing positive results.

 “Consumers are going to look at reviews anyway, and we don’t want to give them a reason to go somewhere else (for them),” Gaston said. “After adding TripAdvisor ratings and reviews, we saw an increase in conversions by 30%.”

Four Seasons also added TripAdvisor reviews as well as Facebook and Twitter feeds. Going forward, the company plans to integrate visual social media sites Pinterest and Instagram as well.

 “It’s very bold, but it forces the property to shape up,” Craig said. “For hotels, it means if you don’t get your health in order, your business is in more trouble now.”

Hoteliers worried about the impact of negative reviews can prepare for those situations beforehand, said Robert Simon, director of interactive marketing at Four Seasons.

 “We added software to allow hotels to respond directly to the negative reviewers,” he said. “And we created a scorecard to say to the properties, ‘This is how you’re doing’ based on the number of reviews to which the hotel should have responded.”

Officials with Four Seasons properties respond to the reviewers directly, not on the site.

“It’s a direct conversation, not an opportunity to market,” Simon said.

Enhanced experience

Four Seasons upgraded other aspects of its site, too. The company added several languages to accommodate more transactions and it improved the experience on mobile platforms. The company also put a new booking engine and content management system behind the scenes.

“We wanted to be quick, creative and responsive,” Simon said.

To that end, the company created an editorial group—by reprioritizing existing employees—to write stories about each property. Now, each property page includes the hotel’s “story,” including destination information.

Four Seasons is reaping the rewards of this revamp, Simon said.

 “The average time people are spending on the site is seven minutes, which is fantastic,” he said. “Before it was five minutes; now they’re looking at photos, watching videos, etc.

“We’re seeing positive booking and revenue lifts,” he added.

For Wyndham, renovation of its sites has meant creating a unique page for each of its 17 brands, as well as a loyalty program site that showcases all the brands.

 “Before, they were more cookie-cutter,” Gaston said. “When the consumer arrives, there needs to be a connection between the brand they expect to see and the online experience.”

The company also pared down the number of questions it asks visitors.

 “We used to offer ‘advanced search,’ now there are four questions: where do you want to go, where do you want to stay in the destination, when are you looking to travel and how many in the party?

 “If you have tons of questions, you may get nothing back,” Gaston said. “We saw a 40% improvement in people clicking through to a reservation with this change.”

Additionally, Wyndham now is using what Gaston called “persuasive merchandising” on its site. This might mean marking a deal as having “limited availability,” showing a hotel package that includes tickets to a nearby attraction and so forth. 

Social animals

Websites of the future will include even more tools for engagement, Craig said.

 “Hotels want people to book on their sites, but travelers want to compare; that’s why they love OTAs. Will we, in the future, go to hotel sites and see comparisons of different brands and reviews of other area hotels? I’m waiting for a big brand to do this.”

He also forecasted an uptick in social media platforms appearing on sites.

 “The next generation of websites is very socialized, becoming living, breathing entities rather than brochures, and part of creating that is integrating social media,” Craig said. “Social media is a bit messy, especially for hotels where everything is ‘my pleasure’ and the bed’s made for you. But that’s the way things are going.”