Make Your Website User-Friendly,
Search Engine-Friendly and Travel Booker Friendly
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A direct-to-consumer model should become
the foundation, the centerpiece of your hotel's online distribution
strategy. Why? The Internet conforms to the lowest cost
and most inexpensive method to distribute your inventory:
the cost of a booking directly from your hotel website could
be as low as $3 while a reservation via your call center
would cost a minimum of $9. A direct-to-consumer model provides
long-term competitive advantages. It lessens your dependence
on intermediaries, discounters, and traditional channels
that are slowly becoming obsolete.
Direct Online Distribution starts and
ends with the hotel website, so the goal is clear: fully
optimize the existing hotel website and drastically improve
website user-friendliness, search engine-friendliness and
travel booker-friendliness. This is achieved through website
optimization and developing a website optimization blueprint.
This more involved process goes beyond
an audit but is an actual blueprint that reflects the thought
behind new websites and what makes it work from the standpoint
of user-friendly, search engine friendly and booker friendly.
Hotel website optimization involves turning
your existing or new hotel website into a 24/7 sales force,
enhancing the user experience by improving website navigation
and functionality and eCRM features, boosting features that
contribute to higher conversion rates (look-to-book ratios)
and making your website search engine friendly. It inevitably
enhances website usability and overall performance and drastically
increases Internet revenues.
Why use Website Optimization experts like
HeBS? HeBS has built best practices for website optimization
and Direct Internet Distribution Strategy for over 100 hotel
companies including several major brands.
Please read more
in our article: Hotel
Website Optimization
The blueprints for a robust direct-to-consumer online distribution
strategy. HospitalityNet, February 2003. |
