Each traveler embarks on an online booking journey. Is your inn a part that journey or are you missing out?
The problem today is, it’s tough to stand out. Consider that on average, travelers visit 38 sites before booking a vacation (Skift)!
So what can you do to ensure that their journey always leads to you?
List on more websites
Get listed on Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp, as well as any other popular directories in your region. Regularly ask guests to give you reviews. Upload photos and videos of your rooms and facilities to all of these sites, and don’t forget to monitor and respond to all reviews, both negative and positive.
You can also use your existing community. Ask local restaurants, tourist attractions, and other local businesses to link to your website from theirs.
Last, but not least, sign up to social media sites that your guests are using, like Facebook and Twitter. Then, share your website on these pages by sharing photographs that link to your gallery for example.
Improve your own website
First of all, your website should be ‘responsive’ so that your website will automatically adapt to all kinds of screen sizes. Tablet, mobile, and desktop. In the UK alone, travel companies lost £2.7 billion last year to travelers who abandoned their mobile bookings (Tnooz).
Then, make sure that your website’s structure, navigation, and messaging are as easy and useful as can be. Anticipate all of the questions that travelers may be asking. You might notice that less people will call you to ask questions, because they’re all answered by your website!
Part of this is ensuring that you have high resolution images of your property everywhere - especially on the homepage. People want to see what they’re paying for.
How to guide more travelers to your inn