How Hotel Website Design Has Evolved Over the Years and Why Should You Consider a Design Refresh for Your Hotel Website in 2023?

The hotel industry worldwide has gone through a challenging time over the past decade. Be it the influx of new technological progresses or the massive impact of the pandemic, the industry has seen one of the most disruptive periods of growth since 2013. However, the industry officially survived and started to recover when international tourism fully resumed in many countries last year. The reopening of festivals and events also had a major positive impact, making the growth outlook for hotels worldwide look good once again with occupancy returning to pre-pandemic numbers.

As we stand in 2023 and enter this new growth phase, it’s a great moment to reflect on the innovations and evolution of the hotel industry in the last ten years. In this blog post, we will focus on what has changed in hotel web design over the years and the way hoteliers have been addressing the constantly expanding needs of consumers to bring in more bookings and revenue.

The Evolution of Hotel Website Design in the Last 10 Years

We explored how website design for hotels has evolved to meet the various challenges of time, technological integration, the changing needs of travellers as well as the way they navigate the internet. Let’s take a look to understand how far hoteliers and the industry have come to make hotel websites as effective as possible during each transition.

Hotel Website Design Before 2013

Early designs for hotel websites that dated back to the 2000s are irrelevant today. They were simply a confusing concoction of links, large blocks of text, and some small-sized images positioned in table layouts. Colourful high-contrast backgrounds were particularly used along with peculiar text colours that made the content quite difficult to read and created a lot of strain on the eyes.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), flash-based design, and an emphasis on aesthetic design elements were eventually incorporated as websites expanded in the late 2000s. But the focus was mainly given to the contact number and address of the hotels, which could be seen placed and highlighted in several positions on the homepage to get leads. Since online booking engines were not functional yet, the web designs during this time only focused on capturing attention of the visitors through the phone number and contact details to boost conversions.

The scenario started to change rapidly once smartphones with a bigger screen (16:9 aspect ratio) hit the market in 2012. Though there were still a few years before Google was to prioritize mobile-friendly websites with its “Mobilegeddon” algorithm update, the launch of iPhone 5 with LTE connectivity for the first time changed a lot of ways we were going to experience the web. In 2012 and thereafter, online users were introduced to the idea of consuming more media on their smartphones despite desktop website views were still the more convenient and established standard. As a result, there were some improvements in hotel website designs that included an easier navigation menu, photos of hotel properties, as well as better text legibility. A link to “Reservations” was also included in the websites to enable online booking for guests.

So, what we see here is that by 2013, hoteliers were upgrading and updating their websites to match the new changes introduced in the market that influenced consumer behaviour greatly. But we were far from the standards we hold today.

Hotel Website Design during 2014-2016

Once we sailed through 2013, there were some great changes introduced to hotel web design in the next two years. These included a photo slideshow of the hotel property along with room descriptions, video content, and easier navigation to allow visitors to find what they need with fewer clicks. Also, the colour choice, typography, layout, and user experience became important factors to consider to make a better first impression.

The calls-to-action buttons, again, were mainly aimed at capturing visitors’ attention and converting them into guests. So, we could see several action-driven buttons like “Make a Reservation”, “Book a Room”, and “Reserve” links placed not only at different positions on the homepage, contact, and ‘About us’ pages but also in the menu.

However, no matter how much the web design improved and went ahead to give the visitors all the information they need to get a fair idea of the hotel property and make a booking decision, desktops were still the preferred devices during this period. People were getting used to search engines but were not so familiar with travel research and online reservations on their smartphones. As a result, most hotel website designs were not designed for mobile devices and thus, they were not responsive. We could mostly see pixel-perfect designs during this time and hoteliers were surely preparing for this vital transition in the years to come.

Hotel Website Design after 2017

Responsive web designs have become the norm by this time with an ever-expanding choice of smart devices available to consumers and there has been no looking back. Mobile screens started dominating the bigger screens and just like other industries, the hotel industry too was compelled to take the mobile-first approach for their design strategy to make their website accessible to anyone, irrespective of the device they choose to use.

By 2018, social media became significantly important as a marketing tool, and hoteliers integrated social media icons right at the top as well as the footer of their hotel websites. We also noticed the integration of the booking calendar right on the homepage, a video tour of the hotel property, and an option to provide feedback for guests who stayed in. Guest surveys were, in fact, one of the most common hospitality technologies implemented. Online direct bookings, despite the presence and growing market share of the OTAs, were 79.2% in the US during this time.

Within the next year, all elements of the digital needs of hotels were brought together to make the websites more effective. And this resulted in an increase in worldwide digital travel sales by 15.4% and hotel direct bookings by 10.3%.

How Hotel Website Design Changed during COVID-19

The hotel industry market size saw massive growth worldwide until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The coronavirus battered the hospitality industry and crippled numerous small and mid-sized hotel businesses with intermittent restrictions and lockdowns. Both international and domestic bookings were heavily impacted worldwide, dramatically affecting hotel occupancy rates. Europe saw the most substantial effects of the virus, with hotel occupancy rates falling to 11% during early 2020. There was a lot of confusion and uncertainty about how the hotel industry might be altered permanently.

Hoteliers, hotel architects, and web designers found themselves brainstorming about different ways to convince guests to come in once the wave ends. With each COVID-19 wave until late 2021, the general hotel design philosophy kept altering and many new technologies were adopted.

For example, more focus was given to hygiene and sanitation measures as a new normal, setting up technology-based sanitizer stations around the property, common areas and guestrooms that can be used as multifunction spaces, voice-operated elevators for touch-free interactions, new table and seating arrangements at the restaurants, redesigned facilities like salons, health clubs and swimming pools with proper social distancing, zero-maintenance buildings, etc. One of the most implemented technologies during the pandemic was self-service check-in technology. And, all of these changes were highlighted on the hotel websites through video tours, live videos, and full-width banner images. So, there was a massive digital transformation going on worldwide to recover business and increase profitability.

Automation became vital to personalization and cost efficiency. A lot of hotel websites have integrated chatbots to answer visitor queries, help customers through the hotel booking process, and make recommendations. We also saw the rise of VR technology as an emerging marketing tool to help visitors explore rooms and facilities before committing to booking a room. Other interesting and effective hotel web design changes include micro-interactions on the website when a visitor takes a particular action, lazy loading, bold and thoughtful colour choices with a clean, uncluttered design, and better accessibility.

Post-Pandemic Hotel Website Design Changes

Two years after the outbreak of the pandemic, the hotel industry started recovering slowly. Though hoteliers witnessed cancellations and a major drop in hotel enquiries when the Omicron variant hit the world in late 2021, it didn’t affect business like the past waves. By August 2022, the hotel occupancy rates in the USA, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa region grew up to 66%, 74%, 62%, and 63% respectively. But experts are of the opinion that recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels could take until 2023 or later.

With the industry’s rebound in the post-pandemic time, we have already seen some substantial and subtle changes in hotel web design, and are yet to see a lot more shifts in this era. Some major changes in Google’s search engine algorithm have also propelled the importance of hotel websites to serve as an even stronger first consideration for potential bookings. More emphasis is being given to making guests feel safe when travelling with an added focus on hygiene, sanitation, and sustainability, contactless check-ins, check-outs, and mobile keys, or keyless room entry, digital hotel-guest directory through QR codes, faster Wi-Fi, more electrical outlets and desks to accommodate the surge in remote working, and more. So, designing a new, dynamic, polished hotel website interface is more crucial than ever before.

Some of the most notable features we could spot in new hotel website designs include seamless storytelling, dynamic scrolling with lazy loading, bold and oversized typography, cleaner design with more white space, inclusive language, optimized page speed and lightning-fast loading times, gender-neutral design, and no-code resources.

Thus, it’s clear from this discussion that whether you plan to welcome returning guests or attract new hotel bookings in 2023, the design of your hotel website will have a vital impact on the booking patterns of guests in the post-pandemic era. Undoubtedly, a new or revamped hotel website design can help hotel operators increase direct bookings and bring in more revenue.

Why Should You Invest in Building an Impressive and Convincing Hotel Booking Website in 2023?

The pandemic has enormously changed consumer perspectives, awareness, behaviour, communication, and even how they use the web. The guests, as a result, have become more particular about their individual and collective needs. In the present scenario, hotels can make a turnaround by making the guests book directly through their own channels, and this is why owning a dynamic, mobile-friendly, informative, interactive, engaging, and convincing hotel website that positively influences their booking decision is critically important than it has ever been before.

For years, OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) got a strong hold on the online hotel booking market as they allow customers to research and compare various hotels in terms of property, amenities, rates, location, packages, etc. on a single platform, making the booking process simpler, faster and more efficient. Moreover, OTA sites are easy to find since most of these platforms invest heavily in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to quickly rise through the page ranks. This is why potential guests have been finding booking through OTAs more convenient than direct bookings, especially millennials.

Due to the OTAs’ rising popularity and huge advertising budgets, hoteliers consider distributing rooms on OTA websites to get better visibility but are compelled to pay a considerable percentage of commission for the services, which often forms the second largest expense of a hotel after labour. However, multiple surveys and market research have noted that though millennials prefer to book via these platforms, at least 52% browse the official hotel website for more information after finding the hotel on an OTA before making a booking decision.

And while industry experts anticipate that approximately 700 million guests will be making a hotel room reservation online by 2023, here’s a massive opportunity for hotels to generate better revenue by increasing direct bookings during this rebound period. Your own channels such as the hotel website, phone, email, or social media can emerge as the most valuable and cost-efficient bookings for your hotel, and help your business overcome the increasing dependency on OTAs as well as reduce the associated intermediation costs.

Although there is no denying that OTAs help increase your visibility, several confusions and issues such as online rate parity, lack of transparency regarding how commissions affect the visibility of a property, lack of brand control, rising commissions, overbookings and underbooking caused due to lack of inventory updation, etc. make hotels face high cancellation rates that may lead to revenue depression.

Let’s find out why direct bookings through your hotel’s website are better for your business than OTA booking.

Alternative Revenue: Hotels have to comply with the specific standards of each OTA platform and have little to no brand control over how their properties are displayed on these platforms. So, your own hotel booking engine provides you with the best opportunities to upsell. At different phases of the booking process, you can highlight your unique products and push additional services with appealing photos and persuasive descriptions that can attract the right guests and drive ancillary revenue for your hotel.

Long-Term Customer Relationships: When guests book hotels via OTAs, it becomes a challenging task for hotels to build and establish cordial relationships with customers before they arrive. This is because online platforms (OTAs) often hide visitor/guest information and email addresses from hotels as part of their policies. So, hotels cannot identify their arriving guests and build a relationship to serve them better on arrival. Direct bookings, on the other hand, can give access to guest information, giving hotels a better chance to build a direct relationship with the guest, cultivate loyalty, and personalize the experience for each client.

Access to Data and Data Ownership: Direct bookings through your hotel’s website is also beneficial for your business as they allow you to have customers’ on-site behavioural data from which you can collect valuable insights, create the best customized experience for each guest, and develop effective strategies for online marketing campaigns. This provides you the golden opportunity to build trust, increase loyalty, improve your services, and boost conversion rates.

So, it’s important to have a high-performing website along with a convenient and easy-to-use hotel booking engine to manage direct bookings from your potential guests. The simpler and faster the booking process, the more the chances of maximizing direct bookings, which is key to nurturing customer relationships and improving your hotel’s online reputation. You also need to focus on an improved UX and user-centric design.

Conclusion

The pandemic affected every industry across the world, and among the hardest hit is the hotel industry. Your hotel needs to be fully equipped to welcome the guests into the new normal, innovate through technology, and adapt to the current market needs to take on the OTAs.

And this is a primary reason why you should take your hotel website design seriously now. Your hotel website represents your hospitality business and brand reputation, and it serves as one of the most significant first impressions to guests making a booking decision. Today, visitors want an appealing hotel website with a successfully integrated hotel booking engine that reflects their expectations and demands.

There are several factors that have a significant impact on the online booking patterns of visitors. Here are a few effective strategies that can help you increase bookings through your hotel website and yield more revenue.

Make sure to build a visually impressive, mobile-friendly hotel website design that connects and convinces guests easily.
Provide unique, high-quality, engaging, and relevant content aided with powerful imagery, photography, and videography in an easily accessible way.
Include excellent visual content relevant to your property and location to engage visitors.
Integrate an intuitive and transparent hotel booking engine and safe online payment system to make the direct online booking process easy, smooth, convenient, and hassle-free for guests.
Highlight discounts, deals, exciting travel packages, and other promotional content on the website to attract potential customers.
Invest in high-quality digital marketing services to rank higher on SERPs and grow your online presence as well, so that your hotel is more discoverable and visible to online users.

When you drive more bookings through your hotel’s website and other direct channels such as social media, phone, or email, you can positively increase your margins and impact revenue. With a high-performing hotel website design, you can ensure more control over your customer experience and build loyalty and value for a lifetime.