It is lodged on a decent server and loads quickly.
It is compatible mobile devices and can be visited by the growing number of travelers that make their reservation on iPhone or BlackBerry while already traveling.
Its look and feel are pleasant and appeals to the right target market.
The navigation is very easy. The visitor should never have to do more than move the mouse to find the information he or she is looking for. Spry or Flash menus should be kept to a minimum, not only to make the reservation path easier, but also since this is an important issue for the search engines.
The website is pro-active and provides the answer to all questions a visitor might have, from the size of the rooms to clear descriptions of the location and how to get there.
It goes without saying that the marketing message as well as the SEO techniques must be fully ethical. For years it has been clear that key word stuffing can get you penalized in the search engine rankings, but very, very many hotels keep doing it and consequently never climb in those rankings, even if their website is already old and trusted.
In 2010, the photography obviously has to be of high level or, if it is not, at least reflect the same image of the design or the hotel itself.
An excellent hotel website is all of the above, but will stand out over even the very good ones when...
The content is fresh and original. There is no copy/paste involved and the texts refrain from standard marketing babble humanity as a whole has become immune to.
Come as a guest and leave as a friend... There are 35.000 hotel web pages that state this phrase!
Search engines are fully text based, and over 80% of all online visitors turn online to find Its information. Fully focusing on a fantastic look is one of the prime reasons why the more expensive hotel websites are very much underachieving.
The excellent hotel website provides information, information, information. About the city or the region, its culture and history, its highlights or secrets, its festivities... there is a reason why bigger companies with big budgets first hire a copywriter before starting their SEO strategies!
And, last but not least, the hotel website stands out. In branding or in general personality. Just as much as a human being with a genuine personality will stand out in the crowd.
Yes, your website is a person. Surfing online is a very lonely business and your website needs to speak to that lonely surfer just as you would do in person.
Analytic reports such as those of Google, provide a wonderful tool named "Benchmarking". It immediately compares your website with a minimum of 100 other hotel websites, and shows you whether your visitors stay longer and visit more pages than the average site and if so, just how much.
Your goal is to be better than average, and once you have achieved that, to go for far better.
Do not think too much about SEO. Deliver quality and the rankings will follow, because search engines see those results and will prefer your website over others.
Take it from someone who has learned this the hard way. All SEO techniques and all flashy and glossy new tools combined... do not deliver the results and ROI as pure and logical quality of content.
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