After looking and analyzing hundred's of hotel and resort web sites in recent weeks, it perplexes me how many hotel web sites are totally or at least partially dysfunctional. While going through the upload process for our pocket market search engine zebrabot I noticed that there are so many sites not in-step with basic search engine requirements; sites with badly written text content; poor navigation; pictures too slow to download; thus basically sites which are not designed to sell rooms or services, but just transfer a pretty picture. It's even more mindboggling why almost all the St.Martin-St.Maarten Hotel and Resort sites lack the payment solution to make a reservation??  Here are some pointers...............

If your site is producing only a few or no online reservations each month, stop consoling yourself by thinking that people are visiting your site, and then call your 800 number to make a reservation. It’s a lame excuse. Reality is,your site is not producing reservations. Many "home and garden variety" web designers, as well as some owners and managers, think that a web site is simply an online brochure and, therefore, they design the site that way. As long as it has pretty pictures and cool moving stuff, it should do the trick. WRONG; a hotel web site should be designed to get your site’s visitors to make reservations online; your site is a majorly important sales tool.

Among the many reasons why you need a functional "selling" web site, is that a properly designed web site will generate reservations online, relieving your busy front desk, it’s a means of tapping into the rapidly growing online travel market, and reduces a hotel’s overall cost of reservations sales. Sure, some site visitors will shop and compare hotels on the Internet, then call to make a reservation. That will always be true. But, the fact is that the number of people making reservations online is growing exponentially; the new breed of travelers is Internet focused and prefers to complete their transaction online. To put it to you straightforward, if you’re not getting at least 35% (50% for independent hotels) of all your reservations directly from your site, it’s time to fix it and get with the program.

Take a close look at the number of people who visit your site as compared to the number who make a reservation; this is your site’s look-to-book ratio. Your web master should have these data for you. Stop accepting the number of unique visitors, alone, as a measure of the success of your site. If your site is not "converting" at least 5% to 7% of visitors into reservations, something is not working properly.

Many web designers at best only know how to make a site look pretty but don’t have a clue as to what it takes to sell rooms. Don't judge your site by how cool it looks. Excessive flash content on a hotel site is still evil. I see hotel sites with poor sales text content and with navigation that is so poor that it totally confuses the sales message. True many sites look nice and easily sell me on the destination.....but not on the hotel or resort property that is intended.

There are many sites with poorly selected Meta Tags or with none at all. Meta tags describe the content of your site, and establish key word/phrases for search engines. Key word/phrases are then reinforced within the text of your web site; all key words/phrases should be carefully researched. Key words and phrases will determine which search results will be displayed. The keywords set you apart from your competition.

There are also many sites with no apparent link strategy to boost the site’s popularity; backward links can improve visibility substantially. Instead of selecting a designer by how attractive they can make a site, look for a designer who can make your site technically sound. Don’t judge the designer by the size of their company; some very expensive site designs are ineffective too. If the designer has no hotel sales experience, choose a new web designer.

If your site is not performing well, stay far away from anyone who’s first suggestion is that search engine optimization (SEO) is the answer; chances are that your site’s design is the problem. Sending more visitors to a dysfunctional web site that doesn’t have the right sales information will not solve your problem, it will only make it more costly.

Your first step should be to have someone perform a detailed page-by-page analysis of your site to find the problems. This will help you determine how much tweaking your site needs. There are many criteria which determine the functionality of your web site. Your site’s design should conform to search engine and hotel sales requirements.

If your site has a poor search engine ranking, it could be because of all those cool oversized photos and all those "moving and flashing" things you love. The scary thing is that many new web site designers are using flash elements because they look cool, but too much flash will doom your site to failure. It’s simple; search engines cannot "see" flash or graphics of any kind. They only read text; if your text is poorly written, it simply won’t sell rooms. Of course I'm not saying don't use any flash or cool, after all you still need to set yourself apart from the competition, once your customers have settled on the destination and are starting to look for their dream vacation.

In case you are wondering why your site must conform to search engine requirements, consider that, in the Internet world, there are now more web pages than there are people on Earth! Finding web sites is increasingly more complicated and difficult. The ultimate success of a web site is dependent upon the site’s ability to be found by the user. Its ability to be found is dependent upon the site’s design and search engine submission. Think Zebrabot, think directories, think vertical.

It is truly a shame that many owners and managers don’t see past the "look" of their site. The functionality and success of your website goes far beyond how your site looks. We’re not talking rocket science, here. You can have a great looking site that works well to generate reservations; Give it your time and attention and you will be very well set for the future.

Han Ramakers - TMP