UX and Digital for Hotels - Introduction
The service industry has changed dramatically. Consumers now possess more bargaining power than ever. It is critical for companies to actively interact with consumers, in order to stay competitive.
In this series of articles, we will look at the current UX and digital trends for the hotel industry.
As hotels are now looking at competing with the OTAs, we will focus on the UX & interactions behind driving room bookings.
What do users want?
Hotel Website Features Expected by Users
• Secure online payment
• Hotel facilities clearly listed
• Access to customer reviews
• Simple booking forms
• Professional photographs
74% of consumers would prefer to receive their booking by email. 15% of people, aged 25-34, prefer to receive their booking confirmation by SMS.
Top Turn-Offs When Booking a Hotel Online
• Hidden prices – 28%
• No reviews – 24%
• Complicated or lengthy booking forms – 13%
• No photos – 16%
• A site that isn’t mobile friendly – 13%
• Long page loads – 5%
Over 80% of consumers abandon their reservation because of lengthy and complicated forms and women consider picking hotels based on reviews, 35% more than men.
User experience
User experience is an integral part of any website design. However if there’s a single industry where user experience matters more than anything else it’s of course, hospitality.
Hospitality is all about meeting and exceeding guest expectations, and providing stellar guest experience across every touch point.
In the digital era that we live in, hotel websites are quite often where the guest experience with a hotel starts.
Hotel brands strive for direct bookings. As a hotel owner or manager, you want to make sure the user experience of your website is as good as the guest experience in the hotel itself.
To achieve this, you need to understand why travelers visit your website in the first place.
What are the main traveler intentions?
Once you know the answer to this question, you will be able to meet traveler expectations with a matching, user-friendly website. We will look more at this in the next article.
