Importance of Responsive Hotel Website Design

Responsive website design just became a top priority for hotels.  When research company comScore reported last year that mobile devices had surpassed desktops as the primary means of accessing the Internet, we thought that their announcement was all that was needed to establish the importance of responsive hotel website design. After all, hotel websites generally rely on pictures and videos to bring their amenities to life, and responsive web design is the best way to guarantee viewers will have a flawless experience with any device. Google’s announcement that they are adding “mobile-friendliness” to their mobile search ranking signals raises the importance of responsive hotel website design to a whole new level, however. Any hotel that doesn’t want their website to disappear from mobile search results needs to convert their existing website to a responsive hotel website design, and they need to do it now.

Google’s latest algorithm update will launch on April 21. Now that so many people are using mobile devices to access the Internet, Google is putting this update in place to make it easier for users to find high quality content that can be readily accessed through their mobile devices. It will do this by looking for certain essential mobile usability features; websites that possess these features will find their ranking undiminished. Any website that lacks these mobile-friendly features will be penalized with a lower search ranking, something that no hotel can blithely face.

What makes responsive website design for hotels different from standard websites?
Responsive hotel websites are specifically designed to deliver the superior performance on whatever mobile device is used to access them. When you choose a standard website design, all the elements on your web pages are assigned a single static position; their position and size does not change regardless of what device is used to access them. With responsive web design, the various elements on your hotel website will automatically resize and shift position, adjusting to provide the best performance on the particular device with which they are viewed. This provides benefits that are particularly valuable to hotels:

• Easy Usability
  When users try to access a hotel website designed to work on a desktop with a smartphone or other mobile device, they often face navigation that is difficult and incredibly awkward to use. Buttons end up too small or too close together to be manipulated with thumbs, and the content of pages is often too wide to fit in the viewport of mobile devices, so user have to scroll left and right as they work their way down the page. Fonts appear too small to read, so users have to repeatedly zoom to read anything. Interacting with the site becomes incredibly cumbersome, and trying to book a reservation is next to impossible. With a responsive web design, buttons are perfectly sized and spaced on each page, fonts are automatically resized for easy readability, and content fits in the viewport so users just have to scroll down.
• Distortion-free Visuals
  videos are a mainstay of hotel websites, because they remain the best way to immerse visitors in the experiences that await them when they become a guest at your establishment. With a standard website, users of mobile devices often face distorted, pinched images or overly large pictures that they have to scroll to see in their entirety. Responsive hotel web designs resize visual content so it is at the optimum size and resolution for each device.
• On-the-go Reservations
  Because responsive hotel websites allow users to access your site through their smartphone, tablet, and other mobile devices, users can book a stay at your hotel anytime, anywhere. This on-the-go convenience can actually increase your hotel booking rates – since travelers can reserve their room instantly rather than having to wait and access your site through their desktop, you don’t have to worry about losing reservations to your competitor’s mobile site.

Don’t let Google’s April 21^st deadline send your hotel website to the bottom of search results!  At Travel Tech Strategies we specialize in responsive hotel website design – let us create a high quality, mobile-friendly responsive hotel website for you that incorporates expert hotel SEO strategies, social media marketing services, and more to help your hotel get the high search ranking it deserves.

Contact Travel Tech Strategies today at 954-779-2801 for a mobile-friendly responsive hotel website design that will raise your search ranking and boost your booking rate!