Jun

21

2017

Learn From These 4 Innkeepers’ Websites

INNKEEPERS / INNKEEPING AS A CAREER  Posted by / 0 comments

Learn From These 4 Innkeeper’s Websites

1. My Tree House Lodge

One of the most interesting things about this site is the home page call to action. (The call to action is the booking button.) The lodge’s “rates & booking” button is the first or second thing you see – the focal point. It has a different but harmonizing button color and easy to read text and there’s almost nothing else to do but click there.

Here’s what to like

  1. A subdued/screened single photo on the home page to direct the eye to the booking button
  2. Menu is extremely simple and does not compete with the action of booking
  3. The home page scroll is long and covers in brief all the basic things you need to know.
  4. The text blocks are concise yet broken up with photos, white space, good headings.
  5. The long scroll allows the use of needed key words such as “Cape Cod experience”.
  6. There’s fast integration with ResNexus – the inn’s booking system.

Could be improved:

  1. The material above the fold isn’t positioned optimally – should see the scroll
  2. The featured comment is old and it’s better to have 3-4 favorite reviews to reassure guests this will be a great experience and meet their needs.
  3. An additional button could be added to the upper right hand side of the home page for those who are used to seeing the booking there
  4. Geared to families with kids, more kid-friendly restaurants could be added as well as family friendly, romantic, scenic restaurants. (The ice cream bottom-of-the-barrel photo is clever and engaging.)

 

Best Website of the Year So Far –  Inn at Honey Run

What to Like:  Everything! If you’re planning a new website study the Inn at Honey Run.

  1. Fabulous home page with superbly planned navigation paths
  2. Ton of excellent content – including 300 blog posts, with a well designed gallery
  3. Menu is designed  with only the most important tabs & the drop down gives lots of extras (the lessser items such as policies are at the bottom of the page)
  4. Amazing photography includes the night sky, delish food, surprises
  5. Unusual experiences are highlightedd – (sleeping in the Eco dug out, watching the inn’s beekeepers, forest art trail)
  6. Clean crisp logo – not pixelated
  7. Superb SEO title tags include “romantic Ohio Amish country boutique hotel and corporate meeting “ and don’t even mention the inn’s name

 

Could be improved:  We had to call an extra meeting of the design staff in search of something

  1. Possibly add phone to the top but they might prefer to push their online booking
  2. Book Now requires more commitmente – but they offer Learn More lower on the page

 

Grey Haven, Maine

What to Like:

Grey Havens chose a WordPress theme for their DIY website. The best thing about the site is that they selected very good title tags! There are also some good photographs and an abundance of well-thought out videos.

 

The Fix List

  1. No obvious booking at the top
  2. No contact information at the top
  3. Menus sometimes go off screen
  4. One link announces a dinner for 2013
  5. The interactive links require flash
  6. Photos on the availability page are not compelling – may impede booking process

 

The Clifton Inn

The Good
This inns’ stylistic website has a good look and feel and at first glance everything looks fine.

 

Fix List

  1. The orange tabs on the side completely disappear and bounce which makes navigation more difficult than it should be.
  2. The top tabs have a serious readability problem with white type – frustrating visitors
  3. Most challenging – the inn is not taking advantage of what could be some excellent title tags and miss out on many Google searches
  4. Rooms pages require a lot of navigation.and the format is disconcerting – http://www.clifton-inn.com/clifton-inn-luxurious-rooms-suites
  5. The Menu is spaced oddly – Overall the site makes the potential guest work too hard.

 

Often it only takes a little while to make these fixes and the return could be big! Other times corrections take longer. One easy way to handle site problems is to find a developer who will help you decide which items to prioritize and then go one item at a time. You need expertise that is not only design savvy, but super tech savvy to provide clean and fast coding and add the most important SEO pieces.