The hospitality industry is a huge market, with a lot of competition – which is why it’s so important that you do everything you can to make your hotel stand out. Sometimes, it can be the simplest thing that separates you from a similar establishment, whether it’s a unique service offered or a specific photo that does your hotel the most justice.

Let’s take a look at the best ways to improve the likelihood of your hotel being found online.

1. Use Target Words and Phrases

You want your hotel to be found as a result of a specific search query from guests using SEO. You, therefore, need to decide the best keywords and phrases which describe your hotel and the services guests might be searching for. Close to city center? Room service? 24-hour help desk? If you have a plethora of beneficial options and services, then ensure you boast about them on your website and push those keywords.

2. Images are Also Key

When it comes to marketing your hotel, potential guests are going to want to see images – and lots of them. A lot of the time, what influences your guests most is whether your hotel looks like what they are searching for, whether it’s based on room appearance, dining area, or outside features. You shouldn’t judge on appearances, but when it comes to somewhere to sleep, most people do.

Therefore, you’ll want the best quality images which represent what your hotel is all about.  You could even use reverse photo lookup to see what kind of images are attracting guests to other hotels that you can then take note from when you take photos for your website.

3. Ensure Your Website Loads Quickly

Most – if not all – hotel and accommodation booking is done online these days, which means you need your website to work efficiently and quickly. This extends to the booking process, too. If a guest has spent the time to browse your website and is happy with what they’ve found, you don’t then want your online booking and payment system to be slow or – at worst – bounce back with an error.

Google can pick up on those websites which load slowly, and this may affect your search engine rankings.

4. Push Positive Customer Reviews

Google loves customer reviews, and those hotels with more of them will take precedence. Offer an easy way for guests to review your services, such as an email message asking them to write a quick review following their stay, or offer an in-room guest book which they can fill out, and you can then transfer on to your website. If you prefer traditional methods, you can speak to guests in person or ask them for a review during their check-out process.

5. Promote as Much as Possible

This means having a solid presence on social media and advertising as much as you can, as well as having clear location information on Google Maps. You could also use traditional printing such as brochures and flyers to send out in the mail.