It may be a Captain Obvious thing to say, but hotel visuals are one of the important factors that can influence a traveler's decision to book. Yet many hotel employees are too distracted with other tasks to get these visuals right.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Brianna Wenner of ICE Portal.
Besides making your property more visible and appealing to travelers, having high-quality visuals will also improve your content score from the online travel agencies -- and therefore increase your booking conversion rates.
Here are some tips on presenting your best image(s) to guests. The first few may pack the most punch and be the easiest to implement as standard operational procedures.
1. Use large, high-resolution images
Larger images increased sales by 9.46% in a study done by Visual Web Optimizer. As you may have noticed, distribution channels frequently change their minimum-size requirements and will reject images that are too small.
2. Use captions
Captions are read 300% more than body copy, on average, says a Kissmetrics study. Hoteliers should utilize this space to capture travelers’ interests. “Calypso Poolside Bar and Grill, serving authentic Caribbean cuisine” sounds more interesting than “Restaurant,” doesn’t it?
3. It's worth the time to add more images.
The more visuals you have, the better. According to TripAdvisor, travelers are 45% more engaged with listings that have 30 or more photos than properties that have 10 or less. (Videos and virtual tours also count.)
4. Use a flexible CMS
If you can use a content management system (CMS) that allows for multiple languages, that will make it easy for people from a wide scope of places to discover your property.
Similarly, using a CMS that manages and delivers your visuals to the various distribution channels is the most effective way to get the most out of your photos and videos.
5. Use tags
Seventy-four percent of online consumers get frustrated with websites when content appears that has nothing to do with their interests, according to a study by Janrain. For example, if the user has a history of browsing for family-related topics, it would not make sense to show them photos of your hotel’s nightclub.
Adding specific tags (also known as meta-tags or metadata) on your visuals will put the right photos in front of the right people. These tags are important because they may determine whether or not someone finds your property in their personalized search results.
6. Assign a category
Assigning the proper categories to your images will make them more visible to consumers researching your property. If someone is interested in looking at a hotel’s pool, categorizing such images will aid them in their search. Adding contextual tags, mentioned above, will also help when delivering tailored or personalized galleries to specific personas.
7. Pick the best file types.
It is important to upload the recommended file types in order to have your visuals shown at the highest quality. According to MDG Advertising, clear, 67% of consumers say detailed images are very important.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Brianna Wenner of ICE Portal, curators and distributors of visual content to the travel industry.
RELATED: HDR makes panoramic images of hotels pop, says TripAdvisor’s Oyster
NB: Image of swim-up bar courtesy El Dorado Seaside Suites in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.