Impact of UX UI Design in hotel bookings and revenue

The travel and tourism business, which includes the global hotel sector, contributed $8.81 trillion to the global economy in 2018. Furthermore, the average hotel occupancy rate in America is around 60%. But, the occupancy rates can be as high as 95% for hotels that provide a great user experience (UX) and design (UI). And it goes without saying these are the hotels that also generate the most revenue.

How does poor design affect bookings? When people first see your website or app, they don’t know if what you offer will meet their needs. Hotels can adopt effective designs to manage guests efficiently, and this is also important in ensuring that they are bringing in more revenue. UI UX designs can increase efficiency by streamlining workflows and making things easy for hotels and guests. In addition, by adopting modern technology and proper design for hotels, the guest experience can be further enhanced. 

Crucial UI UX Components of a Perfect Hotel Website or App

Booking technology and hotel apps influence the decisions of 70% of travelers. Naturally, the experience these digital platforms provide matter when it comes to travelers taking decisions. 

Let’s discuss some essential components of UI UX design for hotels:

A Last-minute Hotel Booking Feature

Guests often look for a hotel quickly, expecting to find an available room. However, they usually do not have enough time to follow the usual process of contacting hotels and waiting on hold. Therefore, booking solutions must include a last-minute hotel booking feature to give them quick results.

Upselling Additional Services

Hotels can increase their conversions and improve the booking process by offering upselling options for their services and amenities. 

Managing Late registrations with a backend system

UI UX design can to be implemented to create a backend system so that hotel staff members can initiate check-ins from their desktops.

In-app Messages, Chatbots, Push Notifications, and Emails

App engagement was 88% higher on average among mobile app users worldwide who had enabled push notifications. These features encourage visitors to book additional services such as room upgrades, restaurant or spa bookings, or other services offered by the hotel.

Cost and Time Effective

Automated online chat, automated online booking, automated customer services are cost-effective. A one-minute response time for all guest messages lowers frustration while improving the overall satisfaction of the hotel brand. It is essential to enhance your user experience while making it easier on your team at the same time.

A mobile app provides hotel owners with big data analytics

This helps them gain visibility into online search trends, visitor statistics, regional hotel performance, and competitor intelligence. If appropriately implemented, UI/UX designs can help hotels receive valuable information that will allow them to make informed business decisions when it comes to managing their business.

Innovative and personalized customer experiences

Hotel websites and apps can feature a guest’s preferred amenities, loyalty rewards, email preferences, and other things to create a personalized customer experience that builds brand awareness and loyalty. This encourages customers to book rooms at your hotel by pushing the benefits of staying with that particular hotel chain.

Direct connection with customers

A hotel’s website/app should be designed in a way that makes it easier for guests to essentially do anything through the website/app. If a hotel wants to provide their guests with a user-friendly experience, they need to design their website or app in a way that makes it easier for their customers to access information and book reservations whenever they want.

UI UX Best Practices for Hotels

Hotels need to implement actionable business strategies that streamline operations by providing their employees with the best tools that they can use to get things done. UI/UX designs should be used by hotels to simplify the overall booking process while making it easier for hotel staff members to manage their operations. In addition, employing new technologies can help hotels better engage with guests by providing them with a personalized customer experience that will, in turn, inspire brand loyalty and encourage repeat bookings.

Implement an Effective Pattern into your Hotel Website Design

When designing your website, it is vital to use a layout that is both visually appealing and easy to navigate. 

Load Time 

The loading time of your website is crucial because it can affect your conversions. If your website takes too long to load, this increases the chance that users will simply abandon the site.

Booking Calendar Usability

When designing your website, it is crucial to provide the user with an easy booking calendar. This helps them select their preferred dates. The best design also includes the option to filter out rooms that are not available.

Booking Cancellation

Cancelling bookings and reservations should be as easy as they can be. Allowing users to cancel their bookings on your website/app with ease will make the overall customer experience. 

Booking Progress Bar

To boost customer engagement, hotels should include a progress bar on their booking page. This progress bar shows the customers where they are in the booking process and informs them if their payment method has been saved or not.

Accurate and Comprehensible Rate Information

Make sure you display all the information your customers may need in an easily understandable way. For example, hotels can boost conversions by displaying accurate and comprehensible rate information regarding pricing. 

Include A Call-to-action On The Page

When designing your website, make sure you include a call to action on every page; this will allow users to complete their tasks efficiently. The best way to do this is by having an option for users to book a room or access the booking calendar. 

Designing Clean Review System

Effective reviews are essential for hotel websites. If users see that your business is getting positive reviews, they are more likely to consider booking with you. Thus, it is important to use high-quality images of all the rooms, amenities, and locations for customers to get a clear picture of what your hotel looks like.

Saving Reservation Before Payment

This feature allows customers to reserve a booking/plan for a specified amount of time. This makes it easier for them to look at the different options they have and choose accordingly while keeping their option of booking open. This also makes the overall booking process much smoother and less hectic.

Mobile Optimization

If your hotel website design is not optimized for mobile users, you can expect a significant loss in business opportunities. This is because more users visit hotel websites on their phones rather than on their desktops. Mobile visitors account for a large portion of many hotels’ daily bookings, and it continues to rise every year.

Direct Booking Integration

Integrating direct booking onto a hotel’s app is important because it allows guests to book their room from within the app itself. This streamlines the process of searching for, selecting, and booking a hotel room in one place. This option provides convenience for users and saves them time while also freeing up space on your website where your customers are.

Final Thoughts

The key to increasing your numbers in bookings and revenue is to keep your website and app design simple while also making it easy for visitors to navigate. Efficient and clean UI/UX designs ultimately allow them to bring in more bookings and revenue. If hotels are struggling with their bottom line, then it could be because their system does not allow for them to focus on revenue maximization. 

UI UX design is the most effective and efficient way to do this because it facilitates easy and intuitive navigation no matter what device customers are using. Including the elements discussed above, along with additional features, will lead to increased bookings which will help boost your hotel’s revenue.