These are the themes that have been transferred under the ILOVEWP brand (as of 31/03/2022):

• Castello
• Leonardo

Why is this happening?

Due to the many technical limitations of our current software on HermesThemes.com, it was decided to gradually move all paid WordPress themes under the ILOVEWP brand.

HermesThemes was started all the way back in 2013. Some of our themes have yet to be updated to take advantage of everything that modern-day WordPress has to offer. This is only the first step.

What is changing?

In short: easier and better theme updates and new prices.

1. Automatic theme Updates are now available (with a license key)

It is now possible to automatically update our themes directly from the WordPress dashboard, as long as your subscription license key is valid.
This has been one of the biggest pain points for our customers. No more.

2. More frequent updates and upgrades

Because it is now a lot easier to deliver theme updates, our themes will be updated and improved a lot more frequently than before.

3. Prices, currency, VAT

Because most of our customers and ILOVEWP are based in Europe, the new prices for our themes are in Euro (€) instead of US Dollars ($).

The new prices are displayed exclusive of VAT, which varies depending on the customer’s address.

Due to the price and currency changes, there will be a special transition process for existing customers with an active subscription (details below).

4. Automatic billing was suspended for all existing subscriptions

All existing customers with an active subscription for the above-mentioned themes will no longer be billed by our old software, be it via PayPal or 2CheckOut.

Instructions to Existing Customers of HermesThemes

In order for us to create an account for you on ILOVEWP.com, please contact us here or by sending an email to info@hermesthemes.com with the following information:

1. Your email address (or username) that was used to purchase one of our products;
2. Please copy/paste the following sentence in your email:
   “I allow ILOVEWP.com to create a new account for me using the private information available in my HermesThemes profile.“

As a sign of gratitude to our loyal customers, all active subscriptions that will be transferred will be extended free of charge by 6 months.

Instructions to HermesThemes Affiliates

All pending affiliate payments will be carried out according to schedule.

To continue earning money by promoting our themes, please sign up for an affiliate account on ILOVEWP.
Don’t forget to update your existing affiliate links with the new ones.

In Conclusion

This transition process will take some time, but the benefits far outweigh the downsides.

Just the possibility of automatic theme updates directly from the Dashboard makes this move a no-brainer.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at info@hermesthemes.com with any questions that you might have, I’m happy to help.

– Dumitru Brinzan

The post Our New WordPress themes will be available exclusively on ILOVEWP.com appeared first on HermesThemes.

This is an update to the Over 77% of Hotel Websites are Not Secured with HTTPS article that I have published 3 years ago.

Among countries with a large number of hotels, Switzerland is leading the chart with an impressive 60.28% HTTPS adoption rate (5,155 out of 8,552 lodging websites).

HTTPS Usage on Hotel Websites

It is interesting to note that some countries at the bottom of the chart were also at the bottom 3 years ago. For example:

• South Korea increased from 8.99% to 13.47%.
• India increased from 17.4% to 27.54%.

Some countries quickly jumped into the upper half. For example:

• Czech Republic increased from 9.69% to 44.45%.
• Italy increased from 15.18% to 44.46%.
• South Africa increased from 15.52% to 45.76%.
• Greece increased from 18.19% to 53.52%.

How to Get a free SSL Certificate

The most popular provider of free SSL certificates is Let’s Encrypt. Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open certificate authority brought to you by the nonprofit Internet Security Research Group (ISRG).

Many popular hosting providers have full support for Let’s Encrypt. This means that you can automatically get a free SSL certificate installed for your domain(s) directly from cPanel or other account management software.

HermesThemes is hosted by SiteGround, one of the best rated WordPress hosting providers.

If your SiteGround account has been migrated to the new SiteGround Site Tools management panel, you can easily get a free SSL certificate from Dashboard > Security > SSL Manager.

If your hosting provider uses cPanel and has full support for Let’s Encrypt, you can find Let’s Encrypt in the Security section.

Simply select the domain that you want to add a SSL certificate to and click Install.

In just a few seconds your website will be able to be accessed via HTTPS.

If your website is powered by WordPress, you will have to install a plugin to redirect all your previous HTTP links and requests to HTTPS.

Really Simple SSL is probably the most popular plugin to help migrate a WordPress website from HTTP to HTTPS.

In conclusion

There is no real reason NOT to secure your website with a SSL certificate.

Hotel websites often handle sensitive information, even if they use an external hotel booking engine for bookings and payments.

So if you haven’t done this yet, now is a good time to do so!

The post The number of Hotel Websites secured with a SSL Certificate has doubled in the last 3 years appeared first on HermesThemes.

Version 3.0 of the theme was released in February 2021 and includes major improvements and upgrades.

Detailed Video about the Castello WordPress Theme

Download Castello 3.0 Theme

All customers with an active Castello subscription can download the theme and start using it right away.

To download the theme, please go to the Sign In page.

If you have an expired subscription for Castello or Belafonte, you can renew your subscription by ordering the “Castello WordPress Theme [RENEWAL]” product.

Belafonte Theme is now part of Castello

The previous version of Castello had only a dark color palette and the sidebar was only on the left side.
The Belafonte theme was created for customers that wanted a light color palette and the possibility to have the sidebar on the right.

Considering that the new version of Castello perfectly fits all these requirements, Belafonte has been discontinued and is no longer available for purchase.

All existing Belafonte customers already have access to the new Castello theme and can start using it right away.

Castello 3.0 Video Tutorials

We have detailed video tutorials that explain how to set up and use the theme’s features.

Professional Setup Package

If you would like to hire a professional to create your website for you, we also have a setup package available. We can help you with all the technical parts of setting up a website.

If you have any questions, please contact our support team. We can help you decide if Castello is the right choice for your website.

The post Castello 3.0 Major Update – Our Most Popular Hotel WordPress Theme appeared first on HermesThemes.

This video is for absolute beginners and I promise that anyone should be able to replicate what I’m doing in the video. I think that you will be pleasantly surprised by how easy it will be to create a professional website for this property, and you can do the same for your hotel.

This video was recorded using WordPress 5.5.3 and version 1.1.0 of the Avignon theme.

The post Definitive Video Tutorial for the Avignon Hotel WordPress Theme appeared first on HermesThemes.

Avignon is a beautifully modern responsive WordPress theme that will show your property in the best light possible.

Inspired by the French city of Avignon, this theme is a perfect fit for luxury and boutique hotels, inns, B&Bs, villas, etc.

A full-width hero slideshow in the header of the website will immediately impress visitors with your professional photography.

You can check the Avignon Theme page to find out more about what makes this theme a great choice for your property.

The post Introducing: Avignon WordPress Theme for B&Bs appeared first on HermesThemes.

Kingfisher is probably the most flexible and ambitious hotel WordPress theme that I have released until today.

What makes Kingfisher a bit different from the rest of the themes is that you can choose a custom layout for any page or post: with a sidebar on the left, with a sidebar on the right, with both sidebars or without any sidebars.

Combined with the amazing Directory module built into the theme, you can use a wide range of unique pages to better showcase your property.

This is a preview of the theme’s homepage.

You can easily build a unique homepage structure using any combination of our custom widgets. They are very easy to set up. Here’s the widget combination that we use on the theme’s live demo page.

You can read more about Kingfisher Theme.

Give KINGFISHER Theme a Try

You can Buy Kingfisher Theme here.
You can View a Live Demo of Kingfisher Theme here.

The post Introducing: Kingfisher WordPress Theme for Hotels, Inns and B&Bs appeared first on HermesThemes.

It started as a complete update for the Bordeaux theme, but it ended up with too many differences that some Bordeaux users might not agree with.

This is a preview of the theme’s homepage.

You can easily build a unique homepage structure using any combination of our custom widgets. They are very easy to set up. Here’s the widget combination that we use on the theme’s live demo page.

You can read more about Boutique Theme Features.

Give BOUTIQUE Theme a Try

You can Buy Boutique Theme here.
You can View a Live Demo of Boutique Theme here.

The post Introducing: Boutique WordPress Theme for Hotels appeared first on HermesThemes.

For the purpose of this post let’s agree on one thing: a hotel website should serve a utilitarian purpose, not an artistic one (unless that’s your very specific niche).

So every element on your website should bring value to your visitors and answer some of their questions. The user experience (UX) should be comfortable and intuitive. Thanks to this it becomes a little easier to determine what a hotel website should and should not have on it.

Most of these suggestions are relevant and achievable on any hotel website, regardless of the content management system used, be it WordPress, Joomla, Wix or even static HTML websites.

Before we begin

After seeing what a blessing WordPress can be for independent hotels and B&Bs, in 2013 I have started HermesThemes, a WordPress Themes shop that caters to the hospitality industry.

Since July of 2017 I have started a continuous analysis of more than 1 million hotel websites from every country on planet Earth. I run automated tests, I gather stats and I manually verify and compile all the data. I published some of my findings in The Current State of Hotel Websites (September 2017) post.

I use some of this data for a small project called Instagram Leaders, an ongoing ranking of the most followed hotel Instagram accounts from over 200 countries and locations.

Table of Contents:

1. Design, Layout, UI/UX Advice
   1. Easy to Find Contact Information
   2. Intuitive Layout
   3. Professional & Current Photography
   4. Good Content Readability
2. Content Advice
   1. A summary of your property on the homepage
   2. Easy to Understand Navigation
   3. Gallery Page (Photo / Video)
   4. Overview Page (About the Property)
   5. Special Offers & Packages Page
   6. Room Types Page
   7. Dining & Drinking Page
   8. Events & Activities page
   9. Explore & Attractions page
3. Bonus Points for these Extras
   1. Live Chat Feature (not a chatbot)
   2. Press Kit
   3. In the Press/Media page
4. Frequent Mistakes
   1. Video or Music that plays automatically
   2. Too many links to OTAs and Social Media
   3. Small and/or Outdated Photos
5. Resources

1. Design, Layout, UI/UX Advice

1.1. Easy to Find Contact Information

You want to engage your website visitors as soon as possible, so having your contact information in a visible location is essential. Make it easy for them to get in touch via the best contact methods: email and telephone.

Imagine guests that are stuck on the highway or are lost somewhere. Is it easy for them to quickly get in touch with you using the website? They should be able to find your telephone number directly from your homepage, preferably in the header or the footer of the website.

Delaire Graff Estate does a good job with their contact information in the website’s footer.

1.2. Intuitive Layout

Having an original website design is good, but it should not come at the cost of your visitor’s frustration. People have been using the Internet for over 20 years now, so they have grown to expect certain patterns on a website.

Let’s take a quick look at something simple: the importance of logo placement in the header of a website. Most websites have the logo on the left. Many websites experiment by placing it in the center (which also looks better on mobile), while some try to stand out by placing the logo (and the menu) on the right.

According to a study by Nielsen Norman Group, people are 89% more likely to remember a brand if their logo is placed on the left instead of the right. The same study shows that people don’t find websites with a logo on the right to be more unique, it is the opposite.

For every design we compared, we found that more users remembered the brand name when it was displayed on the left side of the page, rather than the right side. This difference was statistically significant.

According to another study by Nielsen Norman Group, a centered logo hurts website navigation.

Getting back to the homepage is about 6 times harder when the logo is placed in the center of a page compared to when it’s in the top left corner.

The bottom line is this: originality is good, but you have to be extremely careful when you want to break patterns and surprise your visitors with something unconventional.

1.3. Professional Photography

Great photos can be your best marketing asset, so don’t settle for mediocre photos. They should also be current. You can keep historical photos of your property on the History page, but guests want to see how your hotel looks today.

You should set very clear expectations for your guests, so make sure to have:

Exterior Photos

Guests should know if you are located on a crowded street, if cars are parked right under their windows, etc.

Guest Room Photos

The people at Booking.com recommend that each room should have at least 4 photos from different angles.

Dining Area Photos

Breakfast area photos are very important, as that’s where most of your guests will start their day. If you serve lunch and/or dinner, make sure to showcase how the dining room looks in the evening. People should know what to expect: a crowded, noisy place or a quiet place for a romantic dinner with their loved one.

Facilities Photos

People should be able to see what facilities you provide: a swimming pool, a sauna, a playground or a sunbathing terrace, show them all.

Event & Meeting Space Photos

Do you host events at your property, like weddings, birthdays or business seminars? You have to showcase the type of events that you can accommodate.

Want to see what great B&B photography looks like? Check out the portfolio of Jumping Rocks (based in Philadelphia). I’ve been following their work for many years, and I’m always amazed by their fantastic ability to frame a property. We are not affiliated in any way, this is just honest praise from a fellow photographer.

1.4. Good Content Readability

When working with a professional web designer, clients expect to get the best results for the money that they invest, which is why they hire a professional.

Here’s the thing though. Designers love to design, and that’s good. The problem is that some designers focus on making things look pretty. Very often this is very easily achieved by using a small font size and low contrasting colors.

Here are two examples of bad readability on otherwise good hotel websites that I like.

Hôtel Byblos has a beautiful website that matches the brand and style, but the homepage headline and description are annoying to read, so I just skipped them. Is that the desired result?

Katzenthalerhof Hotel from South Tyrol has a nice and modern website, but there are a few mistakes that I would like to see fixed.

One of them is the paragraph’s length. Text that is 1200 pixels long is very difficult to skim and scan, which is what most people usually do.

In a 2014 article by The Washington Post, researchers found out that people are so used to skimming and scanning text online, that they are now doing it when reading books.

Without going too much into it, general readability rules state that the ideal line length is 45-75 characters. In this example, one line has an average of 170 characters per line.

You’re doing it wrong when someone has to physically turn their head while reading a single line of text.

2. Hotel Website Content Structure Advice

With some variation depending on location and audience, some things should be present on every property website, be it a hotel, hostel, B&B or a large resort hotel.

2.1. Summary of your property on the homepage

All hotel websites should have a clear summary on the homepage, preferably as close to the top of the page as possible.

You should not assume that a website visitor will know exactly what he/she is looking at. Make it clear what you are, where you are and what you have to offer.

Consider this example: Siena House is a boutique hotel in Tuscany, Italy. They are located in the region of Siena, so their name makes perfect sense.

But there’s also a Siena House hotel in Sozopol, Bulgaria. The Siena House homeless shelter in New York and the Siena House Maternity Home in California.

Sure, an attentive visitor will immediately understand if they are on the wrong website. But for both usability and SEO purposes, it is a very good idea to have a paragraph or two describing your property.

An example of a good property description by The Lincoln Hotel.

Another example of a good property description by The Zhero Hotel from Ischgl/Kappl, Austria.

2.2. Easy to Understand Navigation

A few months ago I’ve analyzed how 34 of the biggest hotel chains use navigation on their portal hotel websites. Here’s some of my findings:

• On 29 of them (85%) the main menu contains between 6 and 10 items.
• On 28 of them (82%) the main menu is horizontal.
• Only 9 of them (26%) have a dropdown menu.

Identify what the big players are doing, learn and adapt. Some of these chains invest millions of dollars into research and website analytics, so why not learn from them a thing or two?

An example of a main menu on a Radisson Blu hotel (The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group).

An example of a main menu on a Raffles hotel (AccorHotels).

Not to pick on them specifically, but consider the main menu of Vigilius, a luxury mountain hotel in South Tyrol.

Even though the labels make perfect sense for their overall style, it creates some friction and confusion. The current menu requires the potential guest to work a little bit, to hover over things, to review all menu labels before clicking on something.

Not to mention the fact that the dropdown menu becomes completely unusable to people that can’t use a mouse, be it for physical or personal reasons.

If you don’t know how to organize your menu structure and/or how to call your pages, take a look at the table below. These are the most used menu labels on the 34 chain hotel websites. If your visitors are frequent travelers then they might be expecting a combination of these words in the main menu.

2.3 Gallery Page (Photo / Video)

Every hotel website should have a separate Gallery page with the most current photos of the property. People shouldn’t have to hunt for a photo of your exterior or the breakfast room.

The most popular way of displaying your gallery is in a grid format, usually with 3, 4 or 5 photos in a row.

In my opinion the thumbnails should not be smaller than 160×160 pixels and not larger than 300×300.

Take a look at the Gallery of Port Ferdinand Resort in Barbados.

No sidebars, no distractions, just a way to filter the photos by their category. Photos are large enough to impress, but small enough to fit on the page. Clicking on them of course brings up a lightbox with their larger versions.

2.4. Overview Page (About the Property)

An Overview page (called About Us, The Hotel, The Resort, etc.) should be like a complete brochure for your property. A visitor should be able to find all relevant information about your property from this single page.

Here’s a good example: the website of The Serras Hotel in Barcelona, winner of the World’s Best City Hotel award at the Boutique Hotel Awards 2017.

Each block could be linking to additional pages or keep everything on a single page, it depends on how much content you have.

2.5. Offers Page

Don’t make your potential guests hunt for information about special offers and promos. Make it easy for them to find that as soon as possible.

The Chester Grosvenor, another winner at Boutique Hotel Awards 2017.

Lefay Resort & Spa, another winner at Boutique Hotel Awards 2017.

2.6. Rooms Page

A good Rooms page will help visitors choose the right room for their trip. This is especially useful when your rooms have unconventional names, like “Hamilton Room”, “Rosemary Room”, etc.

Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa, Aruba.

Your rooms list should preferably display: a photo, a short description, the room size, capacity and standard rate per night.

Pro Tip: you’re the one who knows your rooms best. So when possible, suggest different rooms to different types of guests.

Add a line for each room recommending it to a certain category of guests. For example: “Who books it: couples” or “Who books it: families with children”, etc. This will help visitors spend more time researching the rooms that are more appropriate to them.

2.7. Dining & Drinking Page

Wherever your property is located, be it in the center of a major city or on the outskirts of a small village, people need to know their dining options. You should make it as clear as possible what you offer in terms of food and drinks.

Even if you’re a B&B without any dining options, you should have a page dedicated to that. Make a list of restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs that are near you. If there are too many to choose from, you should try out some of them, check their reviews, etc. and recommend only the best places.

2.8. Events/Activities page.

The Events and/or Activities page is a must for any type of property. Here are some things that can and should be added to the website:

• Create a calendar of business events, fairs, expos, etc. This will add some keywords that, with some luck you might rank high for. It will also show that you are knowledgeable about what happens in your area and will help you adapt your rates for the busy days.
• Create a calendar of local events and regional holidays, there’s always something to write about, no matter how small or niche it is.
• What do people usually do when they visit you? If you have many concertgoers because of your proximity to a certain venue – put it out there. Do people come to your property for hiking, fishing or anything else? Write about it. Identify what needs you satisfy the most and make that clear on your website.

Pro Tip: Set up a free Google Alert for your city/location name and get immediate, daily or weekly email alerts of new pages that contain your term. You can even set up multiple alerts, totally free of charge.

Example of a Google alert for Sölden, a popular ski resort in Austria. It took a minute to find out that a major snowboarding event is coming up. Add it to your calendar, blog about it and maybe adjust your room rates accordingly.

Even though this event is most likely advertised throughout the resort, smaller events will probably not get much attention. But you will know. You might be one of the most informed hoteliers in your location. With effort and luck, that knowledge could transform into additional revenue.

2.9. Explore/Attractions page

Do not assume that only leisure travelers are interested in exploring the surrounding area. The term “bleisure traveler” is proof of that.

Bleisure travelers are people who extend their business trips by a few days for leisure purposes. CNN had a story about Bleisure travelers.

According to a study by Global Business Travel Association, 37% of the surveyed 675 North American business travelers have taken a bleisure trip in the prior year.

Let’s look at an example of a good Explore page.

The What’s Nearby page of Strand Hotel in Singapore is a very useful page to have. It fulfills multiple needs: shopping, exploring and eating.

Would your guests benefit from a similar page on your hotel’s website? Go for it!

3. Bonus Points for Going the Extra Mile

The following tips are not applicable for all properties, but you should at least be aware of them.

3.1. Live Chat module (not a chatbot)

Not to be confused with a chatbot, which I find useless and overhyped, Live Chat became a popular and beneficial feature on many websites, especially on E-commerce websites.

A Live Chat is that little message box that appears in the bottom-right corner on some websites, with a person on the other end suggesting a quick chat to answer your questions. This is a great way of informing visitors about the benefits of booking direct and not via an OTA.

Even though this requires someone to be online in order to provide live assistance, chances are that you already have someone being in front of the computer all day.

A live chat service can be kept open in a separate window while you do other things. A sound alert will notify you when someone’s trying to engage you in a chat. And when you’re not online, all these questions from potential guests will be sent via email, so you get good leads.

Again the website of Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa, Aruba.

You should definitely experiment with Live Chat and see if it works out for you. Make sure that the time invested converts into sufficient bookings.

Popular Live Chat Software Providers:

• Zendesk Chat: from $14 / month, FREE plan available. HermesThemes uses Zendesk, you can see how it works in the bottom-right corner.
• Freshchat: from $15 / month, FREE plan available.
• LiveChat: from $16 / month, FREE 30 days trial available.

3.2. Digital Press Kit

We have written before about How Hotel Press and Media Kits Help You Get Publicity.

In short, a press kit will make it easier for interested journalists to understand what your property is about. A press kit usually contains a short summary of the property, the names and photos of main staff, facts and figures, etc.

You can see a very good example of a hotel Press Kit on the website of The Alpina Gstaad, Switzerland.

3.3. In the Press/Media page

Not all properties are lucky to get press mentions in mass media. Nonetheless, if you have been in business for multiple years then there are probably at least a couple of blogs and smaller websites that have reviewed your property. Link to bloggers and influencers, the Press page can have even the smallest stories.

The Halcyon House boutique hotel from Australia display their numerous press mentions and awards on a single page. I have cropped out many of them to make the screenshot shorter.

4. Frequent Mistakes

I have to mention some of the worst things that many hotels do with their websites.

4.1. Video or Music that Autoplays.

You should never have videos or audio content that begins playing without the user’s consent. This is one of the worst user experience mistakes in web design. There are so many reasons to avoid this at all costs.

2008 was a decade ago. your boutique hotel website should NOT have auto play music.

— Casey Neistat (@Casey) March 15, 2018

Here’s what Nielsen Norman Group have to say about it:

When users arrive at a webpage, they don’t appreciate being surprised by video or audio content that begins playing without their consent. Video, and the accompanying audio, can confuse or distract users, and can interfere with their consumption of content on the page.

Those users who do not want to watch the video must devote cognitive resources and extra effort to figure out how to turn the audio off or pause the video, rather than focusing on their goals and information needs.

Even Google has decided to take measures against websites that try to play audio and video without the user’s consent.

4.2. Too many links to reviews on OTA websites: TripAdvisor, Booking.com, etc.

According to the stats published in Current State of Hotel Websites (September 2017), ~37% of hotel websites link to Facebook, ~17% to Twitter, 10.6% to TripAdvisor and 8.75% to Instagram.

Some properties feel the need to prove their worth by showing off their rankings on websites like TripAdvisor. Sounds like a good idea, but sometimes it has the opposite effect.

Cart Abandonment

Every time you place an external link to an OTA or a social media account, you run the risk of losing a customer. They might get lost in the reviews, they might start considering a different property with a better ranking, or what’s more likely – they will book your hotel via an OTA, even though you already had them on your website. So you end up paying a commission for a booking that you could have had anyway.

Yes, I know that almost everybody will tell you to link to social media as much as possible, show off walls and walls of user generated content. Sure, you can do that. But before you do, at least do a A/B test for your conversion rates.

And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use Facebook or Instagram. You should use them, but social media should be generating the traffic for your website, not your website for your social media accounts.

Let’s look at the website of Spier Wine Farm from South Africa.

In my opinion, having the social icons both in the header of the website and in the footer is overkill. If someone is looking to connect with you on social media, then they are used to finding the icons in a sidebar or in the footer. So removing them from the header won’t negatively affect your social media accounts, but it will free up some valuable real-estate in the header of the website, make it less overwhelming.

4.3. Small and/or Outdated Photos

A hotels’ photography is so important that I decided to address it twice in the same post.

I still find websites with just 3-4 photos of their property, or photos so small that you can’t discern anything on them.

A current, high-resolution photo is most important than a professional photo taken 15 years ago. Even if you invested good money in them, outdated photos should be discarded or moved to a separate page.

Unless it’s a room upgrade, nobody wants to walk into a booked room and discover that the furniture is different, the walls are painted in a different color, etc.

Even if you are shooting on a modern smartphone, there’s no reason to deliberately taking bad photos. Choose a good angle, stabilize the phone on something. Think about framing for a few seconds. Take that trashcan out of the way. If there’s a bed in the photo then make sure it is wrinkle-free.

Crooked, blurry images send the message that you are negligent and don’t put too much thought into your work. Maybe you have the same attitude towards room cleaning and hygiene when preparing breakfast?

Resources

Continue Reading about Photography

• Hotel Photography Tips and Tricks from Professional Photographers
• Photography Tips for Taking Better Hotel Interior and Architecture Photos

Continue Reading about Accessibility and Readability

If you are interested in finding out more about making your website accessible and readable to all, here are some articles and resources to get you started:

• Stop Designing For Only 85% Of Users: Nailing Accessibility In Design
• Readability: the Optimal Line Length
• Size Matters: Balancing Line Length And Font Size In Responsive Web Design
• Secret Symphony: The Ultimate Guide to Readable Web Typography
• Tool: Golden Ratio Typography Calculator

Have your say

Have you got other tips for a great hotel website, have I missed something essential? Or do you think that some of these tips are overrated and are not as important as I make them to be?

I would like to hear from you, so please feel free to comment below.

The post Blueprint for a Great Hotel Website: Things to Do & Mistakes to Avoid appeared first on HermesThemes.

Most guests today are looking for either a luxury getaway or an adventure on a budget and the locally owned independent hotel can feel a little too passé.

Managing a hotel certainly isn’t the easiest job in the world, but it can definitely be rewarding, both financially and personally. However, if you’re feeling like a mouse in a wheel struggling to keep up with the big cats, it’s time to stop, take a step back and have a closer look at the daily operations.

Life is Short! You don’t want to be spending your precious time constantly playing catch-up and falling short in the profit margin.

Here are 5 back of house tips that you can begin to put into place as of tomorrow that will save you time and money.

1. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Standard Operating Procedures or “SOPs” are a set of instructions compiled by an organization to help workers complete routine operations. They aim to achieve consistency and efficiency.

It may seem way too obvious to some of you. I know. But you would be surprised how many businesses operate without them or have them but don’t follow them. Especially small independently run hotels. This is a no-brainer!

When was the last time you checked your SOPs? How often do you update them? Are they correctly aligned with your business philosophy and strategy? Did you know you can calculate the return on time invested in your SOPs?

Each and every single procedure is money. Every single step taken in your hotel, front-of-house, back-of-house, and anything to do with your business is money.

If you invest the time creating clear, concise, aligned processes you will most definitely see the return! Automate your processes by digitizing them and have employees check off digital lists.

Employees feel more confident in their jobs, training becomes more efficient and everyone has more time to enjoy and communicate with your guests. And that, my friends, is exactly your point of difference when it comes to your competition.

2. Auditing

SOPs are not worth anything if they are not being audited. Every day! Yes, that’s right, EVERY day. You may think this is overkill, but I promise you, if you are not checking every day that procedures are being followed and followed correctly and consistently, you will be losing money without a doubt.

The time and effort to install best practices and auditing programs are huge and I hear “But I don’t want to process the life and fun out of my business!” and “I don’t have the time to be checking on everyone!” All. The. Time. This is a totally normal and understandable response but I can assure you, everything becomes easier after auditing practices are in place and automated.

Once it’s done, it’s done! And the hard work absolutely PAYS off.

Using cloud-based software tools will give you the data you need to effectively correct and improve any issues quickly, save money and increase revenue.

3. Communication

MAKE IT EASY.

“Consumers are 2 times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they are to talk about positive experiences.”​ (2012 Global Customer Service Barometer)

Communication is the lifeblood of any relationship so if you have the feeling your customers are giving you the silent treatment, your occupancy has dropped compared to this time last year or your business social media is going stale, you may have a communication problem.

And guess what? if you have a communication problem with your guests and potential customers, you will also most likely have a communication problem with your team.

It starts with you. You need to encourage open communication throughout the hotel. This does not mean you need to be standing around listening to everyone’s personal problems like an agony aunt. But it does mean you need to facilitate a safe and positive working environment that encourages all kinds of feedback.

If your team feel safe enough to offer you feedback, they will give the same grace to your guests and potential guests.

On average only 4% of customers will tell you if they have a problem. That means 96% won’t say anything, won’t come back, and tell at least 5 people of their experience.

It is VITAL that you provide easy and safe procedures for all feedback and make it EASY!

4. Workflow

Everything has its home. Get organised. Make it your mission to make every workspace a blind person’s dream.

Good workflow = $$$. The easier it is to do a job, the faster it gets done. The faster it gets done, the faster you can get on to the next task and so on. Or, you can use the extra time to spend on your guests.

Hospitality is exhausting enough and if you can make a Manhattan without having to search for a clean shaker every time or find guest stationary without having to walk a hundred miles, you are off to a good start.

Do not let anyone tell you that you’re being too rigid! This is best business practice and it will SAVE you time and money as well as generate more income because your team will be telling everyone how organized and easy it is to work there and they are your greatest referees both for recruitment and clients!

5. Ditch the paper!

Gone are the days of endless filing and their cumbersome cabinets.

Begin generating and storing all of your paperwork online. Checklists, contracts, invoices – ask yourself, do they really need to be printed?

By eliminating paper not only will you be saving trees and money but you will also be saving space and time.

Remember to ask your guests if they would like their receipt printed or emailed to them. Most deliveries now are signed digitally, if not ask your suppliers to email delivery notes and invoices.

Involve guests in the fight against unnecessary printing by marketing your green policies and by using paperless technology solutions.

1. Clear & Current SOPs
2. Consistent Auditing
3. Easy Communication
4. Efficient Workflow
5. Digital & Paperless

There are so many cloud-based hospitality tools available today. They can make these seemingly large changes easy for you and your team to begin and maintain.

I can’t tell you enough how important these 5 tips are and the giant role they play in your hotel. They can provide true security within your business.

Employee retention goes up and so does customer loyalty.

Knowledge is power. Information should be at your fingertips when you need it. So you can focus on your job, communicating with your guests and improving their experience.

The post 5 Back of House Tips to Save Time and Money appeared first on HermesThemes.

According to my ongoing research of over 1 million hotel websites from all around the world, Instagram is used by ~9.81% of hotels.

After a couple of weeks of tinkering with code, I finally came up with a good way to gather, sort, filter and rank the stats from all these Hotel Instagram accounts.

A Hotel Discovery Tool for Travelers and Influencers

Influencer Marketing has grown a lot in the past 2-3 years, so the Instagram Leaders project can help influencers find potential partners much easier.

I would assume that a hotel that is very popular on Instagram is more likely to consider a collaboration with an Instagram influencer.

Let’s look at an example: Top 50 Most Followed Hotel Instagram Accounts from Austria.

We quickly discover that some of the most followed Austrian hotels on Instagram are (as of March 11th, 2018):

1. Bio-Hotel Stanglwirt (@stanglwirt)
2. The Zhero Ischgl/Kappl (@zherohotelischgl)
3. Naturhotel Forsthofgut (@naturhotelforsthofgut)

When having to choose from a selection of hotels with similar amenities and room rates, I see a world in which someone would choose a hotel that is more popular on Instagram over one that isn’t.

Feedback is Welcome

I would love to hear what other people think about these Instagram rankings. Do you see other scenarios in which this information would be useful?

The post Introducing: Instagram Leaders – Most Followed Hotels on Instagram appeared first on HermesThemes.