With so many people choosing to book travel online today, your website, not your lobby, is increasingly becoming your first opportunity to make a lasting impression, but all too often we come across hotel websites that fail to match up to the hospitality guests experience in person.

Have you ever allowed a guest to wander the halls until they find what they need? Would you show them a fuzzy, decade-old photograph when they ask to see the pool? These might sound like extreme examples, but it’s not uncommon to see them replicated online.

This is a pressing issue, particularly when your customers are used to seamless online interactions through the likes of Amazon and Uber. So we decided to tackle the basics of online guest experience in our latest Spotlight on… report.

With the help of specially selected experts from the field of user experience design, known as UX, we guide you through the foundations of an effective website. There are tips on content, structure and testing, and a list of tools that will help start you off on the right foot.

We also bring you a 10-step guide to building a hotel website from scratch from someone with first-hand experience of the process. If you’re thinking of revamping your site, it’s well worth a read.

Finally we asked our experts to take a look at the websites of the world’s leading hotel groups to see what lessons can be learned. We built a league table based on their observations, so find out which one of Best Western, Hyatt, Choice et al came out on top.

Download the full report