Hotel Website Design: Don't Change Domain Names

This post is about another thing that drives us crazy while it hurts the businesses themselves. As the only travel website that connects direct to real lodging websites of all kinds, we probably view more of them than anyone else in the world. We link directly to over 140,000 lodging websites and have to check them constantly. Websites move, open and close every day. In many cases, those are bad moves. Never change your domain name, your internet address, unless it's absolutely necessary and there is no other option.

As we check our listings, for example, we find a bed and breakfast website that doesn't work. Sometimes they redirect properly and other times, the website just doesn't work. A customer would think, "did my favorite B&B close down? I guess they did. I'll have to go somewhere else." At AllStays, we eventually find the bad website link and do a search to find a new website for that same bed and breakfast and update our information. Before we found the change, customers are lost. All the links built over the years on other websites that point to this B&B are lost. Maybe it's a business directory, or the chamber of commerce. Maybe it's lodging sites like ours or maybe it's leading search engines like Google. Links are important on the internet. Some say they are most important thing. No matter what you believe about links and search engines, they do point others to your site. And that is a plus. You wouldn't go around handing out business cards and buying advertising and then move and change your phone number, would you? That is what you are doing when you move your domain name.

There was a time many years ago when you could put up a new website and be found right away. Those days are gone. A new website may take months to be found, if it is found at all. There are fairly good indicators that the age of a domain name is relevant on the internet. Like brick and mortar businesses, do you go to the business you know is good and that has been in town for 20 years or the one that just opened recently? You may eventually check the new one out but you trust the older one more.

Don't just change web addresses because you found a better one. Think long and hard about it if you are already established. And if you do feel that you have to change websites, at least find all the websites that are linking to you already and let them know of the change. Keep the traffic coming. Keep the old website and use it to advertise the new one. Don't let it die or even worse, be bought by someone else who takes your business traffic and name away from you.

We also know that there may be a reason why a website is lost. Web hosts go down or perhaps the owner wasn't really the owner. A domain name company may be crooked and not let the lodging owner keep the name or move it to another host or provider. Maybe the site was setup on some old free hosting site like Yahoo, Geocities or AOL. Those addresses don't look as professional in todays world. But again, keep that old site and point it to the new one. Don't make customers and your partners have to search for you. Most won't go out of their way to find you again.

Corporations change their site structure all the time. We constantly are updating and changing links for a thousand hotels under some big brand name. It's annoying and stupid but they are a corporation and that is what corporations do. They do stupid things. Some of them do this stupid thing every few months. A new marketing firm, a new manager or a new tech has to make an imprint on things so they change it. They don't realize that if they kept the same structure for years, they would benefit from more traffic and in turn reservations.

Hotel Internet Safety Tips

In this day and age of internet being a TV alternative, access should be
just as available as color television in your room. Some guests that are
asked to pay fees may look for dangerous free alternatives.

The more often you travel on business related trips, you may wonder why
many hotels are still charging for internet access. One website is now
putting this information up front for travelers.

We are hearing more and more complaints about this so we decided to try
to help. We were one of the first travel websites to list if a hotel had
high speed internet or not. It's still been difficult to know what the
policy is until you are on the premises.

It is not like a color TV in a room. Everyone assumes that one. Many
hotels will advertise internet access but not say if it's for free or
how much it may cost. A traveler may see internet access as an amenity,
listed amongst other common ones such as a pool, coffee or cable tv. So
a guest will book it, check in and then find a fee card in the room.

We recently had a case where a chain advertised free hotel high-speed
internet access with their brand name in magazine, tv and web ads. So we
made this change on the site accordingly. Then we are contacted by an
individual location saying that they charge $10 per 24 hour period. What
is a customer to do when the chains can't be straight with themselves?

Some people will say that business travelers should avoid these hotels
but it is difficult if one is already there when they find out about the
fee or have a meeting at that particular hotel. Convention center hotels
are often the worst offenders. The room rates are generally higher and
then they charge for every extra they can find. These hotels have
business travelers where they want them and charge accordingly. A hotel
with all the free amenities with a room rate at one third the price may
be just a couple miles away. Then one has to factor in extra travel
time, traffic and cost of a taxi, car rental or parking. Many luxury
hotels tend not to mention a fee up front because if a guest is staying
there at a high price, it is assumed they can afford paying extra for
internet, parking, newspapers and general resort fees.

Complain and complain loudly. Let them know on comment cards and at the
front desk that you won't be back. That no one in your business will be
back. That you will mention this on the convention survey so the whole
event could possibly relocate to another hotel,. Hotels are lowering
rates to be competitive on internet websites like ours and then charging
little fees for everything else, including things that should be free.

Even if travelers know the cost of internet access, is it working when
they get there? The network may be down or it is being upgraded in the
hotel. The frustrated guest may be out of luck without apologies. The
complaint is not on the same level as saying there is no electricity. It
may be critical for the business travelers visit but it's not yet an
important utility to the hotels.

A hotel charging a fee can actually be more dangerous as well. Upon
arrival, the guest may look up to see what wireless networks are
available. Instead of choosing the costly hotel option, they see other
nearby networks listed. Those networks may or may not be secure. As part
of a growing trend, these networks could just be someone spoofing a
network to get access to another computer and any information that is
sent through their fake network. This can in turn compromise the guests
data and even lead to identity theft.

It is very easy to set up a network or share ones internet connection
with others. Most people just see the list and try them until something
works. We've seen it many times in hotels and public places. Someone
will open a network and call it something deceptive. Maybe they will
imitate a big companies name or play on the cities name or nearby
location such as a convention center, coffee shop, monorail or airport.

If travelers are looking for alternatives, they can get a cellular data
card for their laptop with unlimited access. Depending on the phone and
plan they may also be able to connect the cell phone to a laptop and use
the internet. But sometimes reception is poor in hotel buildings. A
hotel guest won't know if it works until they've checked in.

Think about how often you travel and pay that $10 fee in a hotel. How
much time do you spend in airports and waiting rooms that could be spent
working? If you are in a business with traveling staff, you may come out
ahead buying a card for several people to share on various trips out of
the office. You are also generally more secure on a cell connection than
on a regular wireless connection as well. You can turn your wireless
card off so you are not visible to others and are not sending your data
through another nearby computer.

Hotel Website Design: High End Hotels With Low End Websites

An example of a hotel website that violates so many web design rules, that it makes the site almost unusable, is Wynn Las Vegas. Don't go there yet. The website has one entry point and is all multimedia. You get sound and video. If you don't have the right browser and the latest version of Flash on your computer, you won't get anywhere. You'll get a blank screen with no option to get any more information.

You don't have a newer computer? You are not on a high-speed connection? You are in a library? You have pop-ups blocked or disabled? You work at an office that doesn't have all the bells and whistles in the budget for their computers? You don't want your computer speakers betraying what you are doing on company time? You are listening to your own music or video and don't want to hear Steve Wynn, the owner of this particular hotel, talking to you? Don't go to the official website. This is one of those cases where you get more readable information at a third party travel website like us or others.

Whether it is the ego of website designers or the hotel owners, this kind of hotel website makes it difficult for you to be a customer. You shouldn't have to hunt for phone numbers. You can't find a phone number on Expedia, Hotels.com, or Orbitz, so you should be able to easily find it on the official website. Having a website come up as a blank page on millions of computers is like a business having an unlisted phone number and locked doors. You shouldn't have to upgrade your computer to check out a hotel. You shouldn't have to mute your computer or wake up your family (or boss) to check out a hotel.

There are many hotel websites that are like this so Wynn Las Vegas is not unique. We are just picking an example that you may have heard of before.