Hotel Direct Bookings

HOTEL DIRECT BOOKINGS

Effective Hotel Websites

PRESENTATION

I have chosen to compare 2 independent hotels both located in Paris, in the heart of the ‘Triangle d’Or’ district, next to the Champs Elysées.

They are both 4 star hotels.

Hotel Vernet & Hotel San Regis

What easy are their own websites to find?

http://www.hotelvernet.com/

http://www.hotel-sanregis.com/

RANK IN GOOGLE SEARCH RESEARCH

HOTEL VERNET HOTEL SAN REGIS

1. HOTEL VERNET

HOTEL VERNET ON GOOGLE

How easy is it to find in the rank of the Google Search results?

Its website is the first one to appear in the results, even without specifying Paris in the research.

As for the third party sites having the most visible results, they are:

- Booking in the commercial links- Hotel.info is the 6th result and

Splendia the 8th one

HOTEL VERNET ON GOOGLE

How do its competitive hotels appear in the Google Search results?

As its website is the 1st one to appear it does not suffer from direct competition.

However, its competitor that appear one the first results page is the

Hotel Vernet Les Bains, located in the south west of France, and is the 4th result on the results page.

There are not a lot of risk for the Parisian

hotel as their location is specified and obvious, and the Parisian one is the only one to be refered to in the commercial links.

2. HOTEL SAN REGIS

HOTEL SAN REGIS ON GOOGLE

How easy is it to find in the rank of the Google Search results?

Its website is the first one to appear in the results, even without specifying Paris in the research.

As for the third party sites having the most visible results, they are:

- Booking in the commercial links- Hotel.info is the 7th result,

Prestigia is the 8th one and TripAdvisor is the 9th.

HOTEL SAN REGIS ON GOOGLE

How do its competitive hotels appear in the Google Search results?

Its website is the first one to appear in the results.

However, a competitor appears quite obviously not only in the results but also in the commercial links on top of the page.

There is indeed a major risk of confusion with the SanT Regis hotel, a 5 star one part of Starwood Hotels Group.

HOTEL SAN REGIS ON GOOGLE

The St. Regis is ranked at the 3rd place in the results.

How easy is it to use?

HOTEL VERNET OWN WEBSITE

Ease of access to decision information

The access is easy, as the customer only needs to select its language and is directly linked to the main page with the varied range of information.

Moreover, on the main site page, a direct access to rates and bookings is available.

Ease of access to rooms details

The access is easy, and detailed, offering links to

- History- Services presentation- Rooms presentation- Pictures.

Key words of the hotel’s philosophy appears on the page and beautiful pictures of the hotel too.

Ease of access to amenities

There is a link dedicated to receptions, conferences, detailed and clear.

There is also a link to the restaurants and bar, the menu and an direct restaurant booking possibility with an immediate confirmation.

Ease of access to location

In the location range are proposed:

- A map- A verbal presentation of

the district- A link to weather

forecast in this district- Events and exhibits of

the year

Ease of access to pricing

The pricing page is really clear:

- Price for each kind of room

- Price of other services

- Special offers

How easy is it to use?

HOTEL SAN REGIS OWN WEBSITE

Ease of access to decision information

On the main site page, a direct access to rates and bookings is available, but also to special offers.

Once the customer has chosen its language he is linked to the main information.

However the different ranges are not that clear according to me.

But on the general page of the hotel a direct availability check tool is available (see below).

Ease of access to rooms details

The access is less obvious as for the Hotel Vernet as it is in the “Welcome to the hotel” range.

Moreover, under each picture is a direct link to “booking the hotel” which is a major advantage, as the customer does not need to go back to the menu. If he has a crush while watching the picture of a room he can immediately book.

It is a way of using immediate feelings linked to view to gain clients.

They present

-History-Services-Different kind of rooms-Pictures

Ease of access to amenities

The access is on the main page of the site so easy to get to.

There is a form to fill up to book at the restaurant which is practical

Ease of access to location

The location part is based on practical use: there is a short presentation of the district, a map, and explanations on how to go to the hotel using any transport.

Ease of access to pricing

There is no real pricing page. The client as to enter the information concerning his star (how many nights, when, how many people) to get a price.

So prices are not clearly written and there is no access to it.

Their Booking Engine

http://www.hotelvernet.com/

http://www.hotel-sanregis.com/

Booking Engine

Once the customer has filled up the form with the information concerning his stay, he gets:

- all the possible offers- their price- the discount offered and - a booking button.

HOTEL VERNET HOTEL SAN REGIS

Hotel Vernet Booking Engine

SAN REGIS BOOKING ENGINE

Booking Engine

There is a link next to the prices and offers to see the general conditions, and even though there seem to be pretty complete, nothing is clearly written as regard to cancelation fees.

HOTEL VERNET HOTEL SAN REGIS

There is the same link to general conditions, but it precisely written that there is no fees for a cancellation 24 hours before the stay.

So important information is given here.

HOTEL VERNET

HOTEL SAN REGIS

CONCLUSION

Which hotel is doing the better direct sell effort and why?

According to me they are quite equal for several reasons:

- Hotel Vernet has more refined site and their prices are available directly on the website without having to enter the booking information which could be a lost of time.

- On the other hand, Hotel San Regis has a direct booking access and availability checking tool on the main page of its site and writes clearly the consequences of a cancellation.