Imagine someone has landed on your hotel website.
They like what they see and are interested to find out more information.
But they have not made the decision to book. So this is where you still have work to do to persuade them that your hotel is exactly what they are looking for.
Every page of your hotel website has to be designed, and every paragraph written, with the goal of converting a viewer into a booker.
One of the things that many hotel owners struggle with is putting together effective hotel room descriptions.
Even major brands cut corners here.
Maybe they create a generic bullet point list with some photos around.
Or they write a large, generic block of gobbledegook that could apply to any hotel room in the world. Nobody is going to read or be influenced by that.
Of course, you need to have professional photos for your rooms, but that’s not enough. It’s well worth writing original descriptions for your rooms, and taking some time to do the job well
So in this article, we’ll go through five tips that will help you write room descriptions for your hotel website that strategically take viewers a step closer to the decision to book.
Tip 1: Start with a customer persona
I mention this in practically every article on this blog, because it’s so important. Everything you do for your hotel should be aimed at your target audience.
It should be written to grab their attention, be relevant and show them why your hotel is the right choice.
We have written an entire guide on what customer persona is, and how to create their profile. If you don’t have one for your hotel, read the guide and start working on your customer personas first.
Having a customer persona profile in front of you when writing your description of hotel rooms will help you to put yourself in their shoes.
For example, you will understand which room features are most important for them, so you can emphasise them. Maybe your target audience are travellers who prioritise their sleep and rest – so emphasise features like window blinders, soundproofing, the quality of bedding, and anything else that shows that they will have a good night sleep at your hotel.
→ Action item: refer to your customer persona profile and write down all room features they might take into consideration when booking a hotel.
Tip 2: Be accurate and clear
Your hotel room description should be two things – accurate and clear.
While you want to do justice to your hotel and present the rooms in the best light, you should be very accurate with your description.
This might sound obvious, but it happens too often that a room description on a hotel website sets higher expectations than the reality. And the outcome is negative reviews from disappointed guests.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be modest, but keep it realistic. Make sure you share room descriptions with other team members before you put them on the website, so they can do an accuracy check for you.
When it comes to clarity, this mostly refers to explaining the difference between different types of hotel rooms.
Again, you have to put yourself into your guests’ shoes – especially if they are looking into your hotel for the first time. When you explain the difference between the rooms clearly, you are also justifying the price difference between them.
Your guests can easily decide which room type is a better option for them, and a better deal.
Tip 3: Pay attention to details
Depending on your hotel’s type, and the type of travellers you are targeting, there might be some descriptive colour that you could add to your room descriptions to help tap into their emotions.
Again, this is connected to knowing exactly who are you targeting, and referring to your customer persona profiles to make sure every word you use in the description is important and relevant to them.
Take the example of the traveller who prioritises good rest. You might want to add more details about he soft beds, and isolating sound proofing of the walls.
You can present the contrast of having a good sleep in your hotel room, instead of struggling to sleep all night due to noise and loud guests – waking up rested, full of energy instead of waking up tired and sleepy.
Again don’t go too far and be cheesy, but used with restraint adding some detail can be effective.
Tip 4: Write for all senses
We are working on an entire article about sensory marketing for hotels, but to explain it simply – it’s using marketing techniques to reach and captivate all five senses of our target audience – sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.
Think about how you can add sections that will awaken specific senses to a reader.
For example, the smell of homemade pastry and a taste of freshly-brewed coffee in the morning, scenic views from the windows, smooth jazz music playing in the hotel lobby, soft, comfortable bedding, and so on.
Don’t exaggerate though – think of this as final touches and sprinkle them throughout the description.
Tip 5: Present it as an experience
Finally, remember that travelling is all about experiences – and a hotel stay is a significant part of it!
So don’t present your rooms as just a place to sleep and get room service. Present them as a part of the entire travel adventure. People sometimes visit a place just so they can stay in a certain hotel – so don’t forget to add what makes a stay in your hotel a special and unique experience.
Related Articles:
Top five SEO copywriting tips for hotels
Tips to improve a hotel website
Want to take your hotel website to the next level?
Creating strategic hotel websites based on marketing principles is our main field of expertise. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, we can create a strategy-focused website that will help your hotel stand out, attract more guests and generate more bookings!
Get in touch, or schedule a free discovery call with no strings attached, and see how we can help your hotel grow.
Until next time,
