The argument of "Why do I need a website?” still lingers on for some odd reason. For most businesses (especially for Hospitality Industry), a website acts as a brochure or sales tool. The benefits of a good website can offer any visitor a rich user experience that offline resources lack.

Hotel-Motel websites, in particular, can take advantage of these benefits. They can also drive traffic to their website and encourage visitors to call the property directly or offer the instant gratification of booking a room online. The bonus of a direct booking is the property avoids paying the 20% - 30% commissions that other third-party sales channels generally charge.

For those properties with an existing Online Travel Agency (ex. Expedia), don't fret. You can use your website as an additional sales channel in order to drive incremental traffic and sales. Imagine the benefits:

• Getting an additional 8 – 12 bookings a day like some of our properties using our www.frontdeskanywhere.com online booking engine.
• Receiving bookings during off business hours or during peak hours (when you are too busy to answer the phone)
• Selling up to $2,000 per day in room bookings from people that did not (and probably did not want to) call in
• Saving up to $400 per day in commissions that would have been paid to online travel agencies

These examples are per day. Here's what they look like over the period of a month:

• 240-360 additional bookings
• $60,000 in additional revenue from those bookings
• $12,000 in savings from commissions

Of course, seasonal variations will impact actual numbers but, as a start, these figures are impressive. Are they not? Future posts will will show you how to obtain these goals by making the most of your website. For now, the goal should be to get one and NOW! Consumers have come to expect it, it allows your property to look bigger and more professional and even friendlier.