Begin sourcing your content, considering the stories you want to tell with that content, and start thinking about how to publish and amplify those stories. Expanding your visual storytelling efforts with rich, engaging media will make your hotel stand out from the competition and give web visitors a “you-are-there” feeling when they find your property online.
Daniel, opensmjle:
A question always arising when discussing website projects and visual storytelling – what should be the most prominent picture to select in the header or slider. I guess that depends on the individual property, but what could be useful hints for hoteliers?
John, Leonardo:
Travel shoppers are searching online and trying to better understand what it is about your hotel that will make their trip successful. Fundamentally it is less about a specific photo and more about capturing the story of your hotel in how it is presented visually.
You first need to understand what it is about your hotel that guests find differentiates you from the competition, then you need to use this to craft your story. That being said, we track and analyze hundreds of millions of interactions that consumers have with visual content and overwhelmingly the most viewed category of images are ‘guest rooms’. Travel shoppers want to see what the room looks like. Ironically, if you go to any of the largest OTA or hotel websites, you’ll likely see an exterior shot first, then an empty lobby. Our data shows that exterior shots are ninth in the top ten most viewed hotel images online. Guest room images are so important, that they are actually viewed two times more often than the second most viewed category, which is ‘restaurants’. The fact that restaurants are the second most viewed category tells us that travelers are looking for more than a place to sleep, they’re looking for an experience. They want to know, “When I stay at your hotel what is my room like? What are my options for dinner and what am I going to do when I am there?” For a full list of the top ten most viewed image categories visit our blog.
Daniel, opensmjle:
Coming back to the story told ‘above the fold’. What would you recommend to hotels to position on the space of their website people see first before scrolling or clicking anywhere else? Image, video or a slider including both options?
John, Leonardo:
Again, the hotel marketer must really understand what the story of hotel is. What is it that guests relate to that differentiates your hotel from others? We recently wrote a blog post titled “I Hear Your Scrambled Eggs Are Amazing: And Other Stories Your Guests Are Telling Online” about how some of the smallest spike points of guests’ experience can shape your story. In this case a hotel that had an amazing breakfast (that had been amplified on TripAdvisor, Pinterest and other channels) found the story that differentiated them from the pack. In their case I would recommend a simple but awesome photo of a couple sharing breakfast to serve as the main image of their website… with the supporting headline. I find the story or stories and how you communicate them is what will drive what a consumer should see above the fold. Sometimes your story requires video (although I would suggest most marketers make their video too long… keep it short), sometimes it requires a slideshow and sometimes a single image can capture the story.
As the internet becomes increasingly visual, hotels can quickly attract the attention of online travel shoppers with visual storytelling tools – what’s most important is that the media tells an interesting story to travel shoppers, and communicates the reason why the visitor should desire staying at your hotel.
For the full Leonardo ebook with more detailed information and examples please follow this link.
