Redesigning Your Hotel Website for the Social Media Revolution

Sep 29, 11 | 12:03 am

A case study from Thailand Faasai Resort and Spa

Despite their critical business importance, most hotel websites fail to take advantage of the social media revolution or meet the needs of modern wired travelers. Today more than 80 percent of travelers rely on the internet for their travel research and want a fast, multimedia, interactive experience including advice from other travelers.

The owner-manager of Faasai Resort and Spa, a small eco-resort in Southeast Thailand, Bronwen Evans recognized this need but struggled to find local designers and developers who could develop her site in the way she wanted. She therefore turned for assistance to a New Zealand website business Core Development, that produced beautiful, innovative and clean designs and between them they redesigned the new website www.faasai.com.

Bronwen's vision was to redesign the website along the lines of a news magazine so that travelers could have a rich experience of discovery before they even arrived. In line with best practices, they decided the hotel website should have these features:

• Fully integrated with social media - reviews from TripAdvisor, interactive Google Map, Facebook comments, YouTube videos, plus a host of other social media sharing buttons.

• Optimised for search engines - simple navigation, dynamic and rich content, internal and external links, image-rich, with embedded captions, a Google site map, meta tag page descriptions

• Call to action - a link to the booking engine prominently displayed on the home page and room pages

• Mobile-friendly - displaying well on any kind of mobile device or any kind of browser with simple navigation

• Rich multi-media experience - prominently displayed videos, 360 virtual tour plus extensive gallery of high quality photos

• Calendar of events and local highlights - up-to-date information about the local area and upcoming events

• Blog and photo gallery - shared stories about the activities at the resort and guests continually updated through the content management system

• Brand values - care for nature, responsible tourism and friendliness and warmth

The independent resort is owned and managed by a Thai New Zealand couple, Surin Laopha and Bronwen Evans. Surin had a traditional country childhood in a village in the Northeast of Thailand and studied and practiced traditional Thai massage and healing at Wat Po, the elite school of Thai massage in Bangkok. Bronwen is a former Radio New Zealand broadcaster who also works as an advisor to a major Thai corporation.  The resort reflects New Zealand tourism standards such as a high level of environmental protection, participation and learning activities for guests and interactive experience of nature. On the Thai side there is a chance to experience the real Thailand in an unspoiled fishing village community, fun, a genuine love for guests and Buddhist tolerance and patience.

"Since we built our old website there have been many important changes at the resort including buying and preserving a nearby wetlands nature sanctuary and developing our integrated edible forest garden," said Bronwen. "The website now reflects these things, our love of nature and some of the character of our staff and guests."

Bronwen's tips for other hoteliers planning to update their website is they should not to try to do everything on their own site but integrate them with specialist sites and social media - for example the Faasai website outsources the map to Google, the videos to YouTube, the interactive comments to Facebook and the booking engine to FastBooking.

About Faasai Resort and Spa

Faasai Resort and Spa is a 14 room eco-resort at Kung Wiman, Chanthaburi, Thailand about 200 kilometres southeast of Bangkok. The resort is nestled into a forest covered hill amidst three acres of tropical gardens, overlooking the mangrove-fringed Kung Kraben Bay. Faasai is a ten minute walk from Kung Wiman beach. www.faasai.com. Tel:            +66813426234      . Email: bronwenannevans@faasai.com

Awards won by Faasai Resort and Spa

•Outstanding service to the environment and nature in the Eastern region - Thailand Boutique Awards 2010

•Best Small Hotel in Thailand  - TAT Green Awards 2009. "The Green Awards are a symbol of TAT's thanks to outstanding quality and reliable tourism products offered by hoteliers and tour operators" - Joanna Cooke, Marketing Manager for TAT UK.

•Responsible Tourism award - Faasai Resort & Spa was runner-up in the budget category in the 2008 Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards. The judges awarded the resort a score of 96% for its sustainable practices.

About Core Development

Core Development is a Dunedin based business offering website design, e- commerce development, web hosting services. To see their portfolio visit www.coredev.co.nz