At Simplotel we have built websites for over 2,000 hotels, and every single time we have been asked about how we drive traffic to a website. We have been asked by those who are usually suspicious of SEO because they paid for such services in past and may or may not have seen results. And we have been asked by our customers who see a 3x plus growth in their website traffic after coming to our platform – as to how we do it. While SEO can be a deep subject, today we will attempt to outline how one must think about SEO in this post.

At a high level SEO depends on three things –

  1. Technology and layout of the website 

  2. The content on the website

  3. Things happening outside your website
     

Technology and layout of the website

In order to determine the relevance of a website for a search term (also known as a keyword) search engines have a piece of software called a Bot (derived from the word Robot) that crawls (think of it as reads) content on your website. The Bot then stores the keywords that a website is most relevant for. This is known as indexing of a website.

Unlike users, bots see the code of the website and not what users see on a website (you can view the code of most websites by right clicking on a webpage and selecting view page source). The easier this code is for the search engines to understand, the better chance you have of conveying your content to the search engines and making sure that your content gets indexed correctly. Here again there are hundreds of things that matter. These include the load time of a website, the structure of website code, mobile friendliness, proper tags and sitemaps. Detailing these is a topic for a future blog.

The layout of your website also plays an important role in search engine optimization. Clean and simple navigation, easily readable content – they all add up towards SEO friendliness. 
To get these things right a website must be built for SEO from the ground up – retrofitting these things can often mean redoing the website. The good news is that Simplotel, out of the box, takes care of all this for your hotel website.
 

The content on your website

Now that we have gotten the technical aspects covered, the next most obvious thing about SEO is the content of the website. If your website’s content is about ice cream cones then your site will be indexed for ice cream cone searches and not for hotels. If your content is about a luxury hotel, then you won’t be indexed for budget hotels and consequently it is unlikely that you will show up for searches related to budget hotels.

Content also comes in many shapes. It includes the text on the website, the images that you put, the links you provide and the various tags (page titles page descriptions etc.). Each one of these have a significance and how and where you place them also matters. Content that is higher up on a page matters more than the content that is below. On things like page titles, the content that is to the left matters more than the content that is to the right. How you structure your content with various Headers (much like a word document) matters. How you name your images, how you name the links – they all matter.

All content on your website should be original content – copying of content from another website hurts your traffic – as the search engines and users skip past you believing you have nothing new to say. Adding fresh and relevant content has also shown to impact the SEO of a website.

There is also data about your hotel (meta data) that you can provide on your website, it is not visible to your customers but tells the bots the location, name, etc. of your hotel. Once again, Simplotel does this out of the box for your site.  Our experts write the content for your hotel website so that it is all set up well. This is another reason why our customers see a 3x plus growth in traffic.
 

Things happening outside your website

After the technology and the content on the website, there are things that happen outside your website that impact search engine optimization. These include your guest reviews, your listing on Google Maps and local listing sites, your mention in travel blogs, etc. – they all matter. Here are some suggestions,

  • Verify and own your Google My Business (GMB) page and make sure that the map marker is accurate.

  • Ensure that your hotel’s name, address and contact info is exactly the same on all online channels – your social media pages, local listings and classified listings. 

  • Get good reviews by taking care of customers and encouraging customers to write a glowing review. Also, respond to your reviews on various review channels time to time.

There are few silver bullets in SEO – so you must skin it with a thousand paper cuts. Please let us know your comments, questions and feedback at hello@simplotel.com.

Hotel Remarketing: Why Guests Leave Your Hotel Website Without Booking and How to Win Them Back

The missing link between hotel website visits and direct bookings

Over 70% of hotel website visitors now arrive on mobile devices. Yet nearly two-thirds of completed bookings happen on desktop.

That raises an interesting question.

What happens between the first visit and the booking?
The answer isn't that guests suddenly lose interest.

More often than not, they get interrupted.

They might be travelling to work, sitting in a meeting, comparing hotels during lunch, discussing plans with family, or simply exploring options weeks before their trip. They browse your hotel website, check a few room categories, compare prices with OTAs, and think, "I'll book later."

And many of them genuinely intend to. The problem is what happens before "later" arrives.

Leaving Doesn't Mean Losing Interest

While Hotels Wait, Someone Else Continues the Conversation

Most Hotel Websites Stay Silent

Why Returning Visitors Matter More Than New Visitors

Remarketing Is the Bridge Between Interest and Direct Bookings

Great Remarketing Doesn't Feel Like Marketing

How Simplotel Helps Hotels Bring Guests Back

The Booking Doesn't End With the First Visit

Leaving Doesn't Mean Losing Interest

One of the biggest misconceptions in hotel marketing is that a guest who leaves the website has lost interest.

In reality, the booking journey is rarely completed in a single visit.

Guests compare properties. They read reviews. They revisit dates. They discuss travel plans. They switch from mobile to desktop. Some even return several times before making a final decision.

These are not cold visitors.

They are travellers who are already interested in your property.

Yet most hotel websites unknowingly treat them as though they've never visited before.

While Hotels Wait, Someone Else Continues the Conversation


Imagine a guest visits your website on Monday.

They are looking at a deluxe room for next weekend.

They compare prices.

Then they leave.

The hotel assumes the journey has ended.

But it hasn't.

Over the next few hours or days, the same guest starts seeing reminders, emails, notifications and attractive offers encouraging them to return and complete their booking.

But these messages are rarely coming from your hotel.

They are coming from OTAs, travel platforms and competitors that are actively trying to win that booking.

Someone else is staying connected with that guest.

That process is called hotel remarketing.

Instead of waiting for travellers to return on their own, remarketing keeps the conversation going until they are ready to book.

Most Hotel Websites Stay Silent


This is where many hotels lose direct bookings.

During our audit of 135 hotel websites, nearly 90% had no effective way of bringing back guests who left without booking.

Once a visitor leaves, the website simply waits.

If the same traveller returns a day later, the experience usually starts from scratch.

The website doesn't remember:
  • the room they viewed
  • the dates they searched
  • the booking journey they abandoned
  • or even that they were there before
Returning guests are treated like first-time visitors.

Every time the booking journey starts again, the chances of losing that guest to an OTA increase.

Why Returning Visitors Matter More Than New Visitors


A guest returning to your website is already much closer to booking than someone visiting for the first time.

They already know your property.

They have explored your rooms.

They have shown buying intent.

Often, they just need a little more confidence, a reminder, or the right reason to complete the booking.

That is why remarketing is so powerful.

It doesn't create interest.

It helps convert existing interest into a direct booking.

Remarketing Is the Bridge Between Interest and Direct Bookings


Think of remarketing as the bridge between a guest's first visit and their final booking.

Instead of letting that interest fade away, it helps hotels reconnect with guests who were already considering their property.

A timely reminder, a relevant offer, or simply making it easier to continue where they left off can often be enough to complete the booking.

The first visit creates interest.

Remarketing helps turn that interest into a direct booking.

Great Remarketing Doesn't Feel Like Marketing


The best remarketing doesn't feel intrusive.

It feels helpful.

Imagine a guest returns to your website after looking at your Deluxe Room the previous day.

Instead of starting all over again, they're greeted personally.

Their previously selected travel dates are already available.

The room they viewed is easy to find.

Current offers and direct booking benefits are clearly visible.

A Continue Booking option lets them pick up exactly where they left off.

The website remembers them.

More importantly, it respects the time they have already spent planning their stay.

That creates a smoother booking experience and builds confidence when it matters most.

How Simplotel Helps Hotels Bring Guests Back


At Simplotel, we believe the booking journey shouldn't end when a guest leaves the website.

That's why the Simplotel website and Booking Engine are designed to help hotels reconnect with high-intent visitors and increase direct bookings.

Along with a fast, mobile-first booking experience, Simplotel helps hotels:
  • highlight direct booking benefits throughout the booking journey
  • identify high intent guests who leave without booking
  • send personalised remarketing emails and SMS reminders
  • remember returning guests and greet them personally
  • allow guests to continue their booking from where they left off
  • show previously viewed rooms, selected dates and available offers
  • reduce booking friction across devices
Instead of treating every returning visitor like a stranger, the experience feels familiar, personal and effortless.

The result is a better guest experience, stronger guest loyalty and more direct bookings.

The Booking Doesn't End With the First Visit


Remember where this story began.

A guest discovers your hotel on mobile.

Days later, they complete a booking on desktop.

The journey between those two moments is where most direct bookings are won or lost.

It isn't determined by the device.

It is determined by who stays connected while the guest is making their decision.

That's why remarketing is no longer just another marketing tactic.

It has become an essential part of winning more direct bookings.

So here's one final question.

When a guest leaves your hotel website today, does your booking engine remember them tomorrow?

Or does it quietly let them become someone else's booking?