{"id":29615,"date":"2018-01-16T13:44:34","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T17:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/?p=29615"},"modified":"2018-01-16T13:44:34","modified_gmt":"2018-01-16T17:44:34","slug":"radar-still-highly-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andysowards.com\/blog\/2018\/radar-still-highly-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Under the Radar but Still Highly Important"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re in the travel business be it as a hospitality provider, an attraction owner, a booking site manager, a rental car agency or any other field connected to travel, you must know by now what travelers really want.\u00a0 You might be right but you might also be surprised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Little Things Count<\/h3>\n

\"its-little-things-that-matter-in-customer-experience\"<\/a>
\n It’s the Little Things That Matter in the Customer Experience – An instructive visit to San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.<\/em><\/p>\n

How many people would say that having free wifi is a big element in a traveler choosing an accommodation?\u00a0 For many it\u2019s as important as cleanliness.\u00a0 Access to one\u2019s computer or merely to free casino games<\/a>,\u00a0for a little quick entertainment, is no less important than comfort and cleanliness which are obviously extremely important!<\/p>\n

Cleanliness is so obviously important that we really don\u2019t need to talk about it.\u00a0 The feedback section of sites is a good source for people who found accommodations unclean. \u00a0It\u2019s quite remarkable how many people write to say that they found cockroaches or dust bunnies in their room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is, however, one area of cleanliness that is often overlooked: restaurant and even more so, gas station ladies restrooms.\u00a0 If the ladies bathroom in a restaurant is not clean, she will never agree to go back there again.\u00a0 If the bathroom belongs to a chain, it will sour her on the entire chain.<\/p>\n

Gas stations especially are lazy with regard to their bathrooms.\u00a0 But if you have a gas station on a highway, not necessarily a major highway, women will tell each other that the bathroom in gas station x was spotlessly clean.\u00a0 Where do you think those women will want to go to get gas?<\/p>\n

Here are a few under the radar things that travelers really want.<\/p>\n

A Great Website<\/h3>\n

\"customer-service-happy-customers-good-business\"<\/a>
\nThe 3 Psychological Triggers that Matter to Happy Customers<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone who is researching aspects of their next vacation will open a multitude of sites.\u00a0 Any site that does not immediately win them over visually and through ease of use will get closed quickly.<\/p>\n

A great website has perfect color contrast between the letters and the background.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing how many sites don\u2019t have perfect color contrast, and are simply not inviting to keep looking at.<\/p>\n

A great website will also have the right sized font and the most readable font.\u00a0 Fancy looking fonts are terrible in this market.\u00a0 They belong, perhaps, in the calligraphy market and nowhere else.<\/p>\n

Many people researching a trip will have developed middle age reading problems.\u00a0 A font that is too small for them to read will result in lost business in the demographic that generally spends the most money on travel.<\/p>\n

Many sites have lines of text that are too long.\u00a0 A great site has short lines with colorful pictures or other items to fill out the page.<\/p>\n

Finally, a great website will be able to answer almost any question the traveler might have quickly and easily.\u00a0 The customer service desk must be manned 24\/7\/365 if at all possible because people will enter your site from anywhere in the world at any time of the day.\u00a0 Computerized chat service is a terrible alternative to speaking with a real person so try to have a real person on hand at all times.<\/p>\n

Booking<\/h3>\n

\"20-top-tips-for-booking-a-hotel\"<\/a>
\n20 Top Tips for Booking a Hotel! (From the Hotelier\u2019s Wife…)<\/em><\/p>\n

If your site is a professional booking suite<\/a> or the hotel or attraction itself, you have to have a few things that make booking smooth for travelers.\u00a0 First, you must have a map!\u00a0 So many places don\u2019t have a simple map.\u00a0 Of course, a traveler can always find a map but they often don\u2019t want to take an extra step so have a good map on the site.<\/p>\n

Attractions<\/h3>\n

\"google-places-optimization\"<\/a>
\n7 Ways to Optimize Your Google Places Listing for More Traffic<\/em><\/p>\n

The home page of any tourist attraction that people have to pay for should have links to every bit of information they could possibly want to know.\u00a0 This is much better than an FAQ section.\u00a0 In an FAQ section, you have to scroll to find the question and the answers are too often incomplete.\u00a0 With links to separate sections on every aspect of the attraction, people see the link and go to it directly.<\/p>\n

People want to know immediately the hours the attraction is open, what\u2019s nearby, and the price.\u00a0 These are obvious.\u00a0 People also want to know how the attraction works: do we have to wait in line, do we have to bring a voucher, how long will the presentation take, and many other questions.<\/p>\n

Hotels and Motels<\/h3>\n

\"hotel-website-tips\"<\/a>
\nHow hotels can make the most of their website<\/em><\/p>\n

Hotels are the stuffy one-percenter accommodations whereas motels are for the average person.\u00a0 The single most important thing a motel or hotel room can have is a safe.\u00a0 We assume that the room is clean.\u00a0 When we leave the room we want to be totally confident that the valuable things we leave behind are safe.<\/p>\n

A safe is more important than all the other items that are also extremely important.\u00a0 If a motel has a pool, the site should list the pool hours clearly.\u00a0 This helps travelers organize their day.\u00a0 An outdoor pool should be covered or heated during the cold months.\u00a0 The site should state outright if towels are provided at poolside.<\/p>\n

A motel should have a playground.\u00a0 The kids play all the time.\u00a0 After they\u2019ve been in the pool for a while, they still want to play.\u00a0 If the motel doesn\u2019t have a playground, the site should indicate on a map where the closest playgrounds are.<\/p>\n

Finally, a motel should have a small refrigerator in the room.\u00a0 The refrigerator should be able to keep food cold without freezing it!\u00a0 Families hate pre-stocked mini-bars because they are so expensive.<\/p>\n

Any hotel or motel that serves breakfast has to have menu items that are good for diabetics, vegetarians, vegans, and kids.\u00a0 A huge percentage of people are diabetic; and a growing number of people are choosing to eat no animal products or far less than they ate before.<\/p>\n

Serving the Public<\/h3>\n

\"best-apps-and-websites-for-travelers\"<\/a>
\n50 Apps and Websites to Optimize Your Vacation<\/em><\/p>\n

Helping travelers get the information they need and providing the best goods and services you can will inevitably result in happy customers who will tell their friends and family about you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re in the travel business be it as a hospitality provider, an attraction owner, a booking site manager, a rental car agency or any other field connected to travel,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[109,5695,6279],"tags":[7285,5905,5891,6300,8059,5130,6054,988,5048,7460,7466,7458,118,8379,115,944,7281,621,848,220,677],"yoast_head":"\nUnder the Radar but Still Highly Important<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re in the travel business be it as a hospitality provider, an attraction owner, a booking site manager, a rental car agency or any other field\" \/>\n<meta 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