Specifications for a hotel website
Nowadays, having a website is essential for promoting your business. To create your hotel’s website, you can outline the specifications you wish to have to guide your website’s provider in its creation. At WIHP, we call these specifications a design brief, a document that helps our teams get to know your hotel and what you want from your future hotel website, along with any preferences for your final design.
What is a hotel website design brief?
A design brief is a document that outlines all the different elements that you want from your future hotel website. There are several ways of presenting this document from simple to elaborate.
What is it for?
At WIHP, your specifications are our design brief. It is a way of defining the framework of your project and conveying your expectations to the team that will be in charge of creating your hotel website.
The specifications allow you to communicate your needs and will provide a framework for your website project to your service provider. It gives you a certain sense of security and prediction regar
ding the delivery of your hotel website.
WIHP will co-write the design brief with you to help you best reflect your project’s objectives and give you guidance on the latest available technology.
What elements should be included in a hotel website’s design brief?
The design brief includes all the technical aspects that will appear on your future hotel website.
In the specifications, you will find elements such as the design, technical features, and any particular elements you are expecting. For example, if you have a graphic charter and a logo you want to use, or a specific style of webs
ite in mind, then you can mention which features you want to integrate into your future website.
You can also specify details, such as adding a video on your homepage, having a ‘sticky menu’ (i.e. a menu that continues to be displayed even when the user scrolls on your website), finding your partners’ logos, etc.
On the other hand, a design brief isn’t just about the elements you want to appear on your site. You can also note what you don’t like about your current site, and what you don’t want to appear on the new site.
All of these elements can be added to the design brief to form the basis of your working document.
What steps should I follow to create a design brief for my hotel website?
A design brief for a website is written in several stages. Firstly, you have to identify your needs and wants in terms of design. You must also define your objectives and structure the different settings of your project. Then you can approach the technical and functional features that you want, for example, the booking engine, adding a pop-up, etc.
WIHP’s team talks directly to the hotelier who wants to create a website: we gather all the necessary information about you and your hotel, so we can frame the project according to what you would like. Of course, our teams are always available to advise and guide you on the technical and functional choices to be made for your future website.
Is a design brief necessary to create a hotel website?
A design brief is an essential working tool for you and for the service provider who creates your hotel website. As a customer, you ensure you’ll be delivered everything mentioned in this working document, meaning, you must remain open when creating the design brief, because it is a tool that changes during the discussion as each party brings the best of their skills to ensure a successful outcome.
Should you write your own design brief for your hotel website?
Writing a design brief is a complex task for someone who isn’t an expert in web design. There is often a lack of technical information needed to complete the website project. Using the design brief for your hotel website, with the help of an expert, will allow you to have a complete vision of your project and combine it with the best technical aspects.
Conclusion
The design brief stage of a website creation process is an advantage that ensures success of a future website. It is an essential document that lays out a professional framework for your project and is key for the smooth running of your website creation project.
To create your design brief, you have two options: you can create it yourself, or you can delegate the job to a specialist agency, such as WIHP. The key is that it needs to capture the entirety of your project, including the technical and functional details that you wish to have.
WIHP can support you with the different stages of creating your design brief:
- Defining your digital objectives,
- Understanding your technical and operational needs,
- Formulating a project with the required functionalities to achieve your objectives,
- Setting up a powerful website that performs.
Although we recommend the help of an expert team, if you do want to adventure out and create the design brief yourself, make sure you integrate data collection and reporting, as well as the current GDPR.
To make creating your hotel website design brief easy, we recommend you seek help from a professional who has a lot of expertise working with many different types of websites.
WIHP supports thousands of hotels to grow their direct bookings. Visit our website to find out more about our solutions or contact us at contact@wihphotels.com