New Year, New Web Updates: Why It’s The Perfect Time for a Hotel Website Revamp

As the calendar flips to a new year, there’s an undeniable energy in the air.  

Resolutions are made, plans are set, and businesses—especially in the hospitality industry—are ready to refresh their strategies to capture a new wave of travelers. If you’re managing a hotel, the new year is your ideal moment to turn a critical eye toward your website.

Let’s treat your website like the powerful booking tool it is. In 2025 and beyond, travelers expect seamless, visually stunning, and intuitive online experiences. If your website is outdated, it could be costing you room reservations—and leaving a lasting yet negative impression.  

The good news? Updating your website doesn’t have to be overwhelming or excessively expensive.  

To modernize your hotel’s website and start the year on the right foot, here are actionable insights and tips for starting small, but paving the way for big results.  

Why Your Hotel Website Needs a New Year’s Review

As the digital landscape evolves (and quite rapidly at that), so do traveler expectations. A website that felt cutting-edge three years ago? Today, that might feel outdated.  

There are few key areas that can contribute to the perceived age of your website—which we’d recommend looking at first when planning your new year website updates.  

• What’s your story? Each property has a story to tell. Does your website tell yours? Whether your web visitors convert or not, you want to leave them with a strong, memorable impression of your property powered by a story that sticks.

• Is your website mobile-optimized? Over 60% of travelers book accommodations on their phones. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re not just missing a significant opportunity—you’re taking a loss with the majority of your target audience.

• How does your site stack against OTAs? Online travel agencies like Booking.com and Expedia have a significant edge with the massive budgets, national recognition, and robust infrastructure to deliver highly efficient online experiences. To compete effectively, your hotel website should focus on delivering an equally streamlined and guest-focused experience.  

• How easy can your guests navigate to (and through) your book engine? It’s a fast-paced world. If your booking engine doesn’t offer a seamless experience, that friction can lead to abandoned reservations.

• Are your visuals high-quality? If your visuals look dated, the overall experience your website provides is going to feel dated. Poor-quality images or outdated visuals can make even the best properties look unappealing.

• Do your headlines showcase the most important things about your hotel? Your headlines should jump off the screen—capturing attention and moving your users through your website, highlighting the information about your property that’s key to the booking process (and providing SEO value, too).  

If you answered “no” to any of the above—it’s time to act.  Your Guide to Key Website Updates in 2025 We’ve broken down website updates into two categories:

1. Quick Wins: Low-Cost, High-Impact Website Updates

Refresh Your Visual Content

• What to Do: Replace outdated or low-quality photos with high-resolution, professionally shot images. Highlight key amenities, rooms, and local attractions. Treat your website as both a hub of important information and a visual preview that helps potential guests know what to expect during their visit.  

• Why It Matters: Modern travelers rely heavily on visuals to make booking decisions. Stunning imagery that acts as an exclusive preview of your property conveys trust and professionalism.

• Pro Tip: Include lifestyle shots that capture the unique vibe of your property—whether it’s a cozy boutique inn or a luxurious beachfront resort. Leveraging user-generated content showcasing real guests is a bonus!

Streamline Your Booking Process

• What to Do: Your online audience needs to stay close to your booking engine no matter where they navigate on your site. Make sure they’re just a click away from accessing your booking engine with CTAs under room options—and an omni-present CTA that’s highly visible in the navigation.

• Why It Matters: Complicated booking processes are a leading cause of cart abandonment. When your booking engine is hard to find, many users won’t stick around to hunt for it. They’ll head in a different direction where they can get the job done quicker.

• Pro Tip: Make your CTAs stand out with contrasting colors, bold (but easy-to-read) fonts, and action-oriented messaging to capture visitors’ attention. These buttons should be highly visible on all devices, replacing generic phrases like “Learn More” with stronger phrases like “Book Your Getaway Today.”

Optimize for Mobile

• What to Do: Check your website on multiple devices. Being responsive is one thing, but true mobile optimization? That means looking at speed, button placement, mobile menu—and ensuring those features are easy to use on smaller screens. Pay close attention to load times and overall ease of navigation.

• Why It Matters: Slow or clunky mobile sites lose bookings to competitors, making mobile-first design absolutely essential—especially in industries (like hospitality) where mobile users make up the majority of your digital audience.

• Pro Tip: Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help make identifying problem areas easy!

Incorporate Local SEO

• What to Do: Update your website’s content and meta tags to include location-specific keywords like “boutique hotel near [city/attraction].”

• Why It Matters: Local SEO helps your property appear in searches for area accommodations, driving organic traffic.

• Pro Tip: Add a blog or travel guide that highlights nearby attractions to improve your SEO ranking.

2. Advanced Strategies: Partnering with Experts for High-Impact Updates

Revamp Your UX and UI Design

• What to Do: Work with a web design partner to update the overall structure and aesthetics of your site.

• Why It Matters: Modern travelers expect sleek, intuitive designs that make browsing and booking effortless.

• Pro Tip: Focus on white space, easy navigation, and clean typography to create a polished look.

Leverage AI and Personalization

• What to Do: Integrate AI tools to provide personalized recommendations, such as suggesting room types based on browsing behavior.

• Why It Matters: Personalization increases conversion rates by making users feel understood and streamlining the process of finding the specific details they need to make a booking decision.

• Pro Tip: Tools like dynamic content blocks can adapt your website’s messaging in real-time.

Add a Virtual Tour or 360° Images

• What to Do: Invest in virtual tour technology or panoramic images to give prospective guests a realistic sense of your property.

• Why It Matters: This is a level up from optimizing the still images on your site. This kind of immersive content builds trust and excitement, granting users an even more in-depth preview of your space and increasing the likelihood of booking.

• Pro Tip: Highlight your property’s most unique features, so users can visualize what sets your space apart from your competitors.  

Implement Advanced Analytics

• What to Do: Use tools like Google Analytics and heatmaps to track user behavior and identify drop-off points.  

• Why It Matters: Data-driven insights allow you to optimize the user journey and improve conversions. Tools that show user activity trends are incredibly helpful for envisioning your audience’s user journey, seeing which features they’re drawn to and which might negatively impact their web experience.

• Pro Tip: Regularly review analytics to make continuous improvements to your site. Consider A/B testing key elements on your site to cater your web experience to the individuals actually using it.  

Integrate Chatbots and Live Chat

• What to Do: For modern audiences, 24/7 customer service availability goes a long way. Add a chatbot or live chat feature to answer common questions and guide users through the booking process.

• Why It Matters: Connecting users with real-time assistance gets them the answers they need quickly, reducing bounce rates and increasing bookings.

• Pro Tip: Use chatbots to upsell amenities, such as spa packages or late checkouts.

Website Elevation Next Steps: Take Action Today

The new year is all about fresh starts, and your hotel’s website deserves the same attention.  

Start with the quick wins outlined above, and if you’re ready to take your site to the next level, let’s talk.  You can accomplish a lot via in-house resources—but depending on complexity, some updates require the expertise of specialists who know how to make the process quick and efficient, ensuring little-to-no downtime for your hotel’s digital hub.  

That’s where Altos comes in.  

At Altos, we specialize in web UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) design to tell stories about hotel brands that resonate with guests. Our approach is rooted in teaching freely—empowering you to make informed decisions about your branding, marketing, and overall digital strategy no matter the level of updates you need.

With over two decades helping hotels modernize their branding and digital presence, we’re passionate about crafting impactful websites—and honing in on the right marketing channels to draw attention and drive results.  

‍Ready to transform your website? Contact Altos today for a consultation or visit our website for more expert tips and insights.