Hey there, Brian Fitzgerald here with overall hospitality marketing. I want to do a quick video today about websites and how to know when you might need a new website.

We talk with folks all the time, and sometimes it’s hard to figure out exactly when you might need a new website.

So we’re going to talk about a few things here today that are more design-related. So one of the areas that might help dictate that you need a new website is if your current website is not, uh, really feeling modern and, and, and really keeping up with the, the trends that we see in the web design space and, and for hotel web web design.

And so I’m going to talk about, uh, the top five things. There’s there’s many different considerations, but these would be the top five design features that your site should probably have, uh, at, at this point, the first is video.

So you can see here, this is an example of a site. Uh, video is a great way, very immersive, great way to differentiate yourself, great way to communicate a lot of things in a very short period of time.

So if you’re trying to articulate, uh, your room, product, your food and beverage offerings, your meetings and events, uh, there’s almost no, no better way to do that.

Other than, you know, a little 32nd clip when somebody first comes to the homepage. I’m another example here. Again, it can just be a series of clips that are strung together, and it gives that user right when they get to your site, um, that immersive feel, and, and really they can begin immediately to understand what your, what your property is like and what you’re selling.

So, number one is video. Number two is what we call, um, the broken grid. And so, uh, for, for, uh, many years, the trend has been to have your site be very grid based.

And by a grid, we mean, uh, lots of blocks and boxes could be several squares that are all lined up together, or several combinations of squares and rectangles things that are very uniform and very, very, uh, very much in lockstep.

Uh, the trend now is sort of moved away from that to, to what we’re talking about, what we’re calling the broken grid.

And you can see this here where as I scroll through it, um, nothing’s really lined up. Nothing is really uniform.

Uh, these images don’t line up the, the text doesn’t line up with any other texts. Uh, this does a couple of things.

It allows things to breathe. You’ll notice in this example, there’s a lot of white space. Um, it’s refreshing, it lets things breathe.

Um, and so this is, uh, the, the trend in the direction that a lot of sites have, have moved in.

Um, you’ll see, again, things not lining up, you’ll see things that are, uh, that are layered. So, uh, one box that’s overlaying another box to create, um, some depth to the, to the design.

And so this is, uh, another, another trends of the grid would be number two. Uh, number three is the use of custom graphics.

Um, this is another example again, where you can see the broken grid, uh, but you can see this use of, of, of this woman.

Uh, this graphic that’s been, that’s been hand drawn as I scroll through. There’s some others here. There’s, uh, another graphic of a, of a man there’s this custom graphic pattern.

So custom graphics, custom patterns, um, and, and utilizing those in your design is, is number three. Uh, number four is the use of typography.

So font online has come a long way, um, over the years. Um, you’ll see, uh, we really have no limits with the use of font now.

Um, and so you can see, this is more of a, more of a typeface that matches this, this, uh, in this case as a restaurant’s brand.

Um, and so sort of playful font. So you can see the use of patterns here, custom patterns and graphics. Again, here’s another example of a, of a more fun and playful font that really matches the, the feel and vibe of this, um, of this restaurant.

So that’s number four, custom custom graphics and patterns. Um, and then lastly is, um, what, what more generally people call micro interactions.

So micro interaction is something subtle, uh, could be something playful, but it’s a little, um, tip to the user to let them know that what they’re doing is right.

And so it can be as simple as a mouse-over effect, right? The colors changing, uh, something, uh, that we’re seeing a lot more of now is, is as I scroll, you’ll see things sort of fly and move in subtly.

And so, as I’m scrolling here, that image appears, um, micro interaction could be this, this parallax effect here where this layer goes up over that layer.

This is to subtly let the user know that that by scrolling, they’re doing the right thing, they’re there, they’re going in the right direction.

There’s more for them to learn about. And so this, uh, again, number five would be micro interactions, these subtle things with the site that let the user know that they’re in the right place and doing the right thing.

So again, those are kind of the top five design trends that we’re seeing in the hotel space. And if you’re thinking about a new website or would like our thoughts on how these trends might, might apply to you, please do get in touch, would be happy to help you out.