Get those bags packed. We’re going on holiday!
That’s just what a good travel website should make you think. It should get that travel bug going. Lots of vibrant imagery and exciting copy.
Even though images can do a lot of the heavy lifting with inspiring site visitors, a travel site simply will not manage to accomplish its main goal without some good web design and some useful functionalities.
Web design is one of the main contributing factors to a visitors first impression of a business. In one study, participants were asked what reasons caused them to distrust a website, 94% of the responses mentioned the design.
This means that for a travel website, the design could be one of the main determining factor as to whether visitors trust it and whether or not they decide to actually use it or not.
And when you take into consideration the large investment that can go into planning any trip, trust is important. It is going to really impact the travellers decision to book a certain hotel or to even visit a particular city altogether.
Other than just providing a source of inspiration that can be trusted, travel websites need to provide potential customers with all the necessary information to arrange their plans and ideally the ability to book it effortlessly. Travel websites need to be straightforward and have lots of helpful tips and logistical details to simplify the whole process.
Not every travel website is going to tick all the boxes, but there are definitely ones that stand out from all the crowd. So, if you are launching a new travel website or maybe you are just looking to improve your current one, you’ll want to cover everything.
That’s why in this article, we’ll go over some of the most essential elements that you need to include on your website, before going over some examples of travel websites or websites that are useful when travelling.
Skyscanner
Skyscanner reliably gathers all available airfaires into one easy to search and one very easy to use flight finder and air fare comparison site. What really sets it apart from the rest is the amount of different ways the user can filter the search results. Users can narrow it down to airlines, flight duration, departure time. There’s even a go wild setting and a search for anywhere in a particular country filter. The platform is hugely successful predominantly because of its functionality and also its ease of use.
WeLove2Ski
There is so much ski related content on the internet, a lot of it is dated or just written badly. What great about WeLove 2Ski is assembled by a group of specialist travel writers and it is full of unbiased ski resport reviews, as well as snow reports and a loads of advice whether it’s on technique or the best clothing. It’s the best all-round ski website because of it’s content and that’s why we have included it. Design is only one element. Where this site excels is in its function and then its quality user first content approach.
welove2ski.com
OpenTable
Whilst this is not specifically a travel website, I tend to use it frequently whilst traveling and felt it was worth including. If you’re like me and you think the idea of queuing for a table when you’re on vacation makes you feel sick, then this is most certainly a website for you. It has thousands of restaurants in thousands of cities. Its search functionality allows you to filter by cuisine, area and review score. It allows you to book directly and all free of charge. Not the most imaginative design but it is most certainly functional and emulates the typical modern design that is used for any listing-based website. It is user friendly and provides a genuinely useful service.
opentable.com
Reservations.com
We had to include this website for the fact that it is really ticking a lot of the boxes. Firstly, the design is nice and clean. It definitely has a modern feel. Of course, maybe some extra white space wouldn’t go a miss but on the whole the design works. Secondly this site functions well. It has over half a million hotels from all over the world and you can search by destination city, airport or hotel, as well as by what’s popular, cheap or premium. It also offers group bookings and car rentals. The booking system is simple to use and is pretty user friendly. Thirdly, they are really pushing out some quality content that is going to engage their target audience. It’s certainly inspiring. Whilst no site is perfect and there is always areas that can be improved and expanded on reservations.com is certainly a nice example of a more rounded user experience.
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