4 lessons from the webdesign of Olympus Villas

November 17, 2017

This week I have another hotel website design for you to learn from. We’re looking at the website of Olympus Villas and explore what’s good, what could be improved and what are the key take-aways for any other hotel / hospitality business.

Sit back and relax…

Imagine a villa in Greece, and dare to dream. Off I went, thinking about a lovely white villa with a private pool and blue parasols. The blue pool in the background of the homepage managed to reinforce this idea even more. Book now, play video. Or scroll down. Now that’s clear, nothing to get confused about.

Hello there villa

Scrolling down I am introduced to the different types of villas. Simple illustrations tell me how many persons the villas are meant for and how many bathrooms I can expect. The descriptions are short. If I want more information about a specific villa – which you could compare to rooms on a normal hotel website – you hit ‘discover’.

The ‘discover’ page tells me more about the villa and shows me some high quality photos. All facilities are listed and divided in two sections (interior – exterior). The amenities are again shown by simple but fun illustrations. Even the floor plan is there.

Back to the homepage

And there’s more good stuff. The passe-partout color of the website changes per section when scrolling down on the homepage. This makes it even easier to navigate. Whenever I want to book, I can hit the book now button in the upper left corner. So, let’s summarize..

The good stuff

Creative and fun design by
- Passe-partout that changes color for each section while scrolling on homepage
- Illustrations to show amenities and facilities
- And animated illustrations in the menu (upon hover)
- ‘Block system’, where text overlays pictures in a non-disruptive way. Easy on the eye!
Very high quality pictures
Well structured menu
Book now button always available in the upper left corner
Back to top button
Rustic color palette
Easy to read font

Where are the rooms?

The video. It’s great that there’s a video to show us more about the villas and the area. I mean, those drone shots are awesome. But we don’t get to see a single shot from inside the villas in the whole video. Not a SINGLE shot. What’s that about?

However, I still have to give some credits. At least there’s a video. With drone shots. And at least they did think about making the place look like fun for both kids, youngsters and parents. And… I’m missing a discount or ’nice surprise’ for direct bookers. Give your potential visitors a little reward if they book direct. This works very motivating.

Conclusion:

Make sure your ‘book now’ button is always visible, and stays at 1 spot throughout the website
Get high quality photos, and have multiple for each room (or in this case, villa)
Add a little fun to your website. Olympus Villas does this with the color changing passe-partout, the playful blocks and the (animated) illustrations. It keeps a visitor entertained.
If you create a video about your business, put thought into what you visitors want to see.

Sooo, drumroll. What grade does this website get? Well… Since I’m only missing two things, and they’re not the most important, it’s again going to be a high note. Shouldn’t surprise you since I’m sharing good examples to learn from. I’d give Olympus Villas a 8.5. Congrats ?