Discover everything you need for an excellent hotel description and an effective hotel ‘about us’ page.
How do you write a good hotel description or ‘about us’ page?
Your hotel description is a central component of your hotel’s sales and marketing copy. More specifically, some form of it will be used on your website, social channels, and even on third-party websites. In other words, how you introduce your hotel to the world matters. But, as with every other ‘about us’ page or brand story, writing your hotel’s description isn’t easy. In fact, it’s one of the most challenging pieces of copy you’ll ever write!
What should you include? How much is too much? Can you be creative? And the biggest challenge of all: How do you make it appealing?
Those are just a few thoughts that plague the copywriting process, which leads to the question: How do you write a great hotel description?
8 secrets behind some of the most successful hotel write ups
Trends change but the essentials for an effective hotel write up remain the same. Here’s what I’ve learned over the years—with some notable examples!
✅ Set the stage for the entire experience
“Is this a hotel I want to stay in?”
“Does what they offer align with my aspirations?”
“Does this place support the image I wish to portray of myself to friends and acquaintances on social media?”
The way you describe your hotel instantly sets the stage for what’s to come.
It influences how you’re perceived and gives readers an idea—very often their first impression—of what to expect.
For example: An art hotel can give off an energetic, youthful and artsy vibe or a sleek, mature and refined feel. A contactless robot hotel might exude a sterile and futuristic feel or a minimalist, privacy-oriented one.
Secret #1: A superbly written hotel description triggers all the right emotions and establishes the decisive features required to win guest buy-in. That’s done by tapping into two of your guest persona’s most important questions: What’s this place like and does it match my preferences?
✅ Shine the light on your best qualities
Speaking of first impressions… You don’t have too much time to make a good one. (Think 2.5 to 20 seconds.)
Prospects browse many hotel websites, deftly scrolling page after page in search of the most pertinent information. That is to say, reading your hotel overview is, in many ways, the make-or-break moment.
“Do I want to keep reading about this hotel or should I check out that other cool property instead?”
A well-written hotel ‘about us’ engages and inspires the reader—it keeps them on your site. The longer they stay, the more they read, the better your chances of convincing people to book.
Secret #2: The best hotel descriptions master the art of soft selling—they make skillful use of storytelling. They’re succinct yet sublime. You’ll find subtle calls to action that adeptly nudge readers towards making a booking. In the above example, “come share” and “come enjoy” aren’t in-your-face calls to action; they’re subtle, restrained and naturally fit into the hotel overview.
✅ Humanize your brand
When you talk about your property, you don’t just ramble off facts and figures; list out amenities and facilities or throw in a business timeline. You must connect with your target segments.
How do you do that?
You invite your readers in. That might be done by sharing your hotel’s evolution in a captivating way or by shining the light on the people behind-the-scenes; those that make guests’ stay special.
Secret #3: Compelling ‘about us’ stories exude warmth and have personality. They’re not clinical; cold or detached. Word choice is crucial and so are tone, syntax and even punctuation.
✅ Be memorable
Guests aren’t just booking a brand (and what it represents or promises). They’re attracted to the experience. That’s why you want to be memorable—from the start of the user journey through to the end of their stay.
If you look at the above example, your initial thought might be “what does this even mean?” But let it sink in and you realize just how authentic this write up is.
It’s different. It’s poetic, sentimental and quietly confident. It truly sets them apart from other Kyoto hotel descriptions, doesn’t it?
The added beauty of this description is that you can instantly recognize this brand over other generic ‘about us’ texts.
Secret #4: You must know exactly who you are and have a strong brand identity to write a powerful hotel description. You want to stand out—not blend in or fade into the background.
✅ Include relevant keywords
What’s the use of beautiful copy if no one can find your website? The fact is, it takes a lot of effort (and I mean a lot) to land your website on the first page of search engines—if you manage to at all! That’s where your choice of descriptive words make all the difference.
Put simply, keywords play a crucial role in hotel copywriting. You need to use appropriate search terms that naturally fit in your hotel description. They shouldn’t be awkward or stuffed into the description for the sake of SEO.
Secret #5: A well-written hotel description includes important keywords. A description must be more than attractive—it must be functional. That is, it should support your SEO efforts.
✅ Offer a condensed version
There’s a place for lengthy ‘about us’ texts and it’s normally not the hotel’s home page.
No one wants to scroll through walls and walls of text to get to the good stuff. Also, your home page already has to multitask. It’s working as your front desk, concierge, reservations and marketing departments all at the same time.
You have to prioritize what goes on your home page because that’s valuable real estate!
Secret #6: When you write your hotel description, create two variants: A short and sweet version for the home page and a fleshed-out version that can go on a dedicated page.
✅ Be informative and accurate
When you’re counting on one or two language versions to cater to an international audience, descriptions must be easy to read—and easy to understand.
In other words, effective hotel copywriting is mindful of the audience’s language capabilities. The focus is on substance over fancy vocabulary.
In the example above, you can see that the hotel overview even includes a graphical summary of key features, facilities and amenities.
Secret #7: Hotel descriptions should be informative first before they are creative. This is because they have a job to do and that is to convince lookers to become bookers. So, if you’re struggling to get those creative juices flowing, focus instead on answering potential guests’ most important questions.
✅ Focus on your guests
How do you ensure your hotel brand’s longevity?
You focus on your guests—including throughout the copywriting process. It starts and ends with them and that means you write like a human for humans. What you write is for your guests, so include interesting details that excite and matter to them.
Secret #8: Yes, an ‘about you’ is technically about you but also not really. Why? Because it always comes down to the customer. Get to know them, segment them and write for them—even when it’s supposed to be about you.
What should you include in an ‘about us’ page?
Your ‘about us’ page will go into greater detail than the summary description on the home page but it’s really up to you what you want to share. What makes you different? What’s important to you? What matters to guests?
- You might talk about your vision for the hotel or the evolution of your establishment complete with timeline.
- You might focus on your property’s history, location, building architecture and even interior design choices.
- Perhaps you want to draw attention to your team and local collaborators, e.g. artisans whose works you have featured in the hotel.
- You could talk about your sustainability efforts or other interesting initiatives.
It’s not always possible to apply all 8 strategies into your hotel description. That’s OK! Pick what works for you then observe, test and improve. Or talk to a hotel copywriter for professional guidance.