How To Write Your Hotel COVID FAQ Page (With Examples!)

Your hotel COVID FAQ page is the most important piece of content on your website right now.

Addressing your most frequently asked questions about COVID-19 is an important way for hoteliers to ease concerns, give advice, and clarify vital information ahead of arrival.

What’s the situation like in your city? What are the latest travel restrictions? What are your hotel’s safety measures? How are you mitigating risk for your staff and guests?

You may already have some kind of COVID info page on your hotel website. Let’s be honest, you might’ve scrambled to press “publish” on it back in March, then made some small changes here and there ever since. There’s no time like the present to revisit that content!

Here’s what you need to know about writing (or updating) your hotel COVID FAQ page.

 
Here’s everything you need to have on your hotel COVID info page, plus examples.
 

Why does your hotel need a COVID FAQ page? 

The coronavirus has thrown the world a giant curveball, to say the least. And most days, I feel like we all have more questions than answers. For your hotel business to recover, you need to do your best to put guests’ minds at ease as you prepare to welcome them back.

Around the world, many markets are giving hospitality businesses the go-ahead to reopen. But there are still so many concerns — among hotel operators and employees, as well as travelers. What do you need to do, logistically speaking, to even open your doors again? What changes can travelers expect to see?

After you’ve tackled the internal processes and training needed to reopen responsibly, it’s up to you to manage your guests’ expectations.

Remember, we’re all human and we’re all going through this thing together. Can you empathize with feeling apprehensive or nervous about traveling? How did you feel the first time you ventured out to the grocery store after lockdown? Or dined out at a restaurant?

So much about daily life has changed — we need to do our part to communicate as much as possible.

That’s where your hotel COVID-19 FAQ page comes in.

FAQ is, of course, short for “frequently asked questions,” but don’t let that limit you. This page should serve as a repository for all useful, relevant information about what guests can expect at your property.

In the hotel business, we’re taught to anticipate needs. The best way to write your hotel COVID FAQ page is to anticipate the questions your guests will ask so you can tell them what they need to know.

What’s required on a hotel COVID FAQ page? 

Actual requirements will vary based on your location, but generally speaking, health officials are singing a pretty similar tune all over the world.

My suggestion is to start wide with the global guidance released by the World Health Organization. Then, narrow down what else is required at the federal, regional, or state/municipal level.

Hoteliers can check out the following resources for more information, but do remember to cross-check for additional restrictions by state or county:

(By the way, I grabbed the above links purely based on where the majority of my visitors/readers are, but do leave a comment if you’d like me to add other resources!)

No matter where you’re located, here are the key points your hotel’s COVID-19 info page should cover:

  1. Cleanliness and hygiene standards

  2. Social distancing measures

  3. Food & Beverage operations

  4. Local guidance

  5. Cancellation or rebooking policy

  6. Other relevant offerings

Let’s talk about each of these in more detail…

1. Cleanliness and Hygiene Standards 

Hygiene and cleanliness will be the number-one thing your guests are looking for information on.

The key here is to be as comprehensive as possible — overcommunicating is always better than leaving out important details.

Be specific about your cleaning procedures and safety protocols.

How often do you sanitize surfaces? What changes have you made to your rooms and suites to make them more COVID-safe? Do you provide hand sanitizer or hand washing stations around the hotel? Will you require all guests and staff wear a face covering inside?

2. Social Distancing Measures 

Whether we like it or not, staying six feet apart from strangers isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

Moreover, practicing “social distancing” is the main advice we’re hearing from health experts and governments around the world.

Hoteliers have the responsibility to ensure these guidelines are in action. Your hotel’s COVID FAQ page should include specific direction on how you’re implementing social distancing measures in public areas — from a contactless front desk experience to limits on capacity in your elevator(s).

3. Food & Beverage Operations 

Restaurants and bars face a unique set of challenges. Your hotel COVID info page is the place to clearly communicate what patrons can expect at your dining outlets.

How is food handled, prepared, and stored in the kitchen? Are you limiting indoor dining room capacity or only offering outdoor dining? Do you have grab-and-go options? How about a specific procedure for in-room dining? If there’s no more hotel breakfast buffet, is there another option prepared that’s included in their room rate?

Let your guests know exactly how their dining experience will be impacted.

4. Local Guidance 

It’s important to demonstrate that your property is tuned in to what’s going on in your local area. Pay attention to the rules and restrictions your government (federal, state, or county-level) is placing on business operations — and be prepared to guide your guests accordingly.

Think about how transportation, restaurant and business operations, attractions, etc. have been impacted.

Guests are going to look to you for answers, so make it easy for them to find.

Things are still changing, of course — it’s perfectly fine to provide quick links to external, official sources, rather than updating the page every other day. Just make sure that relevant local guidance is there.

5. Cancellation or Rebooking Policy

Another critical question your guests will have is whether they can cancel or rebook easily.

It’s up to the hotel — or in some cases, the brand — but the overwhelming expectation from customers right now is flexibility.

Use your COVID info page to tackle these pressing questions head-on. If they choose to rebook, will you honor the original price? Will you allow customers to cancel bookings made prior to or after a certain date? What if your hotel is temporarily closed, how will you handle guests?

Be crystal clear about any changes to your booking policies in light of COVID, including how to cancel or rebook, along with a phone number and/or email address for your reservations department.

6. Other Relevant Offerings

The final type of information that needs to be on your hotel COVID FAQ page is any other offering that’s specific to your property, like a new service or package.

By this point, you’ve already included your cleanliness and hygiene standards, social distancing measures, details on food & beverage operations, and relevant local guidance.

All of these points will be similar to other properties — so what ELSE are you doing as a result of COVID-19?

Maybe you’ve launched a special outdoor fitness class or have a remote work package. These are not necessarily “critical” pieces of information, but it’s still relevant to anyone reading your info page.

I recommend adding this kind of content at the end of the page. Specific offerings like these can also serve as a call-to-action, keeping the user on your website longer and moving them towards a booking, if they haven’t already.

Your hotel COVID-19 FAQ page is one of the most important pages on your website right now. But how about the rest of it? Do you need some help writing your other key pages?

I’ve created a NEW resource for you that will make writing your hotel website way easier — and more fun. Grab yourself a copy of the Hotel Page Content Planner and let’s whip your website into tip-top shape! ⤵

How do you write a FAQ page for COVID-19?

As with all hotel website copywriting, creating an COVID info page for your hotel starts with understanding your customers’ needs.

Use the previous section as a starting point. But keep in mind: when you write a frequently asked questions page, you also need to know what questions people have.

Here are a few ways to find out.


Keyword Research 

Search habits go way beyond one or two-word searches now. It’s normal to use longer, more specific queries or type in questions — or in the case of voice search, literally ask questions.

I’ve written about finding the right keywords for your hotel before, and in that article, I also list several free or low-cost keyword research tools you can use.

One quick tip? Start with a generic search like “[your city] covid info” and look at what comes up under “People also ask” or “Related searches.”

I reckon you’ll see a combination of info from the last section: health and safety, mask requirements, indoor vs. outdoor dining, etc. All of this should guide you on HOW your prospective guests are searching and WHAT to include on your info page.


Social Listening 

When I wrote about social media platforms for hotels, I mentioned that Twitter and other sites are largely used for customer service now.

The concept of “social listening” involves looking at comments and questions shared on social media sites — and acting on them.

Customers love to tell us what they think! Tune in to your Twitter feed, look around Facebook groups, and check out review sites to see what visitors to your destination are saying. What are their complaints related to the coronavirus? What sort of service or procedures do they praise?

There’s a wealth of information on social channels, you just need to look and listen closely.


Internal Communication

Once again, customers love to tell us what they think. Similar to scrolling social media for questions and comments, your front line team members are a valuable resource for feedback.

Talk to hotel management, front desk, reservations, the restaurant… anyone and everyone who interacts with guests can give you insight into their pain points.

What questions are they asking? What requests do they make?

Look for patterns. Find the answers to those questions and you’re on your way to writing a comprehensive hotel COVID FAQ page.

What are some examples of a good hotel COVID FAQ page? 

Throughout this article, I’ve used “FAQ page” and “info page” interchangeably — for a reason.

To make it as easy as possible for website visitors to find what they need, I recommend creating a page that uses both a “question-and-answer” format and more traditional landing page text.

Some of the examples I’m going to highlight below do this — and some don’t. The point is not to get too stuck on formatting. Just keep your customer in mind and organize the page in a way that makes sense, answers their questions, and is easy to read.

Individual hotel FAQ or COVID-19 info pages:

Hotel brand FAQ or COVID-19 info pages:

All of the above examples of hotel COVID info pages are different… but they do have some things in common.

Notice that each of them use clear, specific categories to group similar content, following the main points I noted in the “what’s required” section of this article.

Bulleted lists help separate points even further, making these pages easy to read.

Some of the examples also use the question-and-answer format, like a proper FAQ page, to make it even easier for readers to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Final Thoughts

So your hotel has a COVID info page — what now?

As I said at the very beginning of this article, your hotel COVID FAQ page (or info page) is the most important piece of content on your website right now.

Take a look at the slideshow of images above. When someone lands on your hotel website, they should be able to quickly and easily navigate to that COVID info page, like in those examples. Here are some more tips:

  • Prominent placement — If your hotel website design makes includes an announcement bar, like Saratoga Arms, use that space. Otherwise, take a cue from The Ned and place your safety message front and center.

  • Use a short, simple URL — https://yourwebsite.com/covid, for example

  • Get the word out — Pin the page to the top of your social media feeds so it’s easy to find

The reality is, we’re not out of the woods yet. Understand that your hotel guests will have questions and will continue to need the answers well into 2021.

Help ease their concerns by communicating your policies clearly through an effective hotel COVID FAQ page.

By the way, I’ve created a NEW resource for you that will make writing the rest of your hotel website way easier. Grab a copy of the Hotel Page Content Planner and let’s whip your website into tip-top shape! ⤵

Marketing Strategy, COVID-19Jenn Zajac2020Comment