When booking travel online, what role does the travel website’s hero image have on the overall customer experience? After conducting a customer experience survey among travelers booking lodging or a cruise vacation, we found that the best travel website design must have a good hero image to leave the user with a good impression of not only the website, but also the brand as a whole.

In a recent case study,  eVOC Insights evaluated what characterizes a memorable homepage and hero image. Using the Travel Industries (cruise & lodging) as a model, we compared the websites of  leading providers and online travel agencies (OTAs) to determine the best practices for a strong homepage. The sites evaluated include: Carnival, Celebrity, Hilton, Holland America, Hyatt, Marriott, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Sheraton, Booking.com, Expedia, CruisesOnly, Hotels.com, Orbitz, Priceline, and Travelocity.

Exactly what makes a homepage appealing?

Here are a few quotes from travel site users…

The best part was the moving banner it made me want to look more into it by just looking at the cool things on the homepage. That made a huge difference usually you see just prices everywhere, which is important but people want to see how much fun they would be having if they booked a cruise with that certain cruise line.

I like the slideshow of pictures of the ship. I liked that they offered discount and promo codes on the home page.

Beautiful pictures of locales, deals clearly advertised, it remembered what I’d searched last.

I loved the advertising and pictures in general great way to bring people closer to traveling safe.

The site is very informative and easy to understand. The people shown on the website look like they’re having a great time.

To find out more about what really sets apart a leading homepage from competitors and see the best and worst performers from our Travel Industry study Read the full Case Study: Who has the Best Hero Image? or Download the PDF of the case study.