One thing is certain when it comes to online publications: There’s constant change. Hotel News Now’s updated look, content and navigation pave the way for more changes ahead.
At age 50, I’ve spent 10% of my life at Hotel News Now, and it's official: Judging by the mug shot accompanying this blog, I might need a facelift more than the website itself. But we’ve decided to let nature take its course on “pretty boy Higley” and focus on HNN.
For the second time in its five-year history, Hotel News Now has a new look. From the day parent company STR executives decided to launch this digital trade magazine platform, the cornerstones have been trust, integrity, freshness, uniqueness and appeal.
So with Editor-in-Chief Patrick Mayock, Business Development Director Lynsie Chamberlain and Web programmer extraordinaire Bill Buzby leading the charge, we spent the last few months reviewing traffic patterns, reader habits and industry standards. What we came up with is what you see today. We hope you like it.
Leading the way is our reconstituted name. Gone is the clunky “.com” at the end. Our readers know they are in the dot-com world when they come to HNN’s site, so the extension became redundant as our visibility increased. You might also notice a more liberal use of the acronym HNN—a previously shunned reference in our vocabulary that many of our readers gravitated to as an identifier. We’re happy to occasionally use that reference, and you’ll notice a subtle use of it on the redesigned site.
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| The new nameplate ditches the clunky “.com” in our name. |
The world of digital publishing is never at a standstill. We recognize the site remains far from perfect and will continue to tweak it in the coming months. We actually have six more phases for the site mapped out, including the not-too-distant roll out of responsive design to make the site completely compatible with all mobile and tablet devices.
In the meantime, we’re proud of the big step we’ve taken in our continual quest to provide the global hotel community with vital information presented in a compelling design. The site’s new layout is less cluttered and streamlined to aid in navigation. We’ve got nearly 11,000 articles in our archives and wanted to make it easier for you to find them.
That process began with the efforts of the editorial team to retag articles to fit into the new category names. The site’s subject matter has been realigned into categories that are more concise and intuitive:
- Data includes much of the information from our parent company STR and sister companies STR Global, STR Analytics and RRC Associates, including U.S. monthly and weekly performance; global monthly performance; pipelines; forecasts; other reports; and research articles.
- Digital highlights our expanding coverage of key tech-related topics, including distribution, mobile, social media and technology.
- Ownership includes content that owners can specifically relate to, including financing, development, transactions and news from the Hotel Investment Barometer and Hotel Stock Index.
- Operations covers the day-to-day issues of managing hotels, including design, human resources, legal, revenue management, sales and marketing and a “how to” section.
- Regions divides the globes into Americas, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East/Africa and specific market reports.
- Profiles delves into the people and companies that make the industry tick, including brands, independents, owners, operators and “Running the Show,” which provides an in-depth look at the people who manage individual properties.
- Opinions allows HNN staffers, STR personnel and our carefully cultivated stable of some of the smartest voices in the industry to share their thoughts—and trust me, there is plenty of sharing in that department.
- Marketplace contains important info about the business side of Hotel News Now and our partners, including hotels for sale, sponsors, sponsor news, Product Showcase, Vendor Views and our media kit.
To further aid navigation, we’ve introduce new drop-down menus that help you find what you want faster while placing more content in high profile positions.
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| New drop-down menus make content more accessible. |
And that’s not all. We’ve also introduced a “HNN Staples” section that spotlights elements that are useful to all hoteliers—starting with the extremely popular “Industry Terms to Know” list that consistently is one of our most viewed entries on the site.
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| Peruse our “Staples” for key industry resources. |
There’s plenty more for you to explore. I encourage you to cruise around the site and let me know what you think. Shoot me an email to tell me what you like and don’t like. After all, Hotel News Now’s website is in a constant state of revision with the content flow and traffic patterns. Plain and simple, your voice is important to all of us at Hotel News Now, and I welcome any dialogue that can improve HNN readers’ experiences.
The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, STR and its affiliated companies. Bloggers published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns.