10 Must-Have Web Design Features for Chicago Hotels

Did you know that more than 48% of Americans have no problem planning and booking a whole trip on their phone?

This means that having a great hotel in Chicago is not enough to get people to book a room anymore.

If you want to thrive in 2025, you need an exceptional hotel website with modern web design features.

But what counts as a good or trendy web design feature nowadays?

There are a few features that stand out for hotel websites specifically, and it’s why we made this article.

Below, you’ll find 10 of the most important web design features that every Chicago hotel should have on their website.

Trying to get your hotel website to that next level but don’t know where to start? Let us help.

Web Design Features Every Hotel in Chicago Needs

Today, there are hundreds of web design features available. They range from AI tools to niche strategies that suit specific industries.

But this list includes all the web design features that every Chicago hotel website should have. You should generally add these whenever possible, as they are non-negotiable.

Let’s start.

1. Responsive Design

This one should go without saying, but having a website that is responsive and easy to use no matter what device it is seen on is vital.

Let’s set a quick example:

Picture this: someone travels to Chicago but forgets to book a room. They find your hotel website and click on it.

However, they see that everything looks small.

Despite this, they try to use your website but to no avail. The buttons are too small to click, and the pages need to be zoomed in to even read what anything says.

Frustrated, they leave and look for another hotel in Chicago instead.

This is a common occurrence that will happen every single time someone tries to use a website that is not responsive.

So how do you fix this?

There are two ways:

1. You redesign your hotel website with mobile devices in mind.
2. You create a brand-new website with a mobile-first design approach.

Both options work well but also require a lot of proper planning and work.

2. Quick Loading Times

If your hotel website doesn’t load fast in this day and age, then you’re missing out on both visitors as well as organic visibility.

Having a website that loads in under 3 seconds is pretty much mandatory in 2025. Why?

Because an average of 53% of websites are abandoned on mobile if they take more than 3 seconds to load. This means that having a fast loading website is mandatory if you want the most amount of visitors on your website as possible.

But what issues make your website take longer to load? There are a few problems to consider:

1. Bad hosting service: A hosting service is one of the few areas where we highly recommend you don’t try to save money on. Having a proper hosting service from a reputable company is a must if you want to ensure good load times for your website. A bad hosting service will not only slow your website down, but it could also go down altogether.

2. No image compression: We get it, you want to use high-quality images that stand out and look amazing. Unfortunately, using full-size images with no compression can severely reduce your loading times. This is because visitors will have to constantly download the same high-quality images every time they enter your website. A quick solution to this is to compress images into formats such as WebP, where the quality is still high while keeping the file size as low as possible.

3. Using too many plugins: When optimizing your website, you might start testing different plugins to see which one suits your brand the most. While we think it’s great to test plugins, it is also important to know that too many plugins can harm your load times. A good rule of thumb is to delete any plugin you have installed that you’re not using or that is too similar to other plugins you use.

These 3 issues are the main causes of slow load times and can be fixed within a day if you really focus on them.

3. High-Quality Images

We just talked about how high-quality images can severely affect your hotel’s website loading speed, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them at all.

On the contrary, you want to use them to showcase your facilities and rooms.

If someone travels, especially if they go to Chicago, they want a nice hotel they can go to and relax.

It’s hard for them to know how nice a hotel you have if you don’t show them anything on your website.

Your hotel website should have images of all your rooms, amenities, and different areas of your facilities.

If you have a pool and a gym, you should make sure to highlight them since they are vital for a lot of people traveling.

If possible, you should create a photo album that showcases all the important areas of your hotel.

Just remember that you need to compress all the images you use! Your page might look amazing with uncompressed images, but if people leave due to loading times, then it won’t matter at all.

4. Simplified Booking Process

One of the obligatory web design features of this list is having an easy-to-use booking process. No one wants to deal with a complicated process when booking a hotel in Chicago.

Making sure you use either a good booking plugin or a custom booking page made by a web developer is important.

Your booking page must show available rooms in real time. It should also confirm quickly when someone books a room.

A solid option for a hotel booking plugin is this Motopress one. It offers all the important features anyone traveling to Chicago looking for a hotel would need.

5. User-Friendliness

We love websites that grab a visitor’s interest and tempt them to keep exploring and finding out new things.

That being said, there’s a fine line between making an interesting website and having a complicated website that no one wants to use. You want your hotel website to be inviting and easy to use; otherwise, visitors will end up getting frustrated and leaving.

Your hotel website should have a few things in check if you want to improve its user-friendliness.

Having a search bar for people to search for specific pages quickly is a must. Providing visitors with a hamburger-style menu where they can find the main pages is vital.

Adding a footer on all your pages with links to all the important pages is also important.

If you want inspiration, we recently made a footer example article that you can use to find a footer that works for you.

6. Virtual Tours of the Rooms

Being able to take a tour of the rooms beyond only looking at pictures can be the determining factor in whether someone books a room or not.

Having the freedom to check all the rooms with a virtual tour is a fantastic way to help visitors picture themselves in that space.

You can pick between doing a virtual tour with a video, where you can create multiple clips of all the rooms and areas of the hotel. Or you could have a complete hands-on virtual tour with a 360 camera.

The latter option costs a lot more, but it gives the user the freedom to look at everything they might be interested in.

7. Amenities Page

An amenities page is one of those web design features that might not seem needed, but has a big impact.

An important activity for a lot of people is working out and having access to a gym when they travel.

Having a page dedicated to showing them all the amenities that your Chicago hotel has can be a determining factor in their booking a room or not.

Ensure you provide details about the type of equipment your hotel gym offers so that visitors can check if the equipment they need is available.

Another big amenity to detail on your page is your pool. A lot of people like to relax when they’re back at their hotel, so making sure they know they have the option to go to a pool is fantastic.

8. Social Proofing

If your website doesn’t have sections dedicated to social proof, then you’re missing out on one of the most crucial web design features out there.

Social proof can come in 2 different ways:

• Written reviews: People who left a review on your Google Business page or on any other review site.

• Video reviews: These could be from any social media platform and tend to show your hotel in a visually appealing way.

Social proof is necessary for hotels that want to help seal the deal with visitors who are unsure if the hotel is what they’re looking for.

By showing visitors positive reviews of past clients, they will feel much more comfortable getting a room at your hotel.

Don’t know how to add these features to your hotel website? We can help.

9. ADA Compliance

In 2025, every website should be ADA compliant if it wants to thrive and reach the most people possible.

Some of the web design features your hotel website should have for accessibility are:

• Text-to-speech should be available everywhere.

• Keyboard navigation should be an option.

• The color contrast option should be there to improve readability.

Consider adding more accessibility options to your hotel website. At a minimum, it should include these three features.

If you want to learn even more about ADA, you can check its website here.

10. Chatbot

Good customer service is key for any hotel. However, paying for 24/7 service can be costly and often inefficient.

This is where a chatbot comes in. A chatbot can be online 24/7 and answer most of the simple requests a visitor trying to book a room may have. This helps you save money over time.

It also ensures that your potential clients get their questions answered correctly every time.

You will personally answer all of the more complex questions that are sent into a ticket system. This ensures that you and not a bot address issues such as refunds or complaints.

Get Modern Hotel Website Features that Convert With Blacksmith

After going through this list of the best web design features for Chicago hotels, you might feel a bit overwhelmed with all the options.

Picking the right features for your hotel might not be as clear, and adding them all at the same time would take a considerable amount of time.

Don’t worry, with Blacksmith you’ll get all the web design features your hotel needs, all without having to do any of the work.

As a professional web design agency, we focus on the visual parts of your hotel website and provide complex digital solutions. This will boost your booking rate and help you attract new customers consistently.

Still unsure if this is what your hotel website needs? Click here so you can book a call with us, and we can audit your website and show you how many more customers you could be getting with us.