Why looking like every other travel website is costing you bookings

Much of my time is spent on travel websites. Not because I’m optimistically searching for the next place to visit that hits the sweet spot in terms of things to do and fewer tourists, but because I’m doing competitor research for a new client.

What strikes me, pretty much every single time, is how similar a lot of these sites look.

Try it yourself during your next caffeine pit stop - browse a selection of holiday websites and you'll inevitably see the same search widget at the top, the same hero image carousel, the same grid of destination cards below the fold…

…different company logo, same experience.

It would be naive to think this is simply a coincidence - it's more likely the outcome of defaulting to a templated approach and trusting that a live site is better than no site. In isolation that seems logical, but in a marketplace where travellers are comparing you directly against competitors, often in the same browser tab, it quickly becomes a problem.

Looking the same as everyone else isn’t necessarily fatal unless you're trying to charge a premium, own a niche, build loyalty or stand for something specific. Sound familiar?

Why it’s too easy to twin with the competition

1. The booking engine trap

Most websites start and end with the product data and booking engine. Understandably so - they’re the heartbeat of the operations and often the most expensive and time-consuming element to implement. But when these two elements dictate the design above all other considerations, you end up with a website built around a ‘computer says no’ system, rather than around your customers' needs. The result is a functional platform with no personality and a grid of departure dates where a brand story should be.

Operators who let behind-the-scenes technology control the user experience almost always end up looking like everyone who made the same choice, just in a different colour.

2. Off-the-shelf themes and OTA white-labels

The travel sector is full of templated solutions, CMS themes built specifically for tour operators, OTA white-labels and reskin-ready platforms that promise a live site in days. Yes, they can deliver on that promise, but what they can't deliver is distinctiveness. When operators in the same category are running variations of the same theme, being seen as THE expert becomes almost impossible when you look and sound like all the other experts.

3. Prioritising speed to market over performance

I work in a travel specialist digital agency and believe me when I say, I understand that seasonal pressure is no joke. However, new websites and development updates all too often get rushed live before peak booking windows, with the intention of ‘just get it live, we’ll improve it later’ (how many times have you told your web agency that?…be honest!).

In my experience, that improvement often doesn’t happen. Something else comes along to take priority and in the meantime, you’ve traded away your chance to make a strong first impression at your most commercially important peak time. Speed to market only creates value if what goes live is deemed valuable by customers and creates more bookings.

4. Designing the end conversion, ignoring the decision-making process to get there

A holiday booking is a high-consideration, emotionally-driven purchase. People don't just want information; they want to feel something and imagine themselves watching the sun go down. cocktail in hand. The need for emotional connection is especially true for ‘big birthday’ celebrations, ‘once in a lifetime’ bookings and honeymoons, etc. 

Websites designed primarily around search filters, booking flows and other functional elements (granted, all necessities), miss the inspirational middle part of the customer journey; the stage where trust is built, desire is cultivated and the decision to book is made.

5. Brand is more than logos and colours

Many travel businesses have a genuinely compelling story to tell, a founder's passion for a region, a philosophy about genuine sustainable travel and family-run expertise built over decades. Your brand, your reason for being and your people behind it are your biggest USP, but that story rarely makes it onto the website and if it does, it’s annexed off on an uninspiring About Us page.

When brand identity is an afterthought to destination descriptions and departure dates in the design process, the website is restricted to being a simple brochure and not the powerful conversion tool that it could be.

6. ‘So tell me what you want, what you really really want’

10 year-old me would be chuffed to learn I'd managed to weave Spice Girls lyrics into thought leadership pieces aged 40!

This is perhaps the most overlooked factor of all (granted I’m biased as a UX enthusiast) but most travel websites are built without any professional research having been conducted into the users they're meant to serve. No customer interviews. No usability testing. No systematic understanding of what prospective bookers actually want to see; what copy resonates with them or what design choices build or erode their confidence. The result is a website built on assumption and assumptions - however well-intentioned - aren’t as reliable as evidence.

Practical tips to facilitate distinctiveness

Standing out in travel doesn't always have to involve an unlimited budget or complete rebrand. It requires a mindset to consider the priorities that put the traveller's decision-making journey at the centre of design and functionality choices.

1. Sell the destination before the departure date

The most effective travel websites understand that users rarely arrive ready to book, they arrive ready to dream. A design that leads with immersive destination storytelling, authentic photography and a clear editorial voice moves people through the inspiration phase faster and with far greater commercial intent. The search widget can wait. The feeling can't.

Just to be clear, I’m not suggesting you place the search widget in the footer, I’m saying give the user a reason to use the search widget in the first place.

2. Build trust into every touchpoint

In travel, trust is a key conversion mechanism. Transparent pricing, genuine customer reviews, clear cancellation policies and an enquiry flow that feels human rather than transactional all reduce the anxiety inherent in a high consideration purchase. These elements need to be designed in from the start, not bolted on after the first wave of abandoned bookings.

3. Let your brand do some heavy money-making lifting

A distinct visual identity, a confident tone of voice and consistently evidenced expertise aren't aesthetic indulgences, they’re competitive advantages. Let’s be candid: tour operators offer similar routes, with similar itineraries and at similar prices. Brand (even if only subconscious) is a contributing decision-making factor for customers. A website that communicates who you are with clarity and conviction gives travellers a reason to choose you over your competitors.

4. Design for the full decision journey

Most holiday bookings don't happen in a single session. Travellers research across multiple visits, devices and channels before committing. The best performing travel sites account for this, with content that serves different stages of the decision journey, retargeting friendly entry points and booking flows that make it easy to pick up where someone left off. Meeting customers where they are, rather than expecting them to be where you want them to be, dramatically improves conversion potential.

5. Measure what drives revenue

Traffic volume and page views tell you very little about whether your website is performing. Metrics that matter more are things like: conversion rate by traffic source, enquiry-to-booking rate, average booking value per source and abandonment rates, etc. 

When you understand which parts of your website are genuinely driving revenue and which are creating friction, you can make design and build decisions that compound improvements over time rather than chase vanity numbers to make a monthly report look good.

6. Start with user research

The most significant competitive advantage available to any travel business right now costs just a bit of time and the willingness to listen. Travel websites already rely on customer reviews when it comes to encouraging users to click the Book Now button. Why not embrace feedback further and conduct structured research with your target customers to understand what information they need before they'll commit, what copy builds confidence, what design choices feel trustworthy and what friction points make them leave.

A website founded on genuine customer insight doesn't just look different, it performs differently because the decisions it contains were made in consideration of real people rather than a default offering from a templated approach.

Don’t be a ‘Where’s Wally’ website - stand out and reap the rewards

Your website has the potential to be your highest volume sales consultant, available around the clock speaking to every prospective customer who finds you. Unlike a brochure or a social ad, it has to work across the full decision-making journey; from the moment someone first discovers you, through to the point they hand over their card details. That's a significant commercial responsibility to hand to a site that doesn’t stand out from the crowd.

Speaking from experience, the travel websites that consistently perform share common themes:

• they were scoped, designed and developed with a clear point of view on who their customer is and what that customer needs to feel before they'll commit to a booking.
• user journeys mapped to how real travellers make decisions.
• content architecture that moves people from inspiration to intent.
• booking flows designed to reduce anxiety rather than introduce it.
• optimised code that doesn't cost you conversions on mobile.

None of this is reserved for only enterprise operators with unlimited resources. It's disciplined thinking, applied with craft and commercial intent and it's available to any travel business wanting to be genuinely different and create more ROI from their website

Some closing thoughts

Most travel businesses share the same constraints: tight resources, seasonal pressures and small internal teams. Compounding the issues is a travel tech landscape dominated by a handful of ‘big player’ platforms with ‘crank and churn templates’ that lock you in for years and make leaving often too painful and expensive.

Websites looking the same isn't a lack of ambition. It's a lack of inquiry. Many brands jump straight to creative without first understanding whether their audience wants what they're offering or resonates with how it's presented. Skip the UX fundamentals and you'll inevitably land on the same templates, the same patterns, the same forgettable experience as everyone else. I fundamentally believe differentiation isn't a design choice. It's a research outcome.

Like the websites we design and build, we’re happy to stick our neck out and be different. We don’t design default products; we create problem solving solutions that inspire visiting traffic to convert into confirmed bookings.

If you're planning a new travel website or want to understand what a genuinely distinctive digital experience could achieve for your commercial ambitions, we'd love to talk.