It is a pleasant surprise from a website analysis perspective to enter a tourism and hospitality site directly at the homepage. As a highly rated hotel in the Kensington area of London, the Five Star Royal Garden Hotel also presents an equally highly rated website in line with other five star establishments. As can be expected of a hotel in the above category, the usage of colours, multimedia, amount of text and font sizes will all underline the style and flair of the Royal Garden Hotel giving it an excellent website analysis score.

The Royal Garden Hotel which opened its doors for the first time in the 1960s has been the host for the Euro 96 Championships and the ICC Champions Trophy of 2004. When it comes to sport celebrity status, the hotel is a leading accommodation provider as it has played host to the likes of Sir Bobby Charlton, the England Rugby Team, South African Rugby Team, and various soccer stars. Frequently visited by rock stars during the 1960s the hotel has not lost its flair. It was renovated from 1994-96 and is now well acclaimed as a Five Star establishment for business executives, discerning travelers, and sport stars alike.

From the array of services and luxuries available such as the luxury spa treatments, conference and banqueting halls, and the opulent rooms as well as suites, it is to be expected that its online window to the world, should reflect its style.

The fact the URL is not split between the main domain and an additional domain is good for search engine optimisation purposes. Although upper price range hotels frequently employ a lot of Flash animation and less text to enhance the visual attractiveness of their sites, the Royal Garden Hotel has succeeded in establishing the correct balance between text and multimedia.

The homepage has an image on top depicting the breathtaking view from the Royal Garden Hotel including Kensington Palace and the St. Paul’s Cathedral. The main colours of the website depict elegance although the contrast between the background and the text may hinder readability for people with visual impairment. Fortunately the site is also available in a printable form which then displays no background and a larger font.

A cascading style sheet menu is used with the main categories listed in large white font on the left side pane. The links work well, but it would have been useful if descriptions of the links were to be available when moving the cursor over them. The website has an easy to use sitemap and the sponsors are identifiable through the logo which is prominently displayed. Contact details are displayed on top of the web pages as well as at a Contact Us page where a form is supplied for email communication.

Visitors will also benefit from the facility that allows users to check for available rooms at specific dates. It is a complete rate calculator with an array of choices to enhance the visitor’s stay at the Royal Garden Hotel. The website is easy to navigate although a bit on the slow side. It will help with rankings if the loading time is improved.

The images compliment the text and provide a high level of aesthetic appeal. The images have descriptive Alt tags which also play a role in search engine optimisation. The titles of pages display in the top blue bar and are descriptive. It will enhance usability and accessibility of the website if links to Adobe Flash player were included in a prominent place or the option of text only version provided.

The website design supports several browsers and is thus up to standard. In addition to the Flash videos, audio clips would further enhance the user experience at the website. In terms of overall functionality and information value the Royal Garden Hotel site succeeds. It also includes a level of interactivity through the form for contact and convenience such as the availability checker.

There is a subscription option to receive the Royal Garden Hotel newsletter which is excellent in terms of Internet Marketing. The website has a current Google Page Rank of 4 and an Alexa Rank of 717, 719 at the time of website analysis at May 4, 2008. With several incoming links from AltaVista and AlltheWeb it has established itself on the Internet, but it also requires several links from Google and Yahoo to get to the top ranking spot.

The website analysis revealed a Metatag with description and keywords, but with far too many keywords in the Metatag it is not spider friendly. To ensure inclusion in search engine databases it is recommended that fewer keywords are included in the Metatags. With fewer keywords a more focused SEO Internet Marketing strategy can be followed. If you prefer opulence beyond imagination then you should visit the Royal Garden Hotel website and book your stay.