The competition between hotels and the OTAs has never been higher. Travelers prefer to book their stays through online as it is a convenient way of booking. That's why, it becomes very crucial for every hotel owner to own a website. By owning a site, you can encourage tourists to book your rooms from any part of the world. However, most internet-savvy people are cognizant and apprehensive of a potential data breach.
Keeping this issue in mind, the major search engine Google has come up with a significant update for the users of Chrome. Websites having SSL certificates will be marked as secured. This update is significant for all sites, but for a website collecting sensitive data, such as credit card information, passwords or personal data.
If you don't have an up-to-date SSL certificate on your hotel site, then it may impact your bookings. Google Chrome will display a 'not secure' status in the address bar. It will be a warning for guests that your website is not safe for browsing. As the result, it may reduce inquiries, traffic and potentially drop online bookings.
What is an SSL Certificate – Exactly?
SSL (or Secure Socket Layer) is a kind of security protocol which encrypts the data which is being sent between server and computer. The information can be the user's password, credit card details, email or home address. With this certificate, you can make your website 100 percent secured and ensure your customers that your website is secured. Just by checking the browser's address bar your customers will know that your site has an up-to-date SSL certificate.
But how to make sure that a site is fully secured? If a site is secured with an SSL certificate, the Chrome browser will show a green padlock icon in the address bar. However, if it shows a red padlock icon, it means that you have a broken or outdated certificate. What's more, an info icon will be displayed, if there is no certificate on the website.
Significance of Having an SSL Certificate
By having this certificate, the website owner can avail a host of benefits:
• Get higher ranking of your website in search engines
• Drive uninterrupted traffic to the site
• Give great satisfaction to your customers
• Enjoy more online bookings
• Earn higher revenue
Where to Get an SSL Certificate?
Presently, there are hosting providers available all over the world to help webmasters obtain an SSL certificate. So, if you don't have SSL setup yet, you should approach a hosting provider. To obtain the certificate, you will pay an annual fee. Once you pay the fees, the issuing authority will verify your business identity. The first step is to approach a trusted hosting provider.