Website for a restaurant, hotel or B&B in Ticino: what really matters

People looking for a restaurant, a grotto, a hotel or a B&B in Ticino decide within seconds, almost always on their phone. Your website must show opening hours, the menu with prices, location and how to book straight away, load quickly on mobile networks and be available at least in Italian and German. It must also show the same details as your Google Business Profile. Hotels and B&Bs have one more reason: direct bookings through your own website carry no commission, and since 1 December 2022 platforms may no longer prevent you from offering better prices there.

What guests look for on your website

• Opening hours, rest days and seasonal closures, which are common in Ticino in winter.
• Menu or rooms with up-to-date prices.
• Address with a map, parking, public transport stop or boat landing.
• A clickable phone number and an easy way to book.
• Real photos of the dining room, terrace, rooms and dishes.
• Practical details: wheelchair access, dogs welcome, vegetarian options, outdoor seating, playground.
• Your guests’ languages: Italian and German almost always, English often, French if many guests come from Romandy.

Tip: Put opening hours and seasonal closures as text on the home page, not only in an image or on Facebook. That way Google and voice assistants can read them too.

The menu: a web page rather than a PDF

A PDF has to be zoomed on a phone, is often out of date and is hard to translate. A page with dishes, short descriptions and prices as text, divided into starters, mains, desserts and drinks, works better. The PDF can stay as a print version. For daily specials, a section you can update from your phone in a few minutes is enough, with no need to upload a new file.

Allergens and origin

For food sold loose, such as restaurant dishes, Swiss food law requires allergens to be declared in writing in principle. According to the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO), this can be waived if a written notice states that the information is given orally. The origin of meat and fish, however, must be stated in writing. If you accept online orders for takeaway or delivery, the mandatory information must also be available there before the order. For a purely informative online menu it is still sensible to list allergens and origin as on the printed menu. This is general information, not legal advice: for specific cases, contact the cantonal laboratory.

Bookings: phone, form, system or portals

For hotels and B&Bs, direct bookings count twice: no commission and direct contact with the guest, useful for special requests and for the next stay. Since 1 December 2022, Article 8a of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UCA) prohibits accommodation booking platforms from using parity clauses on prices, availability and conditions. You may therefore offer a better price, breakfast included or more flexible cancellation terms on your own website, and say so clearly. Only write it if it is true and you keep it up to date.

Tip: Place a «Book now» or «Reserve a table» button at the top of every page and repeat the phone number in the footer. On a phone, guests should not have to search.

Google Business Profile and website: the same details

Many guests find a restaurant or hotel through Google Maps, not through its website. Your Google Business Profile and your website must therefore say exactly the same thing:

• the same name, address and phone number, written the same way;
• the same opening hours, including holiday closures and special hours on public holidays;
• links to the website, the menu page and booking;
• the right category, such as grotto, restaurant, hotel or bed and breakfast;
• up-to-date photos, the same ones you use on the website.

Reply to reviews, including critical ones, briefly and politely, in the guest’s language. Do not buy or write fake reviews: they break Google’s policies and can lead to reviews being removed or to restrictions on your profile. Also report events and seasonal offers to the regional tourism organisation, which often runs its own portal.

Photos: authentic, lightweight and with clear rights

Photos sell more than text, but they must show what guests will actually find. Stock images of dishes you do not serve, or a view that cannot be seen from the room, disappoint and lead to negative reviews.

• Your own photos of the dining room, terrace, rooms, dishes and surroundings, in natural light.
• Images resized for the web: in WebP or AVIF format and at most 1600–2000 pixels wide, they are sufficient even for large screens.
• Alt text describing the image, for example «Lakeside terrace with laid tables».
• Clear rights: ask the photographer for a written licence covering the website, social media and portals.
• Recognisable people, guests or staff, only with their consent.

Speed on mobile

Many guests open the website on the move, in the car, on the boat or in a valley with weak mobile coverage. A slow website loses the booking before the guest even sees the menu. The most common causes are heavy images, videos that play automatically, too many plugins and several external widgets at once, such as map, booking, reviews and social media.

1. Compress all images before uploading them.
2. Load the map only when the guest opens it, or use a static image with a link.
3. Use one booking system, not two.
4. Enable server and CMS caching.
5. Check the result with PageSpeed Insights in the mobile view.

Data protection: bookings, newsletters and external tools

Every booking form collects personal data. Since 1 September 2023 the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) has applied: your privacy policy must state which data you collect, for what purpose, to whom you pass it, for example the booking system, Google Maps or an analytics tool, and whether it goes abroad. If you specifically target guests in the European Union, the GDPR may also apply.

• Ask only for the data you need: name, date, number of people, phone or email.
• Information on allergies or intolerances is health data: ask for it only if needed and do not keep it longer than necessary.
• A newsletter generally requires consent; without consent it is only allowed for customers who gave their address when buying, for similar offers and if they were told they can refuse it (Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UCA).
• Maps, videos and external widgets transmit data to third parties: name them in your privacy policy.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Domain, hosting and email

A short domain that is easy to spell over the phone, such as grotto-name.ch or hotel-name.ch, is worth more than a long name with the full place name. Use email addresses with your own domain, such as booking@ or info@, rather than free addresses: they inspire more trust and stay with the business when staff change.

At HostOn the WordPress Säntis plan costs CHF 10.90 per month, billed annually, and includes a free SSL certificate, LiteSpeed Cache, daily backups, a staging environment for testing a new menu or booking system, and email mailboxes with your domain. A .ch domain costs CHF 14.90 per year; with WordPress Säntis it is free for the first year. If your website is currently with another provider, migration to HostOn is free.