I think the design has a massive impact for hosting companies. Sure, service and quality of the hosting is important but customers aren't going to know if what they are buying is reliable, fast etc until they have signed up.

The image a host represents is fundamental to its success, no one is going to signup to a hosting provider using a boxedart template (well not anyone i know anyway), because we assume the owner is a 13 year old kid with no knowledge and someone who obviously doesn't care enough about his business to get a decent design.

Webhosts need eye candy to convert their leads and a killer website does just this, sure you need a great product as well, but what is the good of an amazing service, excellent support and the highest spec servers if you aren't creating sales, through a well designed and functional website?