The luxury hotel website described in this case study was essentially lacking a cohesive, working design and the tools and applied techniques in regards to SEO. By way of design and development by Overit, where all creative and production is self-contained, we were able to effectively and efficiently meet standards, best-practices, and create a ‘search-friendly’ website from the get-go instead of facing a situation where coding or structural changes would need to be made by a 3rd-party development team.
Client type: Luxury Hotel
Project Scope:
Website design, development, photography, SEO, analytics, content development
Goals:
_ Create a working, positive online experience
_ Raise brand awareness online
_ Increase online reservations (revenue)
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Challenge:
The specific geographic locale of the hotel creates an environment of extreme competition and a market that is saturated by many hotels and resorts, both traditional and luxurious. A challenge from the beginning was to design and deliver a newly designed website that was effectively stream-lined for a greater user experience in order to increase revenue, brand awareness and to attain a stronger online presence as the industry. Consumers are gravitating in that direction more than ever before. Additionally, the website needed to find a larger Internet/Search-based audience in order to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive market.
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Initial Issues Briefing:
_ The original site faced issues in terms of inbound links that were not transferring value
_ The site lacked rank opportunities for higher volume search phrases
_ Conversion point opportunities were limited with the original site
_ Between April 2008 and December 2009 the industry (based on geography) saw a loss of $1.4 billion dollars statewide, showing an overall economic challenge beyond a positive, working web presence.
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Results:
Compared to the baseline (month prior to launch), the hotel saw an increase in room nights booked online of approximately 300% after 4 months.
Again, compared to the baseline (month prior to launch), the hotel saw an increase in revenue of approximately 270% after 4 months.
After 4 months the number of website visitors converting to a 3rd-party booking system visit increased by 185%
Comparing Hotel & Accommodation Sites of Similar Size and Region(blue indicates the website and grey represents the average site for the category):
