Luxury hotel chain FourSeasons has unveiled the latest part of its $18m investment to overhaul its web presense and boost online bookings.
The firm is planning to launch versions of its new website for Asia and the Arabic region this year to take advantage of different approaches to digital media.
The firms US and European website was re-launched in January in partnership with design agency Huge. The site originally caused controversy due to the $18m price tag attached to it.
However, Four Seasons later moved to clarify the sum on press material by saying it would be invested ‘over time’.
The revamp is part of an effort to improve online revenue at the hotel chain. Four Seasons’ website attracts 30m visitors each year, but online bookings only account for 12% of total revenue, an increase of just 2% in five years.
The new site features a new booking process, social media integration and personal profile technology that allows users to set preferences and create a more targeted online experience.
The site is also optimised for mobile, which provides access to a scaled-down site that includes videos, images, room rates and booking.
The site has also been designed to incorporate a number of social media elements such as TripAdvisor reviews. The reviews giant is current the 19th biggest referrer of traffic for Four Seasons (compared with Expedia which is 90th) and that consumers coming from there are converting.
Interactive marketing boss Robert Simon said that its customers “were spending time on sources like TripAdvisor to find what property was relevant to them but there’s no reason they should do extra work to find what they want. Consumers have been trained to start on sites like that. There is so much more information outside of brand.com sites.”
http://www.fourseasons.com/
