Hotel Websites Collect National Award
Websites collect a national award, as new looks are launched for one of the region’s leading luxury hotel groups.
Fat Media, working in partnership with Wildsmith Hotels, has completed work to re-position the group’s brand and create a unique online experience.
The work has included new websites, design work, print collateral and digital marketing support for Wildsmith Hotels’ Hipping Hall near Kirkby Lonsdale, The Forestside in Grasmere and the Ryebeck in Bowness on Windermere.
The work has had an immediate impact on organic traffic, time spent on site and bookings. The project has also been recognised as industry leading at the Annual Hotel Marketing Awards, winning the Best Website & SEO Marketing award.
Organised by the Hotel Marketing Association, judges at the awards praised the approach to branding throughout, the capitalisation of the hotel’s location and an easy to use booking system whilst they also appreciated the approach to organic SEO and not just putting money behind pay per click.
Ian Ireland, account director at Fat Media, said: “We’re delighted with the results so far on the project and to pick up an industry award as well, is an added bonus.
“We are the lead brand and digital partner for Wildsmith Hotels, working with them to create an online experience which reflects the stunning properties in their portfolio.
“Organic traffic across the three websites is already up 29 per cent and on average; time spent on the sites is also up 14 per cent. This is exactly what we were looking for and we’re hoping our continued work will see the numbers increase even further.”
The Fat Media team created an image led website for each hotel to really showcase the fantastic venues and unique character of each property, while reflecting the award winning food offering, setting and luxury accommodation.
An E-commerce function allowing customers to book a room online or purchase gift vouchers was also built in. Fat Media is continuing to support the Wildsmith group with digital marketing, including SEO, PPC, email marketing and social media, as well as graphic design services.
Greg Stephenson, PR & Marketing Manager for Wildsmith Hotels, said: ‘’We are thrilled that the Annual Hotel Marketing Awards have recognised the work we have undertaken jointly with Fat Media across all three hotel websites. We have taken a considerable amount of time to look at sites from around the world, examining social media integration, overall styling and flow, copy creation, as well as the use of content and imagery to inform the customer journey. When it comes to hotel marketing, a compelling picture really is worth a thousand words. The images in our websites do all the talking necessary and remove the need for large bodies of text, which can quickly lose people. Which is one of the reasons why we work closely alongside leading stylist Catherine Connor and photographer Jenny Jones to help us achieve this.’’