UP Hotel Agency

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Zoku is named "one of the world's 25 best hotels" according to Forbes. It's a hybrid between a place to live and to work, for people visiting from 3 days to 3 months. I was the Commercial Director at Zoku.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire UP Hotel Agency?

Up was hired to design, develop, and maintain our website. We wanted to make sure that we had a leading website that was fast, guest-friendly with a stunning design. The challenge was to create a timeless design and to increase website conversion.

What were your goals for this project?

The website should be scalable to new locations, fast, timeless design, in line with the brand and with a set page designs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We looked at 5 suppliers but the reason why we selected Up was the combination of the following factors: - Connection with the team who immediately understood our needs - Recommendation by several industry connections - Strong industry knowledge (which is extremely important when creating websites for hospitality companies) - Track record of stunning and award-winning websites - Great price

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

- Zoku delivered a few examples of inspirational websites, some rough wireframing, list of website pages and requirements and brand standards - Brainstorm session with the design team - Few rounds of feedback and finetuning - Approval my Zoku team - Development sprint with regular feedback sessions - Testing - Deployment

What was the team composition?

From Zoku - only working on the website when input was required - Brand Director - Commercial Director - Design Intern From Up - Designer - Developer - Technical Ed - CEO - gave his input on designs and examples from other companies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The website was launched in April and immediately compared and analyzed with the old one by using HotJar and analytics. - Visitors time on page increased with 27% - The conversion went up with 18.5% - The website ranked higher due to speed, website structure changes - A lot of positive remarks from visitors and other hotels

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was very effective. No large project management teams and lengthy reports but instead great use of online tools and frequent update sessions with the team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Up team is just a breath of fresh air to work with. They understand your needs, they have a large understanding of the industry, they will be honest and direct to you (which we Dutchies love), they are flexible and have a great sense of humor and use their vast experience and knowledge to create stunning websites, booking engines and more.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It might sound weird but they should increase their prices a bit. We were doubting a little when they were cheaper than the competition.