Web Design for Hotel & Spa
- Web Design
- $10,000 to $49,999
- June 2019 - Mar. 2020
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"Overall, guest expectations have soared along with an increase in guest relations. Even during this time of COVID-19."
- Hospitality & leisure
- Tarrytown, New York
- 51-200 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
Liqui-Site provided website design for hotel and spa based in New York. The team improved the site's design to make it more appealing and efficient for visitors.
Liqui-Site was able to provide an effective web design which resulted in an increase in gift card sales by 45% and repeat business also increase by 25%. The team always responded promptly to questions and queries. They were knowledgeable and can execute tasks properly.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm the House Manager, Castle Hotel and Spa.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
For what projects/services did your company hire Liqui-Site?
Over the past year we worked with Liqui-Site an eMazzanti Technologies company to make several improvements to our website.
What were your goals for this project?
Our goals for the project were to make the website more appealing and efficient for guests and to generate additional revenue.
SOLUTION
How did you select Liqui-Site?
There was an existing relationship. But once I met Carl and Susan at Liqui-Site, I knew for a fact that, with our personalities and ideas, I could collaborate with them, because I had prior knowledge of web development.
Often developer teams don’t have design or hospitality experience and they may not have full knowledge of what it takes to brand a property. When you do, like the team at Liqui-Site, it makes it a lot easier to have those conversations.
Describe the project in detail.
Susan Chait and I worked on a project to re-invent the hotel gift cards to offer guests more of a Castle Experience. When I first came here, they were utilizing a system where the guests just purchased a gift card for a dollar amount and you may or may not have all the guest information.
We changed the gift card program by making the gift card for an actual spa treatment, or you could purchase a tasting menu or a chef’s table experience. People loved the idea of gifting the experience and it drove revenue. Guests were willing to pay to gift the Chef Table Experience as opposed to a $50 or $100 gift card. It’s been very successful.
It makes a big difference when you can give someone an experience. I made sure to run my ideas past Susan and collaborate with her to see exactly what she thought because as an operations manager, you have to see all sides. Susan helped me create a layout.
And, when it came time to put in the data into the system, she worked to collaborate with the Liqui-Site web development team, making sure that the tedious tables for handling fees and tax were set properly on the website. Prior to this, we had no guest information.
So basically, we started from scratch. Now if someone purchases a gift card, I’ll see the purchaser, who it’s gifted to and their address, so we could have contact with them. If something happened or they lose their gift card, you can still trace it and not have an issue.
Other projects we tackled were updating the room packages page, rotating menus regularly (especially after our Michelin recognition) and adding our Discovery page of destinations to explore during a visit. Guests are planning and we are helping them with arrangements.
I created a calendar planning out the upcoming events that were coordinated with promotional pop-ups on our home page. We even started selling tickets for on-property programming from the website—driven by the pop-ups. As soon as you come to the website, the first thing you would see is our Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day event pop-ups.
For Christmas, we ran 3 maybe 4 events and everybody saw that for months ahead of time. It’s been a page-by-page rework of the website with a lot of brainstorming, always working within our goals.
What was the team composition?
Susan Chait took responsibility for the success of the project, worked with me on design, and managed the team collaboration and schedule. She worked with several engineers at Liqui-Site to complete everything on schedule. Working with Susan is like girl power, and sometimes working with Susan provides me a sense of family because I know she wants what’s best for our company. And I know that, at the end of the day, whatever ideas I have to share with her, she understands the big picture.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Having a website like we do now allows guests to see the true value of the property. Often, someone may seek out a specific property for a special occasion for business or just for an escape because it’s a destination property.
Working with Liqui-Site allowed us to show that we can be all those things, but our true value is in our history and making historic moments in each family or individual who comes to our property. Liqui-Site worked with us on improving our gift card purchase and redemption process which included both online and offline changes.
As a result, gift card sales increased 45%. Since I started working with Susan and Liqui-Site about one year ago, repeat business has increased about 25% from where we were. We became very busy at times! Overall, guest expectations have soared along with an increase in guest relations.
Even during this time of COVID-19, I’m still being contacted about reservations for room packages that were there on the website, because they can see it and they were here before. Seeing that, I understand that our property is very important to people in Tarrytown or Westchester or even in New York.
A lot of guests are coming from the city, and they’re coming from Connecticut. Even our international business is up. This year was the first that we offered pre-sales tickets for New Years and other special occasions that were sold out. This means that when the day comes that we’re past COVID-19 and the Castle re-opens, the flood gates will open up.
Because if you still have that level of engagement with your guests, that means not only a job well done, but you’re also thinking where can I take this next? What else can we do that is like how we did it before? I would love to do more with Liqui-Site.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
I would look at our surveys and query’s through our property management system and then I would decide how I could make the next holiday event better. I took that to the executive committee and said this is the next step that we need to take.
Then I would get on the phone with Susan so we could say, by this date we need to do this, and this date we need to put up the pop-up. Susan would always check back in with me. We’d send emails and I would add the chef in so he could make sure the menu was correct.
The timing of Susan’s response was always perfect. It felt good to have someone else on the other end who understood where we were trying to go. I met six of the Liqui-Site team members at an eMazzanti event at the Castle, and I can tell that it’s a nurturing environment.
When you have everybody working together and uplifting each other, you’re only going to get the best from them. I can tell that Carl is a great leader for his team, he is very knowledgeable, and he holds everyone to the same standard. Their ability to execute… you can tell it starts at the top.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
My conversations with Carl and Susan, and the fact that they were protective of us. When you post or share information, sometimes there are liabilities, and they wouldn’t post things that were unclear. It’s always great to have a 2nd, 3rd or 4th eye.
They would say, hey look, maybe we can rephrase this differently. If there were disclaimers or laws or anything of that nature, they made sure we were aware. We didn’t really have any technical issues.
If there were multiple ideas and parties involved and not everybody was communicating, Susan definitely knew how to handle those situations by making sure that everybody came back together and shared all the information that they had collected.
Although Susan is not a part of our own team, she always brought things back together again. I would say, if you are looking for a company that is going to make sure you are represented well, show your best value, share a great story and assure your guests they’re going to have a memorable experience, you have to work with them. I wouldn’t choose anyone else.
Are there any areas for improvement?
I see no areas for improvement. They are part of a great team.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"I can't say enough good about them."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"Susan was terrific to work with and kept me informed."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Very reasonable considering the high quality of the work and the terrific results."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"I wouldn't hesitate.