A web experience fit for a high-profile resort opening

With a hard deadline date for this high-profile US resort opening, we supported the design, build and launch of a web platform to showcase everything the property has to offer.

  • A flexible custom WordPress platform that can be rolled out across the group
  • A site that supports booking journeys for the hotel, casino, restaurants and more
  • Digital design and UX that matches the luxury aesthetic of this iconic property
US high-profile resort opening website experience case study

The challenge

When you have one of the most eagerly anticipated resort openings in years to promote, with a star-studded VIP launch in an iconic location, then expectations for its website will also be sky high.

Designing, building and launching such a site was the challenge set for Inviqa by the branding guru who had crafted the look and feel of the property. The website needed to mirror the luxury experience visitors to the resort expect to receive and be capable of showcasing the entire property: including a hotel, casino, restaurants, bars and cafes, a spa, event facilities and retail stores.

The go-live date for the site was also set in stone: to coincide with the kick-off of a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to tease the resort’s official opening.

US hotel website replatform and web experience design case study

How we helped

Inviqa began discovery for the project in Summer 2022 with the goal that the site must be ready for Autumn 2023.

We worked extremely closely with the Chief Brand Officer’s team on the wireframing and site design phase, including UX. It was crucial to ensure that the online experience complemented his carefully curated design aesthetic for the resort.

The brief required the creation of intuitive, optimised user journeys for site visitors whatever their mission; to explore the resort, to book a hotel room, make a dinner or spa reservation, or sign-up for the hotel chain's loyalty programme.

The imposing resort sets a new benchmark for luxury and elegance in the city where it is located, so it's important that the website also offers an elevated experience compared to those of other competing properties.

At the same time as supporting the design element of the project, Inviqa had to consider how the site would be built. As the resort’s sister property had a website that was built in 2016, it was decided that a new content management system and web platform was necessary to deliver the complexity of web experiences that were desired to fully showcase the new resort.

This required Inviqa to build a future-proofed platform that could support all of the chain's websites in the future. Inviqa developed a custom multi-site Wordpress and Symfony platform that is being used for the new resort's site, and has subsequently been utilised to replatform the sister resort's website for a significant upgrade to the experience that site offers.

The platform delivers many flexible content components allowing a huge variety of designs and pages to be quickly built. It also allows new microservices to be easily added, supporting future online experience requirements as the resorts continue to evolve and grow.

Web Experience Resort - luxury resort website room & amenities booking
US luxury hotel website replatform project results case study

The results

The site launched on time in 2023 to coincide with the kick-off of the marketing campaign and harnessed the huge amount of interest in the new resort.

Prior to the resort opening, the site was already receiving circa 250,000 visitors a month. A conversion rate of more than 5% in October 2023 - generated by forward bookings - is more than double the industry average for the hotel sector.

Inviqa has since used the same platform to relaunch the sister resort's website; with a similar focus on referencing the iconic hotel’s heritage and design while delivering optimised user journeys.