Lanelay Hall is a boutique hotel & spa, offering luxurious experiences to guests from around the world. With the new website, we transformed the booking journey into a seamless experience, brought the digital experience in-line with the physical one and captured the hidden wonders of the hotel.
What we did
Digital strategy
UX & customer journey design
Visual design
Brand refinement
Art direction
Web Development
Booking system integration
Craft CMS
Visit the site
Project goals
Improve the customer experience
Streamline the booking process for accommodation and dining, improve the customer journey and reduce the number of support requests.
Elevate the digital experience
Match the amazing in-person experience Lanelay offers its guests, through better navigation, more modern design, more easily digestible copy and rich visual content.
Maintain the hidden wonder
Use design and content to create a sense of mystery, showing what’s on offer without spoiling the moments of delight the hotel offers its guests.
A better content management experience
Make it easy for the internal marketing team to administer the site and create engaging and beautifully designed pages for marketing activities.
Results
137% increase in returning visitors
Since launch the website has seen return visitor numbers increase
33% Black Friday increase
Visitors to the site during the 2023 Black Friday period increased by 12,000 in comparison to the previous year
Since launching the new website, we’ve had positive feedback from guests on the website UX and content. The new booking integration has vastly improved the customer experience and it now is a much better reflection of our business.
Lucy Ralph, Marketing Manager
Seamless Experience
Two separate booking systems reduced to one seamless experience
Online bookings increased
Since launch, the number of bookings made via the website has increased
Reduced customer frustration
The number of incoming calls from guests who need help booking has reduced
Brand Refinement & Creative Direction
Lanelay Hall needed the brand and website to reflect the quality and echo the customer experience by adding refinement and capturing the essence of the hotel
The logo was redrawn and refined, making it feel more in keeping with the premium offering, and more suitable for digital applications. A new headline typeface, TT Ramillas was chosen which adds a look of elegance and sophistication to the identity.
Inspired by the architectural features of the building, we developed the arch into a visual device to frame content. Using combinations of wide and close-up photography to showcase what’s on offer while keeping moments of delight for the physical experience.
These refinements to the brand and a new creative direction are designed to work across Lanelay's marketing from social platforms to print and out-of-home advertising.
A venue such as Lanelay Hall needed an elegant, unintrusive and ownable creative approach. The simplicity of the arch became a beautifully flexible device that allowed the hotel’s character to shine through, without losing its identity.
Nathan Miller, Senior Designer
A streamlined user experience
80% of traffic to the website is mobile, so we focused on creating an easy and intuitive experience, particularly on small devices. Easy-to-access navigation provides quick access to the most used pages while allowing users to drill down into relevant content.
Primary content became the hero, providing easy access to information about accommodation, the spa and dining.
Frequent calls to action for making a booking are used throughout the site, encouraging users to become customers, increasing conversions.
Information is delivered in either short, easily digestible pieces of copy, scannable lists or using typography and design to highlight messages.
Simplified booking
A problem with the existing website was that booking accommodation, spa treatments and dining was done across three separate, non-integrated systems. This confused and frustrated users as it often left people unable to secure treatments or tables in the restaurant once they had booked a room. This resulted in a large number of incoming calls to try to amend and confirm bookings.
The new website solves this problem by utilising OneJourney for room and dining bookings. We integrated the booking system with the site, resulting in a dramatic reduction in support calls from confused customers.
We've definitely seen a reduction in phone calls and an increase in online bookings since the new website went live.
Lucy Ralph, Marketing Manager
Content that inspires
We art directed the rich, visual photography and video content that showcases the level of luxury available at Lanelay Hall. From panning wide shots, to close up detail video captures the physical experience, allowing visitors to visualise their stay. Framed by the distinctive arch, photography provides visual information about the amenities on offer, while inspiring users to make a booking.
Delight is in the detail
At Lanelay, details matter. From the warm and welcoming entrance to the beautifully eclectic decor, every little detail has been considered. To ensure the website felt like a digital extension of the physical experience we used animation and subtle interactions to add depth to the website. From small button interactions to the way content loads smoothly as you scroll, the website adds its own small moments of delight, while not interrupting the user experience.
Control & creativity with Craft CMS
To enable the marketing team at Lanelay Hall to make full use of the new website we implemented Craft CMS as the content management system. Craft provides the team total control and flexibility over creating new pages for campaigns and keeping the site up to date throughout the seasons.
Using reusable components the team can quickly roll out landing pages using the same, rich design as the rest of the site.
Craft CMS is much less restrictive than Wordpress. I can be more creative.
Lucy Ralph, Marketing Manager
The new website is now a true online representation of the Lanelay Hall experience, and is achieving the goals we uncovered during our research and insight work. Through a combination of strategic, creative and technical expertise, the website is now the centrepiece of Lanelay Hall’s sales and marketing.
Visit the new website at lanelayhall.co.uk
Credits
Videography: Clear Cut Social
Photography: The Content Creators
