Rydges & Atura Hotel: Wake up smiling
EVENT’s enviable hotel portfolio includes the iconic Rydges, as well as stylish newcomer Atura.
OVERVIEW
A cluttered navigation and protracted booking process meant these hotels were losing out to third party online booking agents. The sites lacked design cohesion, and did not entice the user to interact or be engaged, resulting in a very corporate presence with limited inspiration.Knowing guests cross-shop both brands, the UX objective for the new websites was a consistent experience across the two, at every point of interaction.
RESULTS
Increase in Enquiries for Meetings & Events37% increase in Site TrafficHalved Number of Clicks to Book a RoomSingular Design System
How might we create a booking process as easy and consistent as the hotel experience itself?
Challenge
When you stay at a Rydges or an Atura hotel, you know exactly what to expect. The rooms, the service, the food, and the atmosphere is always reliably friendly and easy - so the website design and functionality should reflect the same.
In order to bypass online travel agencies to increase direct bookings, we needed to reduce the number of clicks and simplify the user experience.
A total UX and design overhaul, that included user research and a full audit of the current site, wireframing, prototyping, testing and iterating, and UI design.
Solution
We reconfigured the site navigation and structure based on most common use cases and implemented an integrated search to ‘cross-sell’ across the two hotel portfolios.
A deceptively simple, shared design system and consistent UI components allowed for a uniform EVENT experience.
The design system was built to extend across Rydges and Atura Hotels allowing for a consistent brand experience across the EVENT Hospitality & Entertainment group.
A shared design system and consistent UI components enabled both the corporate and holiday traveller (which is sometimes one and the same) to easily book a room in minimal steps.
Combined search results so you’ll always find a hotel
We also needed a consistent UX and design system for Rydges and Atura for those who were cross-shopping the two hotel brands, and from that insight we also integrated both hotels into the other brand’s search results. For example, if you searched for an Atura in Sydney CBD, where no Atura currently exists, you would be suggested a relevant Rydges instead.
Find the right room for you, every time
Understanding from our data the most important information for hotel guests is room configuration and facilities, we created easy to use filters to narrow search results. With business travellers as well as those looking for leisurely weekends away amongst our target, we also included an ‘Offers’ filter so users could easily find the right deal for their needs.
Simplicity, against the clutter of our competitors
We went back to basics and re-considered the booking calendar, after finding that most competitors (mainly online travel agents) were incredibly confusing to navigate and understand. The 'Book' module was also ever-present and the image gallery easy to expand on mobile, and swipe through, as we knew that great room imagery is often the final dedicing factor before hitting ‘Book’.
A simplified customer profile, showcase image galleries and always accessible booking panel encouraged direct bookings.
