How do you demonstrate a hotel’s purpose?
BACKGROUND
Main Street Hospitality sought to revamp the Hammetts Hotel website to provide an exceptional user experience and communicate the hotel’s distinctive story as the anchor of the commercial wharf. Situated in the heart of downtown Newport, Rhode Island, Hammetts Wharf development stands out as a testament to the local heritage and contemporary architecture, seamlessly blending into the urban landscape.
STRATEGY
During our discovery of the property and website, we found several significant issues.
The current website was overcrowded with too much content, which did a disservice to the hotel by not properly merchandising its aspects, including its centralized location to the restaurants, sites and shopping areas of the town. We also identified a high drop-off rate on the homepage and secondary flow, which presented an opportunity to improve conversions and reduce bounce rates.
RESULTS
By repositioning Hammetts Hotel as “the Heart of Newport” and enhancing its brand assets, we successfully rejuvenated the website’s relevance to prospective guests. The streamlined site structure prioritized bookings, rooms and offers, making it easier for visitors to find what they need.
Key pages were effectively displayed to increase bookings and elevate the property’s profile. We created more opportunities to highlight business meetings, weddings and family gatherings, expanding Hammetts’ customer base. The addition of sticky navigation made booking always accessible and visible, increasing the chances of conversion. To accelerate bookings, we streamlined the global navigation to focus only on rooms, offers and booking, and incorporated all page links into a mega menu with images, offers and cross-selling opportunities.
Given that 60% of all site traffic comes from mobile devices, we prioritized a mobile-first experience. In addition, the website now highlights seasonal events, making Hammetts a year-round destination and broadening its customer base. The redesign successfully addressed the identified issues and resulted in a more engaging and effective website that better serves the needs of Hammetts’ guests and its owners.
View the site here.
