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environment that presented the hotel’s features, the accommodation and the attractions of the Italian town of Portofino, all wrapped up in a highly seductive package.
The Design
Nucleus has created a classic portfolio website, an elegant photographic depiction of the charms of this centuries-old city, conveyed through a simple animated Flash interface with suitably evocative music. The decision to create an upmarket site was a deliberate move away from the ‘cheap deal’ associations with travel on the Internet. Although Flash is used extensively in the opening slideshow, the rest of the site is simple, elegant and above all modular, allowing the hotel’s own marketing team to alter and update the content easily.
The Results
Since launching the website in June 2003, online revenues have increased by 400 percent in comparison to the previous year. The Splendido’s rooms are not cheap and the high quality feel of the site encourages direct booking – avoiding costly additional commissions and driving up profitability. As a result, the design costs covered themselves in just four months – eight months faster than anticipated. Orient-Express’s own e-Commerce director, Brian Tickle, describes the result as a ‘captivating experience for our discerning and hard-to-please target audience’.
Judge’s Comments
Sarah Stein, Orange SA commented on behalf of the judges that the site demonstrated a ‘good use of design which understood the importance of the audience and not using technology to over-complicate the solution’.
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