Four Star Hotel Rome - Hotel Stendhal, 30 rooms in the city centre

BACKGROUND

The prestigious 4 star Hotel Stendhal Rome contacted Fisheyes in November 2002 with a view to creating a website that would be ready for the hotel's scheduled grand opening in May 2003. As part of the Hotel Silver Chain, also including the Hotel Mascagni and the Grand Hotel Beverly Hills, Hotel Stendhal management already knew the potential of Fisheyes in designing, developing and marketing hotels over the internet.

PROJECT GOALS

The objective was to create a website that was pleasing to visit, appealed to travellers to Rome and offered modern contemporary online services such as a virtual tour, high definition photo gallery and secure online booking. Fisheyes set about creating a website that would also figure high amongst the most popular search results of hotel accommodation in Rome (especially for the phrase 'Rooms near Piazza di Spagna') in the biggest online search engines such as MSN, Google and Yahoo. As a cosy hotel offering limited accommodation of 30 rooms, the Hotel Stendhal wanted to be independent of tour operators and travel agencies. The addition of a secure online booking page which had a clear layout, was simple to use and offered completely safe handling of clients' personal information, made the Hotel Stendhal far more self-sufficient.

FISHEYES AND HOTEL STENDHAL

The project included marketing the Hotel Stendhal accommodation by translating website content into six languages. A very competitive pricing strategy was initiated, offering promotions, low prices and special accommodation packages to the public directly via the website all year round. This plan of action ensured that the project would be an enormous success and greatly increase the sales of rooms online.

RESULTS

Within four years the results were impressive, with a considerable increase in online sales year-on-year. With the translation of website content into various languages, an even greater target audience could be reached by the new website. Fisheyes continues updating the site, assuring that content remains up to date and accurate.

SUMMARY

Thanks to the pre-existing collaboration between Fisheyes and the other associated Silver Hotels, this online sales and marketing project started with a very good business foundation. With a good eye for business and innovation, the Stendhal Hotel management firmly believed in the capacity of Fisheyes to increase the hotel's turnover and tap into new markets via the internet and online reservation service.