Malmaison sees uplift from new mobile first website by Equator

UK boutique luxury hotel chain Malmaison has launched a new mobile responsive website hoping to increase online conversions.

UK boutique luxury hotel chain Malmaison has launched a new mobile responsive website hoping to increase online conversions.

The operator has worked with digital marketing agency Equator on the new site which Malmaison described as “risqué and unique to the travel industry”.

Equator said the new site was designed to reflect the individual nature of the 12 Malmaison properties using photography and written content.

The booking engine on the site has also been made more intuitive and easy to navigate

John McLeish, managing director of Equator, said: “Malmaison is a sexy and aspirational brand with an impressive portfolio of hotels. However, this identity wasn’t being portrayed online.

“Our design and development teams worked closely with Malmaison to create a website that, like the brand, dared to be different. We utilised Malmaison’s magnificent picture library and created a site where these images can be displayed to their full potential.

“The optimisation for mobile and tablet devices, our new sticky booking panel and streamlined booking process were designed to work together to improve the conversion rate.

“The result is a stunning, avant-garde website which we are immensely proud of. Initial feedback has been very positive and it has already had a positive impact on Malmaison’s online business.”

Equator said Malmaison.com is fully responsive to all devices to cater for the growing number of visitors the hotel group is now receiving from mobile and tablet devices.

The site has been designed to make booking and browsing as simple on mobile devices and also to interact with Malmaison’s social media channels.

Malmaison has 12 boutique hotels across the UK including a stylish converted castle prison in Oxford and a former Royal Mail sorting office in Birmingham. Each hotel has its own Brasserie serving iconic dishes with a twist and Malbar cocktail and champagne lounges.

Gary Davis, chief executive of Malmaison, said: “We can already see from the numbers coming through that the conversion rate has vastly improved and customer feedback on the site has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We are also witnessing a dramatic increase in visits and bookings from mobile and tablet devices, testimony to the ‘mobile first’ approach Equator took for the responsive design and build of the site.”