The Challenge
Pettifers Hotel, a charming countryside retreat in the Cotswolds, approached us with a clear objective: they needed a refreshed digital presence that better reflected the character of their property and improved the user experience. Their existing website was dated, lacked mobile optimisation or clear navigation and didn’t clearly guide users toward booking directly. As a result, they were overly reliant on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), which eroded margins and reduced direct customer engagement.
Objectives
- Modernise the website design to reflect the hotel’s brand and heritage
- Enhance user experience across all devices
- Clearly highlight Calls-to-Action (CTAs) and booking options
- Encourage direct bookings to reduce dependence on OTAs
- Implement a flexible, easy-to-manage CMS using WordPress
- Build a strong foundation for organic search traffic through SEO best practices
Our Approach
Discovery & Strategy
We started with in-depth stakeholder meetings and a full audit of the existing site. Analytics data revealed a high bounce rate on mobile and a lack of conversion-focused pathways. Our strategy focused on user-centric design, simplified navigation and prominent booking CTAs.
Design Refresh
The new design emphasises Pettifers’ countryside charm, using a warm color palette, elegant typography, and considered imagery. We placed key value propositions (e.g. “Book direct for the best rates”) prominently on the homepage and throughout key conversion paths.
WordPress Development
Using WordPress, we created a bespoke theme tailored to Pettifers’ needs:
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Integrated booking engine with prominent placement
- Custom blocks for flexible content management
- SEO-optimised structure and performance enhancements
SEO Optimisation
From the ground up, the site was built with SEO in mind:
- Semantic HTML and clean code to improve crawlability
- Custom meta titles and descriptions editable via the CMS
- Fast-loading pages with optimised images and lazy loading
- Schema markup to highlight key elements like reviews, events and business info in search engines
- Internal linking strategies to strengthen keyword relevance across the site
- Keyword-targeted content on key pages such as “Things to Do Nearby,” “Rooms,” and “Special Offers”
This foundation ensures Pettifers is better positioned to appear in relevant local and travel-related search results, driving more organic traffic without the need for ongoing ad spend.
CTAs and Conversion Optimisation
Clear CTAs were integrated site-wide – above the fold on the homepage, in the main navigation and at the bottom of key content pages. Each CTA leads either to the booking engine or highlights direct booking incentives, such as special offers or perks.
Results to follow – and we know they’ll be good!
Explore the live site and see for yourself! pettifers.co.uk
Strengthen your hotel’s online presence—get in touch with us today and let’s turn your website into your most effective booking engine!
