Migrating from legacy technology, Filter built a new website with WordPress, leveraging the platform benefits to help increase awareness and drive direct hotel bookings.
JD Wetherspoon Hotels, part of the well-known British hospitality chain, offers 56 affordable and quality accommodations in prime locations across the UK and Ireland.
With comfortable rooms reflecting the local character and the vibrant atmosphere synonymous with JD Wetherspoon, these hotels provide excellent value for business and leisure travellers, ensuring a distinctive and budget-friendly stay. All hotels have an adjoining JD Wetherspoon pub for guests to enjoy food and drink throughout their stay.
The existing JD Wetherspoon Hotels website presented challenges due to its legacy build, making maintenance difficult and limiting the user experience across devices. JD Wetherspoon enlisted Filter to design and develop a standalone WordPress website with a migration plan.
The main challenge with the previous website was that it presented a consolidation of hotel information on the corporate site. A landing page provided only a generic overview, leading to a less-than-ideal user experience when encouraging direct bookings.
The primary objective was to drive bookings away from costly online travel agents by improving search visibility, offering a personalised experience for users, and showcasing the distinct offerings of each hotel, ensuring that the website performed across all screen sizes.
We leveraged the WordPress platform to build individual landing pages for each hotel, providing them with a dedicated space to showcase their services and amenities. Using the Block Editor in WordPress allowed for a flexible and intuitive content creation process.
To ensure consistency across the diverse set of hotel pages, we implemented patterns and templates for each page type to ensure a consistent user experience. This also streamlined the design process and maintained a cohesive visual identity while accommodating the unique features of each hotel.
WordPress holds a prominent position as the leading Content Management System worldwide, driving 40% of all current internet websites. Therefore, the choice of JD Wetherspoon to transition to WordPress was underpinned by the reassurance provided by the WordPress community and the available resources, ensuring long-term support.
The move to WordPress has allowed for a more user-friendly interface for managing content for the Marketing team, enabling quicker updates and changes to adapt to evolving business needs. The easy-to-use built-in SEO features also allow the team to monitor the website’s performance in Google’s search results, ensuring that the website is gaining more visibility for people searching for a comfortable and convenient place to stay.
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As part of a second release in January 2024, our focus was to improve internal search and SEO. The refinement and advancement of the user experience come into play post-launch, enabling us to use insights directly from user behaviours and analytics.
To increase engagement further and tailor offerings to individual preferences, we will propose to integrate the Filter built WordPress plugin PersonalizeWP.
The PersonaliseWP plugin enables marketers to tailor their content, optimise conversion paths, and deliver personalised content to specific audiences. Through automated lead scoring, segmentation tools, and analysis of user behaviours, you can build reliable, comprehensive visitor profiles and track user journeys – all from your WordPress website.
This would allow us to segment users into categories such as repeat visitors and understand their geographical location to deliver personalised offers, creating a more dynamic and user-centric experience.
The launch of the new JD Wetherspoon Hotels website in September 2023, has resulted in several key outcomes:
1. Enhanced Visibility and Search-Friendliness: Each hotel now has a detail page, significantly improving search visibility. The new structure makes it easier for potential guests to find relevant information quickly, leading to increased organic traffic. The website has experienced a consistent doubling of its user base each month since its launch.
2. Brand Identity and Attractiveness: The dedicated website provides each hotel with a unique identity, making them more attractive to new and returning guests. The individualised approach paints a positive view of the amenities and offerings of each hotel.
3.Improved Content Management and Agility: The migration from Sitecore to WordPress streamlined content management, providing the team with a more intuitive interface for updates. This increased agility allows the hotels to respond promptly to market changes and update their offerings seamlessly.
In partnership with JD Wetherspoon, Filter has successfully elevated the presence of its hotels by harnessing the capabilities of WordPress. The project culminated in the development of a contemporary and user-friendly platform, offering seamless access to comprehensive information about hotel amenities, room availability, and a direct booking interface.
This transformative web solution not only enhances the user experience but also sets the stage for continuous improvement. Through monitoring and tailored customisation, the website is poised to evolve further, catering to the unique preferences and needs of each user.
The collaborative efforts between Filter and JD Wetherspoon have modernised the online presence of hotels, positioning them for sustained growth and enhanced user engagement.
