client / 2015-2020

Fontainebleau Miami Beach

my role

UX + UI Design, Art Direction

 
The challenge

Situated in the heart of Millionaire's Row in Miami, Fontainebleau is a resort known for its historic architecture and prime beach front location. The client wanted to move away from their previous desktop-only site, which provided limited functionality for the users. They also recognized the need to draw more attention towards a broader audience beyond the hotel guests and wanted ways to include an “on property experience” for locals who frequented their restaurants, bars, clubs, and cabanas.

www.FONTAINEBLEAU.COM
Make it personal

Who is our core audience?

 

Our team conducted several discovery meetings to help determine the new direction. I met with team members from various departments – spa, dining, nightlife– to gain some insight on their specific marketing goals.

Fontainebleau’s audience is a mixture of domestic and international travelers, families and groups looking for a luxury resort in Miami. But local Miami residents were also frequenters of the resort’s luxury dining options, poolside cabanas, and popular club, LIV.

Our findings showed us that their local guests were providing nearly half the revenue of the hotel:

    Real audience is 30-50 of age. They are wealthy & trendy.
    Dining business is about 80% from non-guests.
 
    Group business makes up about 65% of total revenue.
    NIGHTCLUB IS ABOUT 90% FROM NON-GUESTS

We needed a way to address, not just selling rooms but selling experiences

A huge difference in our two audiences was the time of day guests frequented certain aspects of the resort. On property guests might venture off property to go see local sights during the day, while locals might pop in for an afternoon snack by the pool for a few hours on the weekends.

I created a section to showcase what any user could do with a day at Fontainebleau. The slider adjusts to the time of day automatically, allowing users both on and off property to explore all the Fontainebleau has to offer throughout the day.

 
make IT relevant

How might we cater to hotel guests as well as nearby locals?

 

Since Fontainebleau caters to a mixture of on and off property guests, each users’ experience would be personalized to their specific goals. In order to cater directly to guests with relevant content, the site was engineered to track user-patterns, then serve specific content relevant to each visitor’s particular interests. 

For example, visitors to the dining section would be served relevant dining promotions throughout the site upon each subsequent visit.

We even pitched an augmented reality app that could further promote cross-marketing efforts via geo-tracking. Nearby locals could view live offers and map directions to their chosen destination.

 
 
2019 booking refresh

How might we engage users to book beyond rooms?

 

Originally in 2015, I wanted to provide a more visual path down the booking funnel and create a unique console that allowed users to book rooms as well as dining reservations, spa appointments and on-site cabana rentals. Unfortunately, the project didn’t leave much time for all of the development needed to launch the full booking console. So Fontainebleau engaged us again in 2019 to refresh the original booking console and to add more functionality and target specific types of potential bookers.

 
 
 

The Results

 

+90%

Increase in Look to Book

+55%

Increase in Mobile Traffic

+41%

Mobile Bookings
 

The original redesign incorporated a personalized, interactive experience using geo-tracking and a custom designed personalization engine. The multi-use booking console and custom booking engine increased the Look-To-Book ratio by 28% since the website’s launch - which is 12% higher than the industry average. Unfortunately due to pandemic, Fontainebleau’s booking console refresh in 2020 was curtailed indefinitely.

Collaborators

Directors & Management

Brian Posey, Andrea Ross, Kirsten Lynch, Claire Harrington, Derek Wilhlem

Design & UX

Eric Reece, Patty Schiller, Ryan Drennan

Development

Jimmy Morris, Ross Joo, Leticia Sanchez, David Schooley, Bobby Anderson, Bradley Elliott

SEO & PPC

Sarah Hayes

Awards & Recognition

2015 HSMAI, Silver

2016 W3, Silver

2016 WebAwards, Hotel & Lodging Standard of Excellence

2016 IMA, Best in Class

next project

Mandarin Oriental