Marrington Escapes is a luxury, self-catering holiday destination in rural Shropshire.
Part of the Morris & Co Group, Marrington Escapes has beautifully restored a hall, barns and homes on the estate. This means there’s plenty of choice for holidaymakers, with up to 14 able to stay in one property.
The brief
Marrington Escapes were looking to build more direct sales and reduce reliance on third-party platforms and their inherent commission and fees. When they approached us to design and build them a new website, we sat down together and decided that to understand how to create something great, a big part of our strategy would have to involve an in-depth understanding of the usability of their current website. The most complete and useful way to achieve that was for our design team to conduct a User Experience (UX) review of their website, identifying areas that work and areas that need improvement. This provided valuable insight and allowed us to think and discuss with greater depth, helping us make informed decisions when developing the design.
The website also needed to utilise professional photographs provided by the Marrington Escapes team, and guest photographs and comments needed to feature prominently to encourage bookings.
With no two properties being the same, and a wide variety of facilities available, the website had to effectively communicate the unique features, whilst ensuring consistency across all properties.
Our strategy
Equipped with the knowledge from the Marrington Escapes UX review and having previously successfully worked for other hospitality clients, we designed and built a mobile-first WordPress website.
As well as designing something that was more user-centric and information-rich, we also wanted to create an ‘experience’. Marrington is a destination because it provides a unique experience and we needed to make sure that was being sensed by the people visiting the website. A lot of care and attention was spent on developing a bespoke typographical style as well as artdirecting a carefully crafted tone that runs through all parts of the site.
The Marrington Escapes team also wanted the website to be flexible so they could manage and upload content themselves. The backend of the website considered user experience, making it simple and easy for the client to upload content as and when needed.
Testimonials and an Instagram feed were added as trust builders for potential future guests, and icons and galleries were used to showcase the facilities and interior of each property.
A ‘sticky’ bar at the bottom of the Properties page makes it easier for users to book. This leads to an external booking system, which the Marrington Escapes team was working with prior.
Kind Words
The new site provides a great user experience allowing the visitor to ‘feel’ the beauty of the Marrington Estate through its design whilst improving the call to action to book directly with us. A key strand to our growth strategy is to build these direct sales and this website is playing a vital part in that ambition.
Marketing Director at Marrington Escapes
Let’s chat
Want to take your brand to the next level with an experienced agency that does what they say they’re going to? Get in touch with our team today! We can discuss an upcoming project or simply chat about your business and suggest solutions for growth.
Call us on 01743 344 911, drop us an email or fill out our contact form. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.