Project
Overview
The Station House Hotel is a well-known landmark in Meath. Built in 1862, as a busy railway junction, it took on a new guise in 1984, when it opened as a hotel. The Station House is well known as a destination in the Boyne Valley, be it for its food, events or wonderful setting as a wedding venue. The hotel underwent a makeover in recent times, with beautiful new décor and upgraded rooms and suites. It needed a new online presence which would reflect the new look and the hotel’s position as a go-to boutique destination for cosy getaways, weddings and food tourism.
An award-winning hotel, The Station House Hotel has a reputation as a warm family run venue that prides itself on great food, much of it sourced around its Kilmessan location. It also is a picture-perfect wedding destination. The new website needed to showcase the hotel both as a friendly, cosy place while also highlighting it as a stylish event venue.
OPEN carried out hospitality and competitor research for the project. We were dedicated to finding the right note for the Station House, from content to colour and design to practicality. What we came up with a very user-friendly journey on the website, from an easy to use booking system to the use of vivid photographs and imagery, all placing boutique glamour firmly in the mind of potential visitors and guests.
The Solutions
We knew the Station House needed a website which looked great, with wonderful photography and a perfect colour palette. We also knew that it needed to work beautifully too, with good UX design and user journeys. It also needed to be uncomplicated and simple to use. We brought together these and other considerations to deliver just what the client needed.
The Station House is well known as destination for food lovers, wedding parties and cosy getaway seekers. The hotel is also vital stop along the Boyne Valley tourist route, so appeals to a national and international audience. With this in mind, the hotel website needed to appeal to a broad range of people. OPEN came up with a range of ways of making the Station House Hotel stand out online.
Appealing photography is central to the new hotel website. The Station House is the epitome of a rural idyll, so we made sure that beautiful images took central place within the website. As soon as you visit the site, you encounter images of the hotel and grounds, which change as the seasons do. The warmth of the venue is striking. The hotel has been refurbished using influences from the travels of the owners and from the skills of local craftspeople. Each room has been carefully created and the client wanted to showcase the accommodation in detail. There is a gallery specific to each room type with lovely images of the rooms and suites. The website also uses delicious food photography to highlight the Station House’s place as a food lover’s haven. Weddings are a big feature when it comes to the hotel, so there is a large gallery of indoor and outdoor ceremonies along with a large range of options for guests.
We used heritage colours for the Station House Hotel website, reflective of the brand itself. Soft pinks, greens and greys all combine to give a sense of subtle luxury to the website and they also tie in with some of the room refurbishment palettes; a deliberate choice on our part.
User experience is at the core of the Station House Hotel website. We have simplified user journeys. It is easy to find what you want and the site is uncluttered or fussy. It’s very easy to book, enquire or browse the galleries. The booking area itself is designed to give guests a simplified description of each room or suite, at a glance. It again is unfussy as the quality of the accommodation does the talking. There is a defined area to book accessible accommodation, putting guests with diverse needs front and centre. This is important to the Station House Hotel owners and it’s reflected in the website.
OPEN created a new online shop for the hotel, again making user journeys central, with vouchers, gifts and hampers all having distinct areas within the site. Great product imagery complements the process and has proved popular with site visitors.
The Station House Hotel knew they wanted a website which looked great and worked well. The client wanted luxury without fuss. We’ve created an online presence for them which captures the cosiness and the luxury too. It highlights the beautiful setting for a getaway, wedding or gourmet lunch along the Boyne Valley tourist route. It’s visual appeal and ux journey make it easy to use, all the while showcasing one of Meath’s loveliest guest destinations.
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