Their Problems
Highlights With Vizlly
YoY Direct Website Revenue
+48%
Projected ROI
17X
Average Daily Rate
+$9
Average Purchase Intent
29%
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Case Study
How Bringing 11 Hotels to Vizlly Increased Revenue, ADR, and Purchase Intent, Across All Locations
With a portfolio of Best Westerns and independent hotels across coastal California, Pacific Plaza Hotels boasts a diverse collection of properties. The company has been operating and managing hotels for over 35 years in California, which means they have an eye for consistency, profitability, and the trends that get their hotels there.
Today, they manage properties that span a huge range of markets along the coast. They oversee a hotel in the heart of business-focused Silicon Valley, another in the state capitol, as well as a university town, a resort-style property right at the gateway to Yosemite National Park, hotels in the heart of leisure-magnet giant redwood forests, and more.
At the end of 2017, some of the company’s hotels had recently completed upgrades, some were just about to embark on them, and all of them were serving audiences in changing markets with old information on aging websites.
The Problem
The company’s president, Carl Doughty, has long seen the advantage of showcasing their hotels on a vanity website. Pacific Plaza Hotels has had independent domains for their hotels since the 90s, because they foresaw that, in their words: “this is the way of the world now.”
That also meant keeping those sites up to date. But with a website provider that required fees for updates and the added difficulty of keeping a dozen properties updated in different markets with varying needs, the websites were in need of a refresh.
With occupancy numbers in hotels across California staying around the same, Pacific Plaza Hotels knew they needed a new strategy in 2018, and with it, new vanity websites to execute that strategy and excite travelers.
So, their Administrative Manager and projector coordinator, Joanne Gootman, was tasked with finding something to refresh their look, with the hands-on approach a full portfolio of hotels require.
The Solution
Understanding the complexities of transferring 11 properties to brand-new websites, Joanne knew she needed a supplier that could not only update the look and feel of her sites but provide that necessary proactive and strategic approach to driving direct revenue. With Vizlly, Pacific Plaza Hotels received updated websites at a lower rate than her previous provider—along with a dedicated Success Team to make sure the sites were still performing.
“The website refresh, not only was it painless, it was very affordable. And our Success Coach, Evan, keeps the websites top of mind with our managers.”
Joanne initially signed up two properties for websites with Vizlly, in two different demographics with differing needs. In onboarding and getting those two sites live, Joanne saw that Leonardo’s solution was a conversation: they could make requests, understand the logic behind each keyword and page, and the result was a website that not only showed off each property, it dramatically increased revenue.
From there, they signed up nine more hotels, all of which received a brand-new Vizlly website and multi-channel marketing solutions. Each hotel’s new site’s tailored SEO strategy included totally new content with higher quality photos and rich media galleries. The sites now highlight ancillary services relevant to each market, with pages targeting local keywords for businesses and attractions that bring travel shoppers to each area.
The Results
Pacific Plaza has reduced overhead by eliminating the need to follow up with hotels themselves to get updates for each website. On top of that, the tailored SEO strategies for their properties are bringing in more traffic–which is bringing in more direct revenue.
For 2018, Pacific Plaza was focused on increasing ADR, and to achieve that goal, they needed refreshed independent websites that showcased their hotels and brought in more online shoppers. With Vizlly, they published visually rich room types, which differentiate each accommodation and boost upsell opportunities. Each room type directly links back to their Best Western booking engine, allowing them to increase ADR by an impressive $9 this year.
Pacific Plaza Hotels’ independent website has brought in more organic traffic in 2018, to the tune of a 48% increase in direct revenue across all the hotels they upgraded to the Vizlly websites. From their busy leisure-driven hotels, to hotels that receive almost exclusively business travelers, their hotels in primary, secondary, and tertiary markets have all seen a rise in traffic and revenue. “The model works for everybody,” says Joanne.
Compared to their older sites, the new Vizlly sites have also seen an increase in purchase intent–which means that more engaged traffic is landing on the site and heading to the booking funnel.
The number of reservations booked through the independent sites has increased by 36%. In addition, through the power of their Vizlly SEO strategy, direct revenue grew at a higher percentage than indirect revenue. With an SEO strategy that has helped them rank for new and local search times, they’re passing less in commission to OTAs.
From Joanne’s side, the work of keeping the vanity sites up to date has been offloaded. With Vizlly’s monthly reporting and proactive approach, the management team at each hotel is brought on from the beginning, and kept on top of updates and performance. They now have 11 hotels managed by one Success Team, on a product that’s has reduced the headache of digital marketing for Pacific Plaza Hotels–and shown them more than 17x ROI.
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