Web Design for the Hospitality Industry: The Royal Hotel & Bar

The original website for The Royal Hotel & Bar hadn’t been updated since 2016, during which time the business has grown and undergone significant change. In addition, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic saw the client relying heavily on their website to communicate changes to business operations and inform customers of what to expect when visiting the venue.

Regular use of the original site’s back-end highlighted how dated the website had become and brought to light that it was no longer an accurate online representation of the business. As a result, the Royal Hotel & Bar was looking to refresh its existing website to offer more straightforward means of communication with customers and update the site’s visual appearance to provide a true reflection of the current business.

The main goal was to modernise the website by making it more visually appealing and ensure it is showcasing the business’s values.

In summary, the brief included:

A cleaner design that complemented the venue’s colour scheme and interior design
A site back-end that was easy to update, providing greater flexibility in editing the website
The addition of new pages that were easy to instantly update in regards to reopening, closures and COVID-19 restriction-related information
The addition of a blog to be maintained in-house, primarily used to document the businesses’ growth
The ability to easily link to external booking systems and portals
An easy to navigate front-end

The Royal Hotel & Bar chose SQ Digital as their web design agency after we quickly created a detailed and comprehensive proposal that satisfied all the project goals – without pushing for additional features that the client hadn’t asked for and which were not needed. Also, at SQ Digital, we aim to work together with our clients instead of simply telling them what to do, including our web design services.

The Solution

The project began in early January 2021 and was completed two months later, in March 2021. All communication between us and The Royal Hotel & Bar was made remotely, either through Microsoft Teams, phone calls or emails, at a convenient time for the client.

We discussed the project during these conversations and shared changes in real-time via screen share. We made sure to request feedback often and implemented all changes quickly. The Royal Hotel & Bar were kept informed of the progress throughout all stages of the project.

Once the redesign was complete, we delivered a training session on using the website editor and management software.

The Results

We created a beautiful, modern WordPress brochure site – The Royal Hotel and Bar
It showcases images of the hotel, bar and restaurant, easy navigation and visually appealing, relevant information and content
The site presents information efficiently and clearly
The website is easily managed, with flexibility and ease of use in mind
High scoring performance for Google Core Web Vitals – fully optimised

Kat Stoney, General Manager at The Royal Hotel & Bar, says: from Web Design for the Hospitality Industry: The Royal Hotel & Bar told SQ Digital:

“I was most impressed with the high standard of customer service and professionalism from SQ Digital. There was a constant flow of communication between myself and the members of the SQ Digital team that were handling the project at different stages. I never had to pester them.

“Everyone I worked with was incredibly approachable, responded well to feedback, and offered a real sense that we were working collaboratively on the project.

“Feedback from the Royal Hotel & Bar Directors has been overwhelmingly positive, and I feel confident that as we move closer towards reopening The Royal fully, we’re doing so with a website that truly compliments our business. Also, the new website provides us with the platform we need to communicate to customers what they should expect from us.”