Mount Wolseley Hotel, Spa and Golf Resort is the perfect escape for a family break, a revitalising spa retreat or a corporate event. Sitting atop eighteen manicured acres, the hotel is set against a compelling backdrop and has a great deal to offer, with a bespoke wedding venue on-site and a premier parkland golf course designed by Christy O’Connor Jnr. Catering predominantly to the Irish market, the renowned 4*, 143-room hotel plays centre-stage to a varied audience and accommodates a diverse guest portfolio.
When Mount Wolseley chose to partner with Avvio just a year ago, they hoped to enhance their online visibility and subsequently increase their direct booking revenue. Stephen Williams, Director of Sales and Marketing for Windward Group explains why they chose to work with Avvio:
“Mount Wolseley Hotel’s partnership with Avvio compliments the existing successful relationship between both Avvio and Windward. Our partnership with Avvio has delivered significant results across our portfolio of hotels and resorts across Ireland and Europe and continues to deliver cutting edge booking engine solutions, Artificial Intelligence and innovative online marketing services!”
It was important that the hotel appealed to their varying customer base whilst still recognising the individual facets of their business. With the requirement to attract and convert the leisure, business and special occasion market, Avvio worked closely with the hotel to ensure their website was functional, appealing and inclusive of their services. By creating spa, wedding, conference and resort house microsites, Mount Wolseley are able to showcase and highlight each unique selling point of their hotel.
The hotel’s Sales, Marketing and Revenue Manager Sheena McCanny, says: “In addition to the launch of our new website we are strategically allocating digital marketing budget to key performing segments and, as a result, we have seen a noticeable increase in the level of enquiries coming through from both the wedding and conference segments. Our self-contained Conference and Event space offers total flexibility and it is crucial that we continue to consistently profile this facility to maintain revenue growth. To further enhance our online presence, we are in the process of implementing VISREZ which is a 3D depiction of our Conference and Events space. This will give our prospective clients an informative and accurate snapshot of the facility in its totality”
In addition to their conference and events facility, Mount Wolseley is also home to one of Ireland’s premier parkland golf courses. The course welcomes 165 full-time members, as well as corporate groups, society groups, residential tee times and local walk-ins. Sheena continues:
“We are using drone video technology to capture angles of the course that aren’t possible with traditional photography. We’ve found video to be hugely impactful when targeting the golf and also the wedding segments, working particularly well across all social media platforms in addition to having a presence on our website, this project is ongoing.”
Golf clubs and fairways aside, Mount Wolseley – with its sweeping tree-lined drive and beautiful private garden – provides the perfect backdrop for a wedding venue. Less than an hour from Dublin the hotel accommodates over seventy weddings a year and with a dedicated on-site team meticulously managing each occasion, the bespoke country venue really is a jewel in the crown of wedding venues in Ireland. They’ve even created a compelling microsite, exhibiting the venue in all its beauty and providing it with its own identity.
A dynamic approach to online marketing
Using Allora – Avvio’s AI-powered booking engine means that Mount Wolseley Hotel is able to provide visitors with a personalised, guest-centric browsing experience from the moment they enter their website. Avvio’s E-Commerce Manager Fiona Power works closely with the hotel managing their direct booking strategy. Fiona says: “The booking engine subtly adapts the website’s messaging for each visitor; taking into account previous browsing behaviour. By adapting the online experience for returning shoppers, the website is able to highlight relevant availability, room packages and/or experiences.”
The direct revenue growth through the close working relationship with Avvio is impressive – from April – December 2018 their direct revenue increased by a substantial 63%! In this time the resort has also seen positive growth in their Resort House revenue.
Jennifer Ryan is one of Avvio’s E-Commerce Managers. She works hand-in-hand with the team at Mount Wolseley Hotel, managing their Metasearch, and paid search strategy. Jen says: “In addition to their increased direct bookings, Mount Wolseley Hotel’s paid search campaigns have increased revenue by 44%. Their Metasearch campaigns are also performing well with a 14:1 return on investment. Their digital presence continues to go from strength to strength.”
Their Marketing team is also very active – working hard to build their social presence. They’ve seen strong growth across their platforms and in particular have found Facebook to be an incredibly successful tool for conversion.
What does the future have in store for Mount Wolseley?
In addition to continually improving, updating and promoting the property effectively through a website marketing campaigns, the team plan to further develop the performance from its mobile site with mobile device contributing over 54% on average to monthly online revenues.
With such success in their other microsites, they have plans to develop two more – this time for their golf facilities as well as their spacious, newly refurbished Resort Houses.
Sheena adds, “We found that our previous booking engine provider was not as responsive to our plans for the development of our website. We have a very clear vision in terms of the direction that the Resort needs to take to ensure revenue growth across all segments and it is hugely important to us that our provider is open to our ideas and is adequately responsive to our requests. The partnership with Avvio is working very well for us and the team there continue to work with us enthusiastically to deliver the end goal in website revenue growth.”
