Challenge
Macdonald Hotels, a collection of around 30 mid-to-upmarket hotels across Scotland and England, needed to modernise its digital experience. The existing corporate website underperformed in usability and bookings. With mobile usage increasing rapidly, hotel booking journeys were failing customers on phones and tablets. The ambition was to simplify journeys, increase revenue, bring hotel features to life, and clearly differentiate the brand.
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Solution
Equator designed and built a ground-up, genuinely mobile-responsive eCommerce platform, setting a new standard for the hotel and leisure sector.
The experience was engineered to be rich, intuitive, and consistent across devices, with booking at its core.
- Reimagined the end-to-end booking journey for mobile, tablet, and desktop
- Designed a mobile-first booking panel, progressing beyond desktop-first components
- Rewrote around 600 pages of content to strengthen tone of voice, SEO, and on-screen readability
- Built on Umbraco to ensure flexibility, longevity, and cost-effective upgrades over time
- Integrated extensively with Opera across 30+ hotels, including complex resort requirements
- Enabled bookings for rooms, golf, spa, dining, and weddings within a single journey
- Delivered extended admin tools for local offers and corporate booking management
Results
over 12% increase in bookings
8% increase in average booking value
More than 340% growth in sales after launch
Cost neutral in six months
Won four awards for effectiveness
Outcome
Macdonald Hotels now operates a leading mobile-first eCommerce platform that generates measurable revenue growth and strengthens brand differentiation.
Launched during a recession, the solution demonstrated that experience-led, mobile-native design delivers rapid ROI and long-term commercial benefits.
